calm(First things first, before the topic of the post: Rakeela's been having some health issues recently. We're working on getting proper medical attention, but for those of you so inclined, energy/prayers/naked candlelight yak rituals/etc. on the subject would be appreciated.)
An amusing pattern: I am most productive at work on days where I have shaved and tied my hair back into a ponytail.
I'm relatively sure that there is no causal relationship. True, I make the decision to groom myself properly before work some days, and to not do so on some other days, and perhaps that decision affects the rest of my day, but I see another more plausible connection: I only go to the trouble when I'm actually reasonably awake in the morning- that is, when I'm reasonably well-rested.
That's exactly the assumption I was doing before reaching the end of your post. :]
I'll also note that, in my case, I don't observe it necessarily being tied to being reasonably awake in the morning but rather to being sufficiently unrushed to be able to fiddle with how I want to look, and that state of being unrushed tends to carry through into concentrating better at work. There have been days I've deliberately missed a bus when I could do so without causing problems to my schedule just to have the more unhurried morning, and it invariably pays off.