You can pretty much search anywhere to see people either wearing the same thing to work or adopting some kind of uniform that they wear. The most famous of those being Steve Jobs – I can tell you without looking or knowing the brands – white sneakers, jeans a black top (long sleeved). I probably missed some specifics, but you get the gist.
Thinking about this the last few weeks as I get up every morning, I’ve come to identify that in myself. I am always most comfortable in a t-shirt, flip-flops and jeans. They are my purest working clothes – when something needs to get done, they are what I wear. They are my “lucky” clothes where I know just putting them on, ideas and creativity will spew forth at an alarming rate.
But I don’t wear them every day, usually reserved for Fridays or special occasions.
But the transition of that “working attire” to the rest of the week is sleeves rolled up. They are always rolled up. If I am wearing a sweater at some point it comes off when I start to work and most times I eschew them. But sleeves, always rolled up, you can see it in my LinkedIn photo if you look closely.
So why? Why do this? Because, it means I’m always ready to jump into the weeds and get in the trenches, always ready to get my hands dirty and make a mess of things, always ready to start digging for something of value. The time it takes to roll-up my sleeves and think about diving in and second guessing myself is time wasted and I don’t want to second guess myself, I don’t want to out-convince myself in those 10 seconds, I want to leap off the cliff and figure it out on the way done.
So that’s what it is, that’s my working uniform… and jeans… jeans and a roll-up dress shirt or t-shirt.
