My Winter "Uniform"

What do Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Fred Rogers all have in common? Aside from obvious and undeniable impacts on society, each of them embraced the concept of a simple personal “uniform” – a singular wardrobe for the everyday. Steve Jobs was instantly recognizable in his black mock turtleneck, jeans, and New Balance sneakers. Einstein famously bought several identical versions of his favorite gray suit. And I grew up watching Fred Rogers come home everyday and pop into the same cardigan and sneakers: a relaxed symbol of calm, kindness, and familiarity for us GenX latchkey kids tuning-in. Sure, it was a TV show-but Fred Rogers was often seen wearing his "uniform" everywhere after the cameras stopped rolling.

There are many "uniform wearers" out there of varying extremes (Mark Zuckerberg is another one that comes to mind), but I alao know regular folk who dress this way too. Sometimes people just pick their thing, and they end up sticking with it for the long-haul. And with clothing, "uniforming" is a thinkg with people who must make a lot of decisions every day. And it eventually becomes a person's "look".

I first thought "uniforming" was cartoonish, and said-so to a friend...who then politely reminded me that I had been "uniforming" since about 1989:

So my "style" was always a 90s GenX low-key "punky nerd" getup. My casual "look" since forever...

Nothing flashy. just plain jeans and Chucks, a t-shirt, and maybe sometimes a loose long sleeve shirt or jacket. And that's pretty muchstill me, with some tweaks as I aged. It's like meal-planning: a simple no-fuss habit to make my week ahead remain sane and manageable. But the people I mention above took it a lot farther: personal style and taste became personal branding, and they illustrated that wearing the same thing daily can actually amplify creativity and individuality. I have worked with a few busy ex-military friends who still do this, and I once knew a lawyer who did a solid Matlock thing, wearing the same style and color suit most of the time.

In my own case, I like to blend in mostly, so you probably couldn't tell I was "uniforming". But at some point JDub & THE JACKET emerged as my "Winter Uniform", same jacket all the time. And it somehow became a mini-branding thing for me whenever consulting, giving talks, or otherwise doing PM or tech workshops during the winter months. It wasn't intentional, it's just where I comfortably ended up.

So THE JACKET is this brownish scrimmage zip-up windbreaker, with blue stitching. I may rock different glasses or shoes, but during the winter months it's jeans and THE JACKET. If I have be somewhere to do something, and it's cool out (but not COLD)...JDub & THE JACKET is what you're getting. Imagine a PM showing up to give a talk about Scrum teams while wearing a brown scrimmage jacket. Maybe a bit too on the nose... 😂

I purchased the first iteration of THE JACKET during a visit to see my brother & sister-in-law in Las Vegas. My wife's brother Brian had one, and I thought it looked comfortable. Cool even. So I asked him where he bought it. Tommy Bahama. Huh?! The place I always thought only sold pricey island vacation shirts? Turns out they sell jackets and other things. Decent jackets, even, and this particular jacket I just had to have. So I proceeded to hit the mall and get one in black, but it turned-out to have a couple of defects. Returning the jacket, all they had to swap it was the brown version. And that is how "JDub & THE JACKET" came to be. Every mild Texas winter, I'm in these duds until March or April. 😎

I wore THE JACKET pretty much everywhere over the years. While fat or thin...tired or rested...in different eras of hair style (and with a little grey now): unless there was a blizard this was my "winter getup" for the past 18 years...

THE JACKET has been to almost every major US city and parts of Europe. Same jacket. Same me. Just older, but time is a flat circle anyway. 🙃🤓 When I lost weight, eBay came in clutch with unsold stock, allowing me to keep my winter "uniform" into perpetuity. I now have three of these, and friends joke I will probably be buried in THE JACKET. Maybe. I still wear the original jacket the most, it's perfectly worn-in like a comfortable pair of slippers. The newer jackets go to work and other functions.

IT work generally allows casual dress, especially data center work and late-hour coding sprints. Anytime I was out and about for work in a cool-not-cold environment, it's been THE JACKET and me...

Flash-forward to last week, and my wife observes: "hey, you've been wearing that jacket for like almost 20 years now."

And she's right, though I think it was more commentary than observation. 🤔 So it turns out about 18 years in THE JACKET just kind of flew by...

A lot of solemn, jolly, or otherwise ordinary day-to-day moments were all experienced in THE JACKET...

Drawn by a friend in 2015 before AI took over...

...and a few special moments, as well.

Over the years I have found that a basic no frills "uniform" offers some advantages:

1. Cognitive Clarity: By eliminating daily decisions, about anything, you conserve mental energy for more critical tasks. Psychologists refer to this as reducing “decision fatigue,” a phenomenon where making too many choices depletes your cognitive resources. Deciding what to wear is one cognitive load that "uniform wearers" don't want, so they skip it.
   
2. Branding: A consistent style can become your visual signature, making you immediately identifiable. It doesn't have to be a "uniform" but is usually a narrow range of clothing you're pre-selecting. Either way, that becomes you whenever you are showing-up somewhere to work with a team, give a presentation, etc.
   
3. Invisibility On Demand: Ironically, a uniform not only makes you recognizable but also grants you some selective invisibility: if I want to blend-in at a tech conference or other busy place, I just pop on another jacket or shirt (and maybe different glasses, and...) -- Poof! I'm everywhere and nowhere... 🙃
   

4. **Minimalism Meets Practicality**: Fewer clothing options mean *fewer* distractions, *less* clutter, and a focus on quality over quantity. It’s long been my lifestyle to stay rooted in efficiency and intentionality, wherever I can.

So whether you’re reclaiming mental energy or just craving simplicity, the uniform thing is an age-old method that may provide those benefits. Ultimately the trick to pulling it off is to be casual and not focus on the sameness, in the first place (oops). At the end of the day, it’s really not really about the clothes anyway—it’s about the person wearing them.