Alright, so folks have been asking me about this “Jack Penney” thing I was trying out. Not the department store, mind you, though sometimes I wish my life was as organized as their sock aisle. Nah, this was supposed to be some kind of old-school productivity hack, a way to cut through the usual crap.
I figured, why not? My desk looked like a bomb hit it, and my to-do list was breeding. So, I decided to give the Jack Penney way a whirl for a week. The idea, from what I could piece together from some old forum posts, was super simple: one thing at a time, finish it completely, then move on. No fancy apps, no multitasking madness. Sounds like common sense, right? Almost too good to be true.
So, Monday morning, I sat down. Picked the first task: clear out my main project’s bug tracker. Okay, simple enough. I started chugging away. For the first hour, it felt… good. Like I was actually making a dent. But then the emails started piling up. And my phone was buzzing. The “Jack Penney” method, as I understood it, meant ignoring all that. Just focus. Easier said than done when your boss is pinging you about an “urgent” meeting that probably could’ve been an email.
By Wednesday, I was a mess. Seriously, a complete wreck. I’d finished a couple of small tasks, sure, but everything else was on fire. I was so focused on “one thing at a time” that I missed a critical deadline for another project. My inbox looked like a warzone. This Jack Penney dude, whoever he was, clearly didn’t have Slack notifications and three different project managers breathing down his neck.
So, why did I even bother with this Jack Penney nonsense?
Good question. It’s because my last gig, man, it just burned me out. We had all the latest tools, all the “agile” coaches, daily stand-ups that went on for an hour. You know the drill. We were “synergizing” and “optimizing workflows” left and right. But were we getting stuff done? Barely. It felt like we spent more time talking about work than actually doing it.
I remember this one old fella there, quiet guy, worked in the corner. Let’s call him Sam. He wasn’t actually named Jack Penney, but he had that kind of no-nonsense vibe. One day, he saw me looking like I was about to lose it, and he just said, “You know, back in my day, we just did the work. One task, get it done, move to the next. Simple.” That kinda stuck with me. After I, uh, “mutually agreed to part ways” with that company – which is a fancy way of saying they found someone cheaper – I was desperate for something simpler.
I thought, maybe Sam’s “Jack Penney” way was the answer. Cut out all the noise. Get back to basics.
Well, the experiment was a spectacular failure, as you can tell. This old-school, super-focused thing just doesn’t quite cut it, not for me anyway, not in this crazy digital world. Maybe it works if you’re, I don’t know, a hermit carving wooden ducks. But for the kind of juggling act most of us have to do? Nah.
I’m back to my usual controlled chaos. A bit of multitasking, a lot of coffee, and a to-do list that’s more of a “strong suggestion” list. It ain’t perfect, but at least I’m not missing major deadlines because I was trying to be some mythical figure of pure focus. Sometimes, you just gotta find what mess works for you, right? This Jack Penney idea, though? Filed under “interesting idea, terrible in practice.” But hey, at least I tried. Gave me a good story, if nothing else.
