Trying Out That Jonathan Jordan Method
Okay, so I kept hearing about this ‘Jonathan Jordan’ approach to work. Saw it mentioned online, couple of guys at a meetup were talking about it. Sounded like some magic bullet for getting things done, you know? Like, really stripping things down to basics.
So, I thought, why not? Gave it a shot last month. First thing, I tried organizing my project files exactly like I thought he suggested. Took me a solid afternoon. Moving folders, renaming stuff, creating these specific directories he supposedly uses. Felt productive for about five minutes.
Then came the actual work part. I started coding on that new feature everyone’s waiting for. Tried to follow the ‘focus’ thing. Closed all my extra tabs, turned off notifications, the whole nine yards. Just the code editor and the requirements doc. That was the idea, anyway.
Here’s the thing, my workflow is usually messy. I jump between things. Need to look up some old code, check a spec sheet, maybe quickly test a different unrelated thing that popped into my head. This ‘Jonathan Jordan’ way? It felt like wearing handcuffs. Every time I needed something outside the immediate task, I had to consciously stop, go find it, then try to get back into the zone. It completely broke my rhythm.
Why did I even bother? Well, things have been kinda crazy lately. Felt like I was constantly putting out fires, never making real progress. Saw an article, maybe it was an interview with this Jordan guy, talking about clarity and simplicity. Sounded good when I was feeling overwhelmed. Thought maybe a rigid structure was what I needed. You know how it is, you get stuck, you start looking for any new system that promises a fix.
What Actually Happened
It didn’t stick. After about three days, I was miserable. The clean file structure? Nice to look at, but a pain to navigate when I needed something quick that didn’t fit neatly into one of the pre-defined boxes. The ‘focus’ thing? Made me feel slow and boxed in. I ended up spending more time fighting the system than doing the work.
- I needed to quickly reference an old utility script. Took ages to find because I’d filed it away under some ‘archive’ label dictated by the system.
- A colleague pinged me with an urgent question. Breaking my ‘focus bubble’ to help them felt like a major disruption, way more than it usually does.
- The sheer mental effort of sticking to the rules was draining.
So, I ditched it. Went back to my slightly chaotic, but familiar, way of working. Maybe his system works for him, or for people with really predictable tasks. But for my job, where things change fast and I need to juggle? It just added friction. Honestly, felt like trying to assemble furniture using only a butter knife. Looks simple, but doesn’t actually work well. Back to my trusty, messy toolbox.
