Simplicity Is The Solution To Your Problems

The world is evolving at a rapid rate,

There are more ways to diet, create, earn and learn than ever before.

In an era of complexity, options are endless but our time is finite.

• How do we spend our most valuable resource

• How do we focus on what’s important

• How do we act when we don’t know where to start

In a sea of information, technology and a battle for attention. Simplicity is the way we can navigate through the storm and live intentionally.

Having, thinking and doing less, but better.

Eliminating the non-essentials to allow time for tasks, goals and relationships that truly matter.

Simplicity is the eye of the storm.

Simplicity is king.

Learning the hard way

I’ve been fantasising about sharing my message on personal development for years. Too scared to try, too anxious of judgement. The what, why and how not clear enough in my mind. So I suffered in silence, hoping a day would come when I grew a pair.

In september of 2023 I stumbled across writing, and that’s when my dream of sharing could become a reality.

I was introduced into a whole new world of skills, perspectives and challenges i’d never even considered.

• Sentence structure

• Word choice

• Persuasion

• Flow

• Topic choice

• Hooks

• Vision

• Story telling

The list goes on.

I had no idea where to start, so I wrote with no expectation.

I crafted 3 newsletters before standards began to creep in. Comparing my writing to those with years of experience. Criticizing every word, every sentence until every part of the 4th letter had changed. I had poured 20+ hours into writing, editing and rewriting.

So focused on the nuance, I lost sight of the bigger picture.

The 4th letter took 3x as long, with a small improvement in quality.

I tried to run before I could walk.

I stripped it back and focused on the essential tasks of structure and writing.

Structure provided the framework for the topic and prevented tangents and constant reframing.

Writing is the foundational building block which everything is built from.

Once i’d broken the process into the fundamentals, everything fell into place and overwhelm faded.

The solution was and is simplicity.

It’s so easy to get caught up in everything you aren’t doing.

To a point where it affects what you ARE doing.

Focused only on the gap between where you are and want to be, forgetting the progress you’ve made to get here.

Keeping things simple gives you the power to start, keep going and focus on that next step.

What haven’t you started because the task or action seemed too complex?

Complexity Bias

We humans have a tendency to over value the complex.

A cognitive bias assuming that a system, idea or process that is complex is somehow better than simpler alternatives. This is known as Complexity bias and impacts our decision making, information analysis and problem solving.

Downsides:

• Inefficiency - creating elaborate routines which take up a lot of time without contributing to your goal

• Risk of failure - Setting overly complicated goals increases the likelihood of failure

• Resistance - If behaviour change is rooted in complexity it will be difficult to act consistently

• Overlooking simplicity - Complex routines might create the same result as simpler methods at the cost of more time, money or energy

• Decision paralysis - Believing solutions must be intricate can prevent you from making decisions easily, quickly and effectively

Life really is as simple or complicated as you decide to make it.

Complexity is just another excuse we use to not act.

It comes down to a state of mind. By viewing anything as complex we miss out on the opportunity to make them simple.

Whatever you believe is true, X is complex or X is simple, you will find reasons to confirm your belief. This is known as confirmation bias.

So how do we manipulate our mind into finding simplicity and taking action?

First principles thinking (FPT):

This is how we deconstruct the complex into the simple for greater understanding and easier implementation.

What is it?

Breaking down problems or situations into its core fundamentals. Questioning the assumptions you’ve made to reach a conclusion. forming a new understanding from the ground up.

Assumptions are beliefs or statements which are accepted as truth without evidence. Often used as a starting point for understanding, problem solving or decision making. A shortcut used to navigate day to day living. If unexamined, they can lead to misjudgement or unsound reasoning.

Example of FPT:

Problem - managing time effectively

Conventional assumption - more detailed calendar schedule will improve time management

Fundamental truths of time management:

• Time is a limited resource

• To manage time effectively, important tasks must be prioritised

Challenging assumption:

• A detailed schedule may help fit more tasks in but not help prioritize the tasks that matter most.

• More detailed calendar may not give any flexibility

Reconstructed solution:

• Pick top 3 essential tasks for the daily goal

• Use flexible time blocking

• Test and iterate

Reasoning by analogy is using prior assumptions to reach conclusion. These assumptions may be implicit or explicit stemming from prior knowledge, society or experience

Examples of common assumptions:

• I must work until 70 to retire

• Hard work guarantees success

• Older people are wiser

• Being busy means being productive

First principle thinking creates a deeper understanding, fosters creativity and improves decision making capabilities.

So you now know how to break things down.

But how do we know what problem to solve?

This is where essentialism comes into play.

Essentialism

Essentialism is Greg Mckeown’s philosophy on “doing less but better”.

Breaking our lives down into its essential components and making choices based on our highest priorities. The needle moving tasks, the relationships that we truly care about and so forth.

A disciplined pursuit of less in order to do purposeful work to the best of our ability.

Combine this philosophy with pareto’s law:

20% of the work creates 80% of the results

The essential 20% is what we must gain clarity on and take action.

Take your goal for the next Week, month or quarter.

Use first principles to understand what the fundamentals are to your goal.

Then Identify what the essential 20% of tasks are that will allow you to achieve it.

Simplicity stacking:

Breaking down any task, action or thought into it’s simplest form. let’s call this a simplicity block.

These blocks, when stacked vertically, can be used to understand complex topics. Create unique perspectives and provide a foundation to deeper learning.

Let’s take my earlier example of writing a newsletter. The simplest action was to write one sentence, then one paragraph etc. by stacking these actions ontop of eachother, I eventually create a newsletter. As you become more familiar and consistent at the lower blocks, you increase the likelihood of being able to perform the next task up.

Over time, simplicity stacks until you’re operating more complex scenarios on a more consistent basis.

If it’s simple its easy to understand

If it’s simple its easy to do

If it’s easy to do it’s easier to do consistently.

When you were a baby, you make sounds with your mouth. Over time, those sounds become words in your native language. Then you begin to associate words with actions, people and things.

Next you put words together and form sentences.

Over time your understanding increases and with it, the complexity of your vocabulary and sentences.

Before you know it, you’ve gone from talking nonsense to speaking a language.

This is simplicity stacking. You’ve used it your entire life unconsciously.

Bringing this into your awareness can improve your ability to learn anything and everything.

Simplicity provides clarity. clarity brings alignment. alignment creates fulfillment.

Are we not all after a fulfilling life?

Break a problem down into the fundamentals - understanding

Identify the essential tasks - clarity

Simplify execution into easy steps - action

Do the work and watch your results compound.

Stay curious,

Morgan Bedford