Simple Is Not Easy
August 15, 2020•205 words
453
Simplicity is a virtue of incredible power. It is a tool anyone looking for balance must comprehend and utilize.
Simplifying physical things, mental processes, emotions, even, is a never-ending, but very rewarding process. It reduces all forms of overload, and allows us to reach the truest, most important essentials of life. Think of this as signal vs noise - simple = signal. And signal is all we want.
Yet, there seems to be a common belief, intuitiveness, that simple means easy. It is quite a logical assumption; whenever we think of a process, tool, achievement that is simple in its nature, we assume that it must be easy.
This is not the case. The process of simplifying is itself definitely not easy: finding the signal in a sea of noise, clarifying and polishing it, cutting away the noise, and iterating constantly is tough. It's tougher when we are submerged in the noise.
Often, the breakthrough ideas we have are simple. Yet, the path we had to take to reach them was as complicated as possible. I see this in philosophy, psychology, design, management, art, science, and all the various aspects of life.
Strive towards simplicity, even when it will require the most complicated effort.