Difficulty of a situation is inversely proportional to the simplicity of it

Today was leg day. Went in and did my regular routine except I hit a new PR on about half my sets, including squats. Usually I add smaller plates to incrementally add weight to the bar, but by putting a single plate on the bar and taking off the smaller weights, even though I was lifting more, it felt like I was lifting less. I was convinced I would fail the set, but by just upping the weight and doing it, it made me think - does the amount of plates on the bar affect whether or not we can psychologically withstand the weight, even if it's the same weight. For example: if there's 45lbs on each side in the form of a 25lb plate + two 10lb plates, would that affect you differently than putting a single 45lb plate on each side - I think so. Not sure why, but I felt that happen today.

Makes me think if the limitations that you put on yourself by saying you can't do something, is it because it's not doable, or because the complexity of the situation makes you think it's harder than it actually is? Maybe by simplifying your life while still upping the weight of responsibility, comparable to replacing multiple plates on a bar with 1 plate, you can fulfill your increased responsibilities more easily than your previously less responsible self. In equation form it could be written out as: Simplicity = (1 / Difficulty), where difficulty of a situation is inversely proportional to the simplicity of it. When we overcomplicate things and introduce complexity, things become more difficult.