Keep It Simple

Whenever we are caught in a job that requires some level of creativity, we tend to complicate our thinking. Somewhere in the back of our minds, we think it is more complex than it actually is, maybe because some others did something similar in a certain way or spoke about how hard it was. So this starts impacting the way we think, and we create this image in our head that something is complicated.

There is one question I ask myself whenever I struggle with something that feels complicated.

If This Were Easy, What Would It Look Like?

It feels heroic solving complex issues instead of simple ones. So, we all have this unconscious bias that assumes complex is worthy or valuable. This bias permeates into our thinking and impacts our ability to keep it simple.

Asking this question helps me imagine what I need to do for the task I have on my hand to look easy. Is there something that I am doing that is redundant and taking me in the wrong direction, and complicating my mind?

A proposal needs to be prepared for a client, and it feels complex because the client’s requirements are complex. As a result, I find myself struggling to put through a cohesive story. In this situation, when I ask myself this question, “if this were easy, what would it look like?”, invariably the fog lifts.

How should the proposal be presented so that the client finds it easy to relate to what I wish to propose? Am I overthinking the messages I want to convey? If I had to explain it in one slide as a summary for it to be easily understood, what would the message be?

Thinking easy is not easy. It always feels complicated, and our mind is more comfortable being in a confused state, thinking that the problem is complex. But when we discipline our minds to keep it simple, it does get easy.

Keep it simple should always be the motto particularly when it pertains to problem solving.