stop making simplicity so complicated

This blog is a constant source of self-doubt and pride for me at the same time. I’m proud of it because I have proven to myself that I can stay with one topic long enough to write 2-3 articles a week for over four months. I have been able to think about one topic in multiple ways and I haven’t bored myself with it yet. On the other hand, I am filled with self-doubt because I feel like I’m over complicating something that should be very simple. Simplicity should be simple, right!? If something is simple how do you write over fifty articles on it and have ideas for over 100 more?

In the end, I think the fact that the simplicity movement has become so popular over the past few years is a critique of where modern society is and where it is going. People are realizing that the complexity that is being added to their lives has a certain limit and needs a counterpoint. I think the reason that people are finding so much content to write about is that adding simplicity (or removing complexity) allows for an examination of related topics like personal development. Simplicity, minimalism and personal development are all separate ideas that play off of each other very well. My hope is that I am providing some sort of synthesis between the three of them in an interesting and logical manner.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t worry about making something that shouldn’t be too difficult unnecessarily complex. If I have, let me give you the gist of this entire blog and the entire simplicity movement in one sentence:

Get rid of everything that doesn’t matter so you can focus on what does.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. That’s what I try to write about every day and that is what this whole movement is about. The way you take that sentence and apply it to your own life will be different than the way I do– and that’s where this and every other simplicity blog comes in.

Good luck.

Photo by Gianni-Jetzer

Related Posts with Thumbnails

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under simplicity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Simplicity is a form of grace when you know how, otherwise it can be a most challenging objective.

    [$M.]
  • lovely post. going through much the same thinking at the moment. have concluded that the more certain you are of your motivation, the easier simplicity becomes. it's mental confusion which makes it complicated.
  • Thanks! Mental clarity in terms of motivation helps you get through those "down" aspects of life. Mental confusion can make it nearly impossible to break through the tough times.
  • I think you just beat the internet with that bold statement.

    Wonderfully succinct and illuminating at once. I now have no need to continue reading your blog.

    I only kid. Good stuff, Sam. I will continue to wait excitedly for each post.

    Glenn
  • Nah, simplicity is never so simple. That's why it's a movement... takes a lot of effort it keep things simple in such a maelstrom of complexity. If it were simple, it wouldn't be nearly as engaging.

    Really it's not about simplicity. It's about encapsulating complexity. It's about addressing exactly the point that you want to address, without everything else in the way. Simple things cannot do much, so you cannot ignore the complexity of the system. You can only push the hooks to the system off to the side, to see one small, simple picture at a time.

    Simplifying ideas turns them into maxims. "Get rid of everything that doesn’t matter so you can focus on what does" is a great example. It is a great simple statement that has a lot of weight, but fails to address method and application, which are generally complex.
  • I'm not saying it's easy to implement the idea of simplicity in our lives. If I thought that, I doubt I would have bothered starting a blog and writing copiously on the topic. I'm just saying that sometimes people tend to get lost in the details of simplification and lose sight of what they are actually trying to accomplish.
  • A great point not only for physical things, but also for how you use your time.

    In the past few weeks I've been using the question "are you spending or investing your time?"

    There have certainly been points where I am just spending time - watching the olympics or whatever, but at least now I'm conscious of it. It's also helped me to decide to "invest" time working on my blog/business or hanging out with my kids instead of "spending" time aimlessly surfing the web or playing video games.
  • Becoming conscious of how exactly we spend our time is such a crucial step to living a fulfilling life. I've always been surprised by the results of time logs I have done in the past. Any time I have felt "out of whack" and done an assessment on how I've spent my time always results in more "spending" time than "investing."

    Thanks for the comment!
  • Weston
    It is a great sentence but (no pun intended) I think that it is often too simplistic.

    What if something you own doesn't matter to you, but matters very deeply to a person you love who is the co-owner? Do you get rid of it then?
  • Well, I would assume that the people you care about matter very much indeed to you. Therefore, the things that make them happy and give them joy also matter to you.
  • Weston
    Well sure they matter but that begs the question of balancing what matters for me and my values and what matters to me only because it is important to those I love. To give an example my wife (who is generally on the frugal side) really likes big houses for various reasons. I prefer small houses (even putting aside issues of finance, simplicity etc).

    So if I get rid of what doesn't matter to me (a large house) my wife will be unhappy. If I don't get rid of what doesn't matter to me (a large house) I'm taking care of my wife's needs and wants at the expense of my own. Which brings me back to my original position that it's a fine sentence and a fine sentiment but it is simplistic in a world where we often love (and share things) people who have different needs and values from our own.
  • Obviously relationships are going to add a complicating dynamic to our lives. Not that that is a bad thing by any means. I still think the basic idea behind my article stays the same, regardless of relationship status. For me, "Get rid of everything that doesn’t matter so you can focus on what does," means getting rid of my own physical and mental clutter so I can focus on things that matter, like finding compromises that allow me to live harmoniously with my loved ones. I don't expect my girlfriend to meld completely to my worldview and she doesn't expect me to meld to hers.
  • Don't worry about overcomplicating a simple matter. It's good that you can put it so succinctly. That means the idea makes sense. But that doesn't mean it's easy to adapt to.

    I sort of look at simplicity and minimalism as a new language I'm learning. It isn't native to everyone. And when you're learning a new language, you learn to do over all the simple, basic, taken-for-granted things that come so naturally in your first language. You have to learn a whole new structure, a whole new vocabulary. That's why writing about it is helpful for those who are trying to learn. Yeah, it IS that simple. It IS that obvious, but not to everyone and not right away. And you're doing a great job of teaching.
  • That's a really good metaphor. As an actual teacher, I should remember that things that appear obvious to me might not be so easy to the unitiated. Thanks for reminding me.
  • You're welcome :-)
  • Lizzizzie
    Not that I'm an expert, but I'm with Karo. Just because ideas or movements have guiding principles doesn't mean that they're easy to apply. Like anything, it's "easier said than done" - I think your blog is addressing the how-to-do-it aspect. Additionally, I think you're presenting your ideas in a way that isn't pretentious or overly preachy. It's your self-evaluation - you say, "Here's what works for me. It may or may not work for you." Regardless of whether I bother to try and whether it works for me, there's value for me in reading about your experiences.
blog comments powered by Disqus
 

Optimized by SEO Ultimate