My 16-year-old daughter was clearly having a difficult time answering the question I’d just asked her.
“What’s simple in your life?”
She closed her eyes and rubbed her eyebrows.
“Umm. Pff. Umm…I don’t know. It’s not simple finding something simple.”
She struggled to come up with something and finally, she said: “Well, reading.”
I asked what was simple about reading. She told me it was enjoyable, not forced, and easy.
I told her that for me making my bed in the morning is simple.
She immediately shook her head and said, “No way.”
For her, it’s hard to do.
I then texted my mother to get her thoughts:
Defining simplicity is not that simple.
And it can be subjective.
But there are some core elements that make things simple:
No resistance or friction
Ease
Not stressful
Few and clear options
No (big) decisions required
Do you see what all these things have in common?
Simple doesn’t require us to think too much.
Simple feels like a rest for the mind.
Overthinking is what makes things hard.
When I asked my daughter why she thought so few things seemed simple to her, she said: “I overthink everything so nothing is ever simple.”
The wise words of a teenager.
In my experience, most entrepreneurs are overthinkers.
Overthinking leads to an overloaded mind.
An overloaded mind leads to overwhelm.
Too many “overs”!
And while simplicity isn’t easy to achieve, it’s possible to make simplicity our compass.
When we consistently move toward simplicity, it leaves more space for the kind of creative deep thinking that has an outsized impact on our businesses.