“The art of art, the glory of
expression and the sunshine of letters, is: simplicity.”—Walt Whitman
There is
power in simplicity.
However,
most of us do not fully realize this fact. That’s why we find it easier to make
things complicated than to make things simple. Steve Jobs, the cofounder of
Apple, agreed.
Jobs often
said that simple can be harder than complex; you need to think really hard to
make things simple but once you get there however, you can move mountains.
On this
topic, Leo Babauta, the author of many books on peak performance and the founder
of Zen Habits, says:
“I believe
in simplicity. If you simplify things, it will seem like you’ve found a
miraculous shortcut.”
And he goes
further to suggest a process we can adopt with regards to learning, doing and
becoming better without unnecessary complexities and complications.
Below are
simple but effective steps to improvement and mastery:
1} We should lower the bar of mastery, so we only
need to be better than the general populace.
2} We should narrow the area of expertise, so
instead of seeking to know everything about a thing, we just learn enough to be
well-equipped only at the essential areas.
3} We should reduce our method of doing anything
to its bare bones, so instead of using 30 steps to accomplish a goal, we use
the vital 3.
In support
of this strategy, the scientific thinker, Isaac Newton said: “Truth is ever to
be found in the simplicity and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”
Now let me
narrate a life example of this simplification miracle…
The story is
about someone who did something that many people can’t do because of lack of
time to train and prepare for months.
Scott
Dinsmore, the American personal freedom coach, became an inspiration to many by
following a simple process to shorten his journey towards a big goal.
The goal: He
wanted to run an ultra-marathon. {Generally, this requires up to six months of rigorous
preparation and training.}
And Scott
didn’t have six months to train.
So he read the
book, ‘Born to Run’ to gain inspiration and studied another book to learn about
running style. As a result of these short but focused steps, he gained enough
skills to accomplish his goal.
He went out
and ran an ultra-marathon after only doing three training runs just two weeks prior.
Wow!
And, 15
miles was the longest he’d ever run in his training. Amazing!
As you can
see, the power of simplicity enabled Dinsmore to achieve a milestone. This clearly
confirms the words of Leornardo da Vinci who said: “Simplicity is the ultimate
sophistication.”
If you still
wonder whether you can pull off such a feat, Scott Dinsmore has a piece of
advice for you. He says: “If you’re going to
shortcut expertise, at least enough to accomplish a goal, you absolutely must
find the few who have done it. Model them, and don’t look back.”
Finally, we
should listen to the experts and realize that true power lies not in complexity
but in simplification. Having realized its efficacy, Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon, the
Nigerian-American Olympic gold-winning medalist in basketball, said one of his
favourite virtues is: simplicity.
Indeed, simplicity
is not only the art of arts but also the heart of arts.
