“Complicated” can be alluring.
We think “there HAS to be more to it than this.”
We think “If a little bit is good, then a LOT more must be even better!”
After we learn the basics of something, we then feel compelled to complicate the hell out of it in search of MORE, BETTER, FASTER…
Only to eventually realize we had it right all along!
So we then simplify and get back to basics…and thus get back to making enjoyable progress again.
I’ve been on this journey in nearly every area of my life, and it was fun thinking back on four times I learned this lesson.
In every example below, I’m now better off than when I tried to optimize everything.
Not only that, but I’m less stressed because I don’t have complicated systems that might fall apart too.
#1: Exercise
When I started exercising, I tried to get stronger. I did squats and deadlifts and pull-ups and push-ups.
Then I learned more… I had to optimize everything. My workouts got way more complicated, I added in extra exercises and tracked my rest time between sets and targeting every muscle and balancing on one leg for various things.
20+ years later… I try to get stronger. I do squats and deadlifts and pull-ups and dips. I’m still fit at 40, but without the complexity!
#2: Nutrition
When I started learning about nutrition, I tried to eat enough protein and enough calories to build muscle, along with fruits and vegetables.
Then I learned more about nutrition… Not enough to actually know what I was talking about, but enough to overcomplicate everything. I thought the Paleo Diet was the optimal way to eat (I was wrong a lot back then) and carbs were evil. I focused on meal timing and glycemic index of foods and fasting and all sorts of optimization protocols.
20+ years later… I try to eat enough protein and enough calories to build muscle, along with fruits and vegetables.
#3: Personal Finance
When I got my first job, I tried to live below my means, kept my expectations in check, put money into an emergency fund, and put some money into a simple index fund (which I learned about from my friend Ramit’s book).
Then I made a TINY bit of money, and thought I needed a financial advisor, who talked me into a dumb insurance policy. I tried picking my own stocks and timing the market (which didn’t work), I invested in all sorts of dumb things thinking it was diversification.
Luckily I snapped outta this one early!
20+ years later… I live below my means, I keep my expectations in check, I have an emergency fund, and I put my money into a simple index fund.
#4: Career
When I started Nerd Fitness, I wrote about things that interested me and loved it.
Then the site got bigger and I thought I needed to change myself! I optimized my writing for search engines and tried to figure out social media and then I read management books and forced myself into roles and hired out a big ass team and spent most of my time in meetings or analyzing stuff and NOT writing.
15+ years later, I write about things that interest me and love it.
Complex and more optimized isn’t always better
My challenge for you this week:
Notice where you have added complexity to your life.
Where have you added more complicated strategies, extra hurdles, and unnecessary systems to try to make things “work.”
When the solution is actually to simplify the everliving crap out of it!
- Can you simplify your workouts and just focus on getting stronger or faster with the basic movements?
- Where are you overcomplicating your nutrition, and can instead just focus on the basics?
- Where can you simplify your finances?
- Do you have a complicated productivity system, when a simple journal would probably be even better?
-Steve