Kiss Complexity Goodbye: How to Assure Success

Let me start off by saying something that may be controversial — success is simple.

That goes completely against the story that most of us tell ourselves, most of the time. As silly as it seems, we want to believe that it’s complicated. Because if it was simple, we would already be successful, right?

Success is simple. But it is not easy.

The idea of success often gets tangled up in convoluted strategies and complex plans. But you can’t think your way out when you haven’t yet taken action. We over-complicate things as it makes us feel better. When you spend time planning and strategizing, you feel good; you’re convincing myself that you’re making progress. Instead, you’re avoiding the work.

Maybe you decide you need to take a course, to learn the latest techniques. This is you tricking yourself into feeling productive, when the reality is you’re putting off what needs to be done.

The truth is:

• If you want to lose weight, you need to eat healthier and exercise more.
• If you want to write a book, you need to write consistently.
• If you want to get promoted, you must produce consistent results, and they need to be results that matter to your organization.
• If you want a calmer mind, you need to meditate.
• If you want to connect on a deeper level with people around you, you need to put your phone away.

You get the point. The solutions are all right there, right in front of you. You are smart and don’t need me to tell you the solution. You already know.

And yet — somehow you’re still stuck.

Why?

The answer is simple. You’re not doing the things you know you need to be doing. You aren’t executing on the concrete, specific tasks you already know you need to do. Instead, you’re searching for a way to let yourself off the hook.

Just get started. In doing so, you will make progress, fail, learn, and adapt. You’ll wonder why you spent so much time putting it off, discovering that you’ve put more energy and time into thinking about the thing than what it took to actually do the thing. Even if you are facing a complicated, gnarly problem, you can break it down into simple, actionable steps. And as you take each step, you’ll gain the knowledge, insights, and experience you need to show the next step.

Follow the KISS rule; “Keep it simple, stupid”.

You got this!

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