Choices Paralyze Us…Simplify and Become More Productive
Don’t over complicate things. Many situations do not warrant an overcomplicated strategy. Keep things simple.
Be brilliant in the basics because it will get you through most situations.
We conflate complexity with progress. We do this while shunning simplicity. Technology provides with tools that make daily tasks easier. This advancement allows us to do more. It allows us to multitask. This is misleading. Quality suffers at the expense of quantity.
“Busy-ness” causes us to believe we are making progress. This cannot be further from the truth.
Keep things simple. When things become overwhelming, distill down to the foundation level.
I have succumbed to “shiny-new-object” syndrome when it comes to note-taking systems. It seems like every week, a new system comes out and I need to adopt.
My “why” for note-taking was to produce, and publish, more content. When I was overcome by complexity, I became unproductive. I had to adopt a new system because of the successes others were having using said system. This seemed like a never-ending cycle. The only constant was how unproductive I was.
Simplify by reducing choices.
Paralysis by analysis is common today because of all the choices. The multitude of choices exhausts our minds before we start the main task. This is why Mark Zuckerberg wears the same clothes daily. He has more important things to think about than his daily wardrobe.
The next time you feel overwhelmed with anything, reduce the amount of choices you have. You will force yourself to think about what is really important.
