Simpler is harder. Yes, you heard me right. SIMPLER IS HARDER. Here’s a quick example. Which one do you think is more difficult to achieve: to stuff your house with more things or to declutter it?
Many would agree with me on this following claim: Complication is not that complicated, and simplification is often far from simple. Even if you are not a huge fan of simplicity, give me a chance to show you why you might want to reconsider embracing it.
An Elegant Approach
The universe is disorderly. For those of you who come without technical backgrounds, entropy is a quantifiable entity commonly used by physicists and engineers to evaluate the messiness of the universe. Globally, entropy must increase with time because the universe is constantly expanding and becoming an increasingly chaotic place with every passing second.
Fascinated by the elegance of the notion that time, the dimension in which chaos-ness manifests itself, could be summarised into a single equation, Professor Stephen Hawking spent a significant portion of his challenging life trying to formulate a Theory of Everything, just to discover that he might have been wrong all along.
The ‘simple’ universal equation may never be found, but one thing is for sure: the obsession for simplicity will continue to lie deep in our desire to reveal the ultimate truth of the reality we live in.
Simple is elegant, so much so that we would work relentlessly to find a simple, direct answer to the meaning of our very own existence.
Simple Things Work
Any experienced designers will do their best to simplify their creative produce. Because the quality of a design is often measured by its effectiveness, in another word, its ability to produce the desired outcomes while keeping things relatively simple.
“Keep it stupid, simple,” The application and impact of K.I.S.S. can be witnessed throughout Steve Jobs’ career and in the company he founded and would justify why so many people are enchanted by their visionary products.
“... you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple,” he proclaimed. Jobs’ devoted followers or not, I think anyone can benefit from adopting this principle of his. It is not just a principle designed for a successful career. I suppose it is something deeper – a philosophy for a prolific life.
The Fadeaway of Simple Values
We have all been taught many values since our young ages by our parents and teachers – be responsible, persevere, take courage, be honest, etc. But how many of us are still upholding these straightforward yet vital values?
We are so mesmerised by the current waves of materialism and idealism that we start to deviate from the basic values that we should all adhere to, the values that we know are worth keeping.
Why not simplify our lives and values? Simplification forces us to go deep to find out what we truly want in life. And it may be the only way we could prevail over this over-complicated reality.
What if less really is more? What if one can be better than two? What if the simple values that we possess all this while contain the answers that we are looking for?
Question and you will have the answers. Good luck.
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Cheers!
Your words inspire deep thought and reflection, keep writing!