“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs
Kabir – The couplet
“साधना बिनु सब सूना, साधना सब काज।
साधना बिनु सुधि ना होई, साधना सब राज॥”
Transliterated:
“Saadhana binu sab soona, saadhana sab kaaj।
Saadhana binu sudhi naa hoi, saadhana sab raaj॥”
Translation:
“Without simplicity, all is hollow; simplicity is the essence of all deeds |
Without simplicity, there’s no wisdom; simplicity is the ultimate truth ||
My Understanding
The human brain is geared to complexity and most humans tend to allow thoughts to stray and float away – on tangential threads. Cognitive bias (an example is confirmation bias, where one has the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses), emotional influence (stress, anxiety, excitement, or even boredom can lead to wandering thoughts as the brain seeks to process and cope with emotional stimuli), neurobiology (dopamine levels?), environmental factors (e.g.: noise, distractions, or interruptions), lack of mindfulness or attention control – all are factors leading to this straying of thought.
While these factors contribute to the tendency of the human brain to create complexity where none exists, they also underscore the richness and flexibility of human cognition, allowing for creativity, problem-solving, and adaptability in various situations.
The trick is to train ourselves to focus on the core task at hand, and train all tangential threads to either contribute to the core by bringing them back to the central point, or teaching ourselves to immediately discard them rather than allow them to drag us further away. When we do this, all of a sudden, the mind finds clarity of both purpose and process, and finds goals to be easier to achieve. And this, I believe, lies at the heart of all success stories – simplicity and focus.