by Tim Driver

Created on: August 06, 2009   Last Updated: August 07, 2009

The Complexity of Simplicity:

It seems oxymoronic to go into detail about simplicity, so I'll try to keep it simple.

All one need do is to go to the smorgasbord of garage sales in any neighborhood on a given weekend to see that Americans detest simplicity. Clutter is much more the pattern of choice for most. Surrounding ourselves with the new and improved gives us comfort and complexity simultaneously. But the comfort is only temporary, until the new and improved becomes the old and ignored.

Our belongings aren't the only area we complicate matters. New fad diets, revamping education, ground breaking methods of self-help, all suggest that we cannot be satisfied with simple time tested methods as being enough. Relationships themselves are no stranger. Today, if a man doesn't provide one of 253 vital physical, emotional and spiritual necessities for his partner, he is in obvious need of some training or upgrading. Likewise, it isn't enough for a woman to balance her career and family responsibilities, she now must understand her man's unspoken needs, while fighting global warming as well. With all the gadgets purchased and diets attempted, it was only inevitable that we would complicate relationships eventually.

And what of morality and integrity? Nightmares like Enron, and more recently AIG, suggest ethical behavior has become situational and must be analyzed and over-thought. It seems situations have become too complex for simple uprightness. Politicians have many excuses and complex explanations for their own justification. The fact of the matter is, in all the aforementioned situations, those who are successful with their finances, relationships, business dealings, and integrity are successful because they have simplified.

So what is the solution of simplification? Do not confuse simple with easy. Operating from a set of a few basic core values allows people to make decisions that are simple. They may not be easy decisions to make, but WHICH decision to make is simple to choose when using the same set of core values to make every decision large or small.

When President Harry S. Truman left office on his last day, he went back inside the oval office after having exited for what he thought was the last time. When questioned about it later, he commented that upon leaving, he realized that he still had a pen that belonged in the oval office. With the core value of honesty, the decision was simple, though seemingly small.

Putting core values in place allows someone the freedom from clutter, an absence of excess, and the denial of "more is better". A simple core value of "no shortcuts" will keep people from get rich quick schemes, the abdominizer 2000 for flat stomachs, shallow romances, and shady business practices. Simplicity doesn't make life easy, just less complicated.

Examine your life closet. Are there things that can be tossed out? Can core value construction be the needed makeover? The answer is quite simple.

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