Simplify

Do you want to know a secret? Want to be successful? To know the way to be happy and at peace? The world is a complex place. A place where all our senses are bombarded with information day in and day out. Where the worlds problems keep getting bigger and bigger. Our nations debt keeps getting larger and larger. Our days keep getting pulled in more and more directions. What’s the answer?

It’s what we are all looking for and when it appears, in one form or another, we flock to it like a moth to a flame. What’s the answer?

Simplify the complex.

Just stop and think about it. How many of you have ever let your house get a little…..oh, how do you say….messy? Now when I say messy, I’m not talking about having a few things scattered about. I’m referring to where you have to repel into your place just to get around? Now how did you feel after you dug it out? You got rid of the things you didn’t use. You put things into their proper places. Things were clean and organized and out of your way. Out of your mind. How did you feel? Didn’t you feel relieved? Didn’t stress just seem melt away. Didn’t you feel at peace? Didn’t you simplify the complex?

Simplify the complex. It’s in your iPod, your Tivo, your hamburger at In-n-Out, your coffee at Starbucks. It’s staying debt free and paying your bills on time. Maybe even setting up automatic bill pay. It’s everywhere. You just have to look for it. Simplify the complex. It’s what successful people and companies do that make them successful.

Simplify the complex. That’s what Dr. Ralph Smedley did with Toastmasters and public speaking. There are many elements to successful public speaking. Wouldn’t you agree? You have Vocal Variety, Body Language, Vocabulary, Structure, Research, the list can go on and on. This is where Dr. Smedley succeeded. He broke all these issues and aspects down into small simple chunks and formed them into a program called Toastmasters. Each speech focuses on a specific aspect of speaking. Then after focusing on the basics, the first 10 speeches, what does the program do next? It breaks it down into more specific chunks. It’s like that old saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Simplify the complex. That is exactly what Steve Jobs, and crew, have been doing at Apple again and again. The music industry is complex. It was being taken over by pirates. Those in control were grasping on to their sinking ships thinking it would save them. They were not willing to let go and board a new ship right next to them. Consumers were looking for a quicker and easier way to get music and an easier way to listen to it. The music industry was looking to stop the hemorrhaging caused by these revolutionary pirates, whom created a simple distribution system known as Napster. Enter Steve Jobs, and crew, with two symbiotic products, the iPod and iTunes. The iPod is a simple easy to use portable audio device, that’s so easy to use my mom knows how to use one. iTunes is the iPod’s software counterpart. When used together a user doesn’t have to think about anything. They simply plug their iPod into their computer and magically all their favorite music loads onto the iPod from their computer without doing anything else. That wasn’t enough though. It needed to be easier. So Mr. Jobs went out and gathered the rights to distribute all the music from the big five music companies, online. Now with a single click of your mouse, you can automatically purchase, download, and load onto your iPod your favorite music. No more going to the music store. No more trying to figure out which band was which. It is now all in one place, easy to find, and more importantly easy to use. What has this resulted in? Apple controls 75% of a market that used to be controlled by Sony. Apple is ranked as the number 4 music store just below Walmart and Target and it controls 75% of the online music distribution market. The closest competitor, emusic, controls roughly 9%. All because they simplified the complex. They brought it all together, so you the consumer didn’t have to think about it.

Simplify the Complex. Like at In-n-Out. That’s what a hamburger’s all about. When you walk into an In-n-Out, how many items on the menu do you see? Not many. A couple of cheese burgers, a hamburger, fries, shakes, and some drinks. That’s it. Nothing more. Where’s all our options? Our variety? Our chicken nuggets. Our curly fries. Our sandwiches. The tacos and pizzas and salads? Forget about that stuff. What did In-n-Out do? They simplified the complex. They focused on burgers. Go to one of their restaurants at any time during normal business hours and you will find a very busy store. By simplifying the complex, the quality of their product went up because they can focus on the few things they made.

Simplify the complex. That’s all there is to it. That’s all you have to do. By simplifying the complex, you can break down a large problem into small chunks. By simplifying the complex you can take complex systems you once had to think about and automate them so you can get to what’s truly important. By simplifying the complex you can focus on quality. Now you might be thinking to yourself, “But there’s more to everything than ‘just simplifying the complex’, Colin” I say stop trying to make everything so difficult, it’s thinking like that that make things so complex.