The Reason You Keep Making Things More Complex Than They Should Be

Maybe there’s something you’re trying to hide

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If you ever consume information about nutrition, relationships, fitness, or productivity, then you know that people often make things overly complex. Sometimes complexity is necessary but often it is not, and it can make things worse rather than better.

On the supply side, many people make things complex so they can sell them. It is hard to monetize the basics. But come up with an intricate and sexy-sounding approach to pretty much any endeavor and people will pay⁠ — and often a lot⁠ — for it. But what about the demand side? Why do people buy this stuff over and over again?

Perhaps because complexity is a way to avoid facing the reality that what really matters for most things in life is simply showing up and doing the work. Not thinking about it. Not talking about it. Not dreaming about it. But doing it. Put differently, maybe part of our attraction to complexity is that you can so easily hide behind it. Complexity feeds procrastination.

The more complex you make something, the easier it is to get excited about, talk about, and maybe even to get started. But the harder it is to stick to over the long-haul. Complexity gives you excuses and ways out and endless options for switching things up all the time. Simplicity is different. You can’t hide behind simplicity. You have to show up — day in, day out — and pound the stone.

If the approach you are following allows for consistency, follows some kind of periodization (stress + rest = growth), and is open to adaptation and adjustments along the way, then it will probably be effective.

Do the work. Rest. Progressively make it harder. Tweak as needed. Repeat. There is nothing complex about it, which is precisely why it is so effective. Or, as they say in Zen Buddhism, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” In most endeavors, starting and sustaining the path of progress is as simple and as hard as that.

My newsletter is the Growth Equation. My Twitter is @Bstulberg. My latest book is The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success that Feeds — Not Crushes — Your Soul.