Keep it simple, stupid

We often make things harder than necessary.

When Bill Clinton shot onto the national scene in 1991 and won the presidency, his campaign team was famously credited with keeping things simple. When tawdry headlines or even policy issues could’ve pulled Clinton off the mark, his team worked to keep the news coming out of their campaign focused on the economy. The line “It’s the economy, Stupid” became a rallying cry.

Of course, Clinton beat incumbent President George H.W. Bush for many deeper reasons, but I never forget the lesson: Keep it simple.

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Simple is as simple does

The Clinton Campaign actually stole the principle from process design. The principle Keep it simple, stupid (KISS) is a design principle which states that designs and/or systems should be as simple as possible. Wherever possible, complexity should be avoided in a system—as simplicity guarantees the greatest levels of user acceptance and interaction.

There’s even a theory, Occam’s Razor, also called the law of parsimony. In simple language, the theory states that the simplest explanation is preferable to one that is more complex. Simple theories are easier to verify and to execute.

Image by Miguel Á. Padriñán via Pexels.

In real life

Now I’m no process or design expert, but when I look back over the years, I see a few connections. Throughout my life, I’ve found that it has helped me in making both big and small decisions:

• What to wear to an event? Keep it simple, stick with the blue shirt and tan khakis. No fuss, no muss.
• What car to buy? Keep it simple, a car is not a status symbol. If it is, it’s an expensive symbol. Go for the car with the best gas mileage and sound safety measures.
• Should I propose to the girl I’m dating? Do you love her? Oh my goodness, yes, then keep it simple, ask her to marry you!
• How should I propose? First, make sure you have a ring and some flowers and then you get on bended knee and you ask, d’uh. You’re making this harder than it needs to be Brian!
• Should we have kids? Will it make her happy? Will it make you happy? Then, why not? Money stopping you? You’ll never have enough money. You’ll figure out what to sacrifice. Keep it simple.
• Should I quit my job? Will it make you happy? In the short term, but then how will you pay your bills. Yea, maybe I should wait until I get another job first. Yes, now you’re thinking.

I find even now the principle works. Yes, life is full of big complicated problems that look a lot like a onion, where you keep learning more and more of the details, but in the end, I usually come back to the simple solutions, the best answer is usually the simplest one that straddles both what my brain and my heart are telling me.

What works for you? Simple or more complex?