Last week, I wrote about the Paradox of Choice and why having too many options is bad for our monkey-brain. We explored the negative effect and mental load that having millions of decisions at our fingertips has, and how it leads to anxiety.
Having too many choices can literally freeze us. Having too many options can lead to a litany of issues, such as decision fatigue and dissatisfaction. The grass-is-greener complex, where we’re always looking for the next ‘best’ thing.
No one likes people who only see problems, so here’s a solution.
This week, we have the magic pill. The cure. The antidote. Our version of Ozempic.
Just kidding.
But we ARE exploring simplicity.
Simplicity as Strength
The modern world can often treat ‘simple’ as second-class, basic, almost as a weakness. If you don’t have 10 businesses, 100 people working for you, 17 houses and a massive dick/booty, you’re a failure. Yet, some of the most powerful parts of our nature are simple. Tired? Sleep. Hungry? Eat. Thirsty? Drink.
Looking at our own nature, complexity can often create fragility, whereas simplicity can create resilience. Travelling and missing a step in your 12-step morning routine? The day is basically fucked. Your morning routine is a glass of water and some deep breaths? The start to your day is pretty much bulletproof.
The Ancient Stoics were big believers in simplicity and removing what isn’t necessary. They saw the removal of literal and mental clutter as the first step to clarity. We’ll revisit this later.
Why Simplicity is the Antidote.
Maybe we should all aspire to become hermits. Escape the trappings of society and become goat herders in the wilderness.
Maybe we should delete all our social media accounts, all the dating apps and try to rewind to the year 2000?
Or maybe we can just try to simplify our lives?
A reasonable goal would be to reduce our cognitive friction by limiting our choices.
Every choice we make is another rep on our brain, another bit of mental fatigue added to the load. By reducing our brain strain, we free up space for the things that do matter, the things that deserve our attention.
Right now, every day we’re fighting battles on all fronts:
What to wear,
What to eat,
When to train,
What task to prioritise,
What content to consume,
Who to flirt with,
What social events to go to, and so on
Every micro choice uses the same finite resource - our executive function.
This wears us down, creating an avalanche in our minds. Optionality makes discipline hard. Simplicity makes discipline automatic.
Living with Less Noise is An Art.
At the end of a week, do you ever feel like you are just surfacing after doing a max breath hold? Like you’ve been running back and forth both mentally and physically, from meeting to task, to checkbox to obligation. Then you have more tasks and chores and obligations on the weekend, only to realise that it’s Sunday afternoon and you haven’t had a fucking minute to be still, and you have to run it all back tomorrow?! We’re running on full throttle, like a clown juggling on a unicycle, through a ring of fire while avoiding a poorly trained lion.
It’s easy to live with noise. We get meeting invites that we have to say yes to. We get given tasks from our boss that have a deadline. We attend weddings of people we only half-like. Attention is captured by doom-scrolling, Netflix, YouTube or any number of other streaming services designed to trap our brains.
Our hardware was never designed for it.
Less chaos is less cortisol.
When do you get the feeling of simplicity? Clarity of thought? It might be when you go on holiday and realise that your schedule isn’t packed, in fact, your only decision is where to surf, or what bar to have a beer at. All of a sudden, you realise what your inner monologue sounds like because you aren’t bombarding it with inane garbage. And your inner monologue is fucking dreading going back to work.
Living simply doesn’t detract from life - it removes the waste and works as a magnifier to what’s important.
Living with more simplicity is an artform, and not easy to do.
So? Habits.
Routine. Regularity. Structure.
We are what our habits make us.
Give yourself some constraints that are in line with simplicity. Say no to things that you don’t need.
When you remove the unnecessary choices, you remove the need to feel ‘motivated’. You remove the other potential outcomes because, in fact, there are none.
If you wear the same thing each day, no decision required.
If your training schedule is set, no negotiating with yourself.
If your diet is simple and easy, no need to go down the confectionery aisle.
If your bedtime is set, no bargaining with yourself for one more episode.
If you delete your social accounts or set a timer, you’re constrained.
We are what we repeatedly do - simplicity and continual habits will breed self-confidence.
Simplicity as Strength
Cleanthes was one of the OG Stoics, living simply by choice. He studied under Zeno by day and carried water by night. He wasn’t a charismatic visionary like Chrysippus, or the founder like Zeno, but he was the strong right hand that embodied the philosophy. He lived a life free from clutter, with routine and discipline, and shunned the potential riches that were offered to him. He hauled water at night by choice, as a way to physically and mentally fortify himself for his studies.
There is honour in simplicity.
That’s not to say that we need to mimic Cleanthes, living with one robe and choosing poverty. We’re allowed to have a comfy bed and enjoy the trappings of our life. This is the best time to be alive, so we may as well enjoy it.
But rather than doing 100 things poorly, let’s focus on doing 3 things right. Rather than saying yes to everything, let’s say no unless it aids our core principles.
Let’s downgrade our clutter and upgrade our clarity.