K.I.S.S.

The saying goes: Keep it simple, stupid. I was surprised to hear that the New York Times writes at an 8th-grade level for its readers. It’s no surprise that 50% of Americans read at an 8th-grade level or less.

I’m also going to guess that the 50% of readers at that level don’t often pick up the Times.

What you write and to whom is a choice. And if the choice is to keep dumbing down the work, eventually, it gets dumb to read. The alternative is to simplify what you are trying to explain.

Simple doesn’t mean dumb. In fact, it’s the opposite. Explaining ways so that a 4-year-old can understand means enrolling everyone so that everyone can be on this journey.

One story at a time

It’s a scientific fact that the brain cannot hold two thoughts simultaneously. It moves quickly between them.

Understanding this, if there is one story we need to tell and focus on to get through another, we can use our biology to our advantage.

Traffic jams

Having an app that tells us the distance and time to get somewhere is novel.

We become so reliant that it changes our behavior when we should leave somewhere.

Before apps, the answer was to give yourself plenty of time. Before MapQuest, you had maps and gas stations—it was a total guess to a new place.

Now? Wait until the last minute. We have eliminated the need to decide about when and are now told when.

Of course, when we are always cutting it close or continue to take shortcuts, we don’t build the resilient system needed to take on the unexpected.

Traffic is always changing.

The courage to speak your mind

Changing your mind is powerful. When we do so, we open ourselves to new possibilities and apply the wisdom we have learned.

However…

It’s not enough to change one’s mind. It would help if you also had the courage to share it.

But we must acknowledge…

Not everyone can share how they really feel.

From physical to emotional

The first hunter-gatherers worked hard to perfect the craft. Then, humans developed traps and better tools—with some innovation and domain knowledge that was passed down, opening the door for less physical and emotional labor.

The same happened with farming and industrialism. Over thousands of years, we have invented ways to substitute physical labor for emotional labor. In this modern age, we are seeing the cracks and limits of this decision.

So, we invented AI to manage this. But many worry what does this mean for humans now?

When work is no longer physical or intellectual, what then do we use to define it?

“Good enough”

The reason why AI is so useful for writing an email AND why we are so happy to allow it…

It’s because AI is good at replacing mediocre work.

AI can write a mediocre book but not exceptional. Not yet at least.

And so little by little, AI writes an email or puts together a business plan or writes out an itinerary for a trip…that’s just good enough.

We can no longer just work in a sphere of good enough. Soon, that work will be obsolete.

Persist or pivot?

Resilient people can have a really bad blind spot:

They have so much belief in their abilities, to navigate hardship, they don’t see quitting as an option.

Persistenting is a valuable skill.

Learning when to quit, however, needs to be developed as well.

What kind of game is this?

When you play a board game with a six year old, you don’t play to win. You play to simply play.

Rock climbing is similar. Every new climber gets enamoured by chasing grades or projects. But in the end, you play to play.

A hyper capitalistic society has taught us that winning is everything. Its a “dog eat dog” world. “Only the strongest survive!”

What we can do is be upfront what kind of game is this you are playing? Infinite or finite? For fun or for money?

“Un” work

When we struggle to figure out how to move forward, we often default to what we know best.

We avoid what is unfamiliar, uncertain, or unknown and what is untested or unproven.

Perhaps we should double down on what we do best. But things are likely so stagnant because we are not engaging in the work of Resistance.