Simple answers to complex problems

There’s a wonderful Syd Banks quote that goes like this:

“The solution to outwardly complex problems created by misguided thought will not arise from complicated analytical theory, but will emerge as an insight wrapped in a blanket of simplicity.”

😍

For me, this is the exact same thing as that quote that gets attributed to Einstein:

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

(I used to interpret that as “you’ve got to think harder!!!” … until I came across the 3 Principles, and then it all made sense.)

I saw this in action with a client once, where the engineering team were grinding their gears over a solution to a design problem on a custom bike—brainstorming, workshopping, sketching, discussing—and getting nowhere.

They went out for a ride, ostensibly to “clear their heads” and of course, while they were out riding, the very simple answer became obvious to them.

Problems are mind-created, whereas solutions are life-created.

Just knowing this, and having the confidence to step back from trying to use process/analytical thinking for all the situations we face… is profoundly liberating!

The answer isn’t additive—matching the mind’s complexity by putting more into the equation—it’s subtractive: removing all the complexity to find the answer.

Getting out from under the noise, to where the solutions actually are.

💟

Giles

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