The Kiss💋Method

Don't make things harder than they need be.

While the rest of the world gets more and more complicated advanced, I’m trending in the other direction. There’s no two step authentication needed round here partner. My new truck doesn’t even have a computer.

It seems to me that instead of technology making things easier, they’re getting more complicated. I guess it’s a good thing we’ll all have AI to do our thinking for us pretty soon anyway — maybe it can figure out why I need two-step authentication to watch a tv show.

Look, I’m not anti-tech. But more often than not, I think all that tech just adds additional unnecessary steps. Things just shouldn’t be nearly as complicated as they’ve become.

Have you ever heard of the KISS method? My Papa taught me this lesson back when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Heck, it’s probably one of the only lessons I ever understood immediately.

KISS, is an acronym for, Keep It Simple Stupid. It means, don’t make things harder than they ought to be.

Hold on now, I know what you’re thinking. I know that stupid isn’t a word that we typically use anymore, it’s considered degrading. But this adage comes from the same person that often said, “Even an idiot can do what they’re told.” These were great life lessons — distilled down to where even a slow-witted southern boy could figure them out, in 40 years or so. My Papa was as good as they come, he’d give a stranger the shirt off his back in a minute — blizzard or not.

Alright, back to business. The KISS Method.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, that might be part of the foundation of my Gray Area hypothesis. And, I’m sure it plays a major role in how I keep the leakage to a minimum too!

The simpler, the better. There’s no need to add on a bunch of things — there’s no sense in making it all harder than it has to be. Remember, Efficiency is Key. 😉

The thing is, we humans are dramatic by nature. Why does it often seem that we insist on making things harder than they need to be?

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” -Seneca

We add anxiety to many things that shouldn’t carry any weight. We suffer more worrying about an upcoming situation than we would during it. And by doing so, we add on all this extra weight. And all that extra baggage does, is makes the situation look more complicated than it actually is.

I believe that most of the time, if we’ll just hit the Pause Button and ask ourselves what we’re trying to accomplish — we can stop going in circles, or chasing our tails.

But maybe you’re like, “Okay MJ, how do I simplify all this craziness?”

This is when the KISS method comes into play. Keep it simple. Just toss the craziness aside, and look for something small that you can have an effect on. We don’t have to get there all at once.

“Well-being is realized by small steps — but is truly no small thing.” -Zeno

Does the task you have looming in front of you look insurmountable? Then break it down into smaller tasks — find a little one to get the ball rolling. Then attack some of the bigger hills once you’ve gotten a bit of momentum behind you.

I’m still learning this myself. You know, you don’t just write a 80k word novel — you write 500-1500 words a day, every day for months. Then starts the revision process — then comes editing, and so on… If you look at the whole thing, it looks impossible, right? But if you say that all you’ll have to do is write 500 words a day, that doesn’t sound nearly as daunting. Though, I’ll admit that it does take some fortitude.

Yes, it certainly appears as though we’re all headed into an irreversible technological age. Where it’s virtually impossible to get anything done without a bunch of extra, unnecessary steps. But that just means that it’s even more important than ever to use the KISS method whenever possible — to help filter out some of that noise, to simplify the complexity.

And we can’t just rush in, we must be mindful of what our goal is so that we are able to see what steps are necessary to get there. Then, we take to the path one step at a time.

Keep It Simple💋

---

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it and clicking that ❤ button, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Oh and if you’re an email reader, just hit reply—I want to hear from you too! Is the KISS method new to you? Do you know of a similar adage?

Don’t like commitments, but still want to support my writing? You can make a one-time contribution here.

---

Here are all the articles linked within this essay.