The KissđMethod
Don't make things harder than they need be.
While the rest of the world gets more and more complicated advanced, Iâm trending in the other direction. Thereâs no two step authentication needed round here partner. My new truck doesnât even have a computer.
It seems to me that instead of technology making things easier, theyâre getting more complicated. I guess itâs a good thing weâll all have AI to do our thinking for us pretty soon anyway â maybe it can figure out why I need two-step authentication to watch a tv show.
Look, Iâm not anti-tech. But more often than not, I think all that tech just adds additional unnecessary steps. Things just shouldnât be nearly as complicated as theyâve 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, itâs probably one of the only lessons I ever understood immediately.
KISS, is an acronym for, Keep It Simple Stupid. It means, donât make things harder than they ought to be.
Hold on now, I know what youâre thinking. I know that stupid isnât a word that we typically use anymore, itâs considered degrading. But this adage comes from the same person that often said, âEven an idiot can do what theyâre told.â These were great life lessons â 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, heâd give a stranger the shirt off his back in a minute â 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, Iâm sure it plays a major role in how I keep the leakage to a minimum too!
The simpler, the better. Thereâs no need to add on a bunch of things â thereâs no sense in making it all harder than it has to be. Remember, Efficiency is Key. đ
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?
âWe suffer more often in imagination than in reality.â -Seneca
We add anxiety to many things that shouldnât 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 weâll just hit the Pause Button and ask ourselves what weâre trying to accomplish â we can stop going in circles, or chasing our tails.
But maybe youâre like, âOkay MJ, how do I simplify all this craziness?â
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 donât have to get there all at once.
âWell-being is realized by small steps â but is truly no small thing.â -Zeno
Does the task you have looming in front of you look insurmountable? Then break it down into smaller tasks â find a little one to get the ball rolling. Then attack some of the bigger hills once youâve gotten a bit of momentum behind you.
Iâm still learning this myself. You know, you donât just write a 80k word novel â you write 500-1500 words a day, every day for months. Then starts the revision process â then comes editing, and so on⌠If you look at the whole thing, it looks impossible, right? But if you say that all youâll have to do is write 500 words a day, that doesnât sound nearly as daunting. Though, Iâll admit that it does take some fortitude.
Yes, it certainly appears as though weâre all headed into an irreversible technological age. Where itâs virtually impossible to get anything done without a bunch of extra, unnecessary steps. But that just means that itâs even more important than ever to use the KISS method whenever possible â to help filter out some of that noise, to simplify the complexity.
And we canât 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 Simpleđ
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it and clicking that ⤠button, and Iâd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Oh and if youâre an email reader, just hit replyâI want to hear from you too! Is the KISS method new to you? Do you know of a similar adage?
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Efficiency is Key
This essay has been sitting in my draft box for months. I was still driving professionally when it was originally written! But, this past week in USPS Window School I read something that really correlated. The manual said something to the effect of, âan organized workstation creates a more efficient workplaceâ and so on⌠So Iâve revised and published, Efficiency is Key, I hope yâall enjoy it!





âKeep It Simple Stupidâ was how my masterâs advisor taught the law of parsimony đ
Iâm with you. Tech keeps going, I wish itâd slow down. Love your truck!