In a world that is becoming increasingly more complex every day, it may seem counterintuitive to consider refining or distilling aspects of one’s professional and/or personal life as a possible path toward success. It seems natural to “go with the flow” and navigate the chaos. Some very successful and iconic people have achieved legendary success through simplification though. This may not be universally applicable, but it is worth considering (with an open mind) whether less can be more.
Bruce Lee is regarded as one of the greatest martial artists of modern times and is credited with bringing the martial arts film genre into the mainstream in the West. Bruce Lee achieved a great deal of success and popularity before his untimely death. By his account, he accomplished these things through super-human focus and determination, but also through constantly striving for simplicity. This last part was so integral to who he was in fact, that he wrote a book that was largely about that topic.
Pete Rose is an extremely polarizing individual, and if this post was about people who were considered “good” people, his reputation would certainly exclude him from mention. No matter how we feel about Pete Rose the person, he is Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader. One could argue that he achieved this through longevity, but his skill and determination cannot be discounted. Pete Rose’s approach to hitting was very simple: depending on how the pitcher is pitching, you move forward or back in the batter’s box, and you choke up or down on the bat. That’s it! That approach yielded a lifetime .303 batting average and 4,256 hits.
Steve Jobs is also considered polarizing depending on who you talk to, and some would argue that he receives more credit than he is due for creating the Apple computer. Steve Jobs wasn’t always successful, and in fact was ousted for a time from the company that he helped found. Ultimately, both Jobs and Apple (because of Jobs) went on to become legends. Jobs was a disciple of simplicity. He famously cut 70 percent of Apple’s products immediately upon his return to the company. Steve Jobs’ steadfast belief in adding value by subtracting noise turned Apple from a $1 billion dollar per year loser that was on the verge of bankruptcy, to a global juggernaut.
It might not work for everyone, and in fact some people may actually enjoy and thrive in complexity. Perhaps extreme “drilling down” and streamlining things only works well for people with certain personality traits? It would be impossible to argue that it didn’t work for these guys though. I think it’s interesting to think about.