Do you overcomplicate things?

Have you ever made something harder than it needed to be?  

Once, I gathered with some entrepreneur friends. I had my head in my hands, stress in my chest, and dread in my gut over what seemed like an impossible mountain of work I had in front of me.  

They patiently listened to my pity party-esqe whine and then pointed out a few things. What if I simply send an email about problem A, switch around problems B and C, and drop problem D altogether? 

I, of course, protested. My other friend reflected back the limitation in my thinking and gave me another possibility I wasn't seeing. After a few moments, I realized they were right and how complicated I had made everything.  

Can you relate to any part of this Emily? 

Do you ever overthink, overcomplicate, or take the hard road? 

Guess what? Me too. Our brains are hardwired to make things more complicated. It's called the complexity bias. If there are two solutions in front of us, we tend to go for what is more complex and doubt the simpler one.  

We are original, creative, expressive humans. And we are complicated. Donald Norman said, "We seek rich, satisfying lives, and richness goes along with complexity. Our favorite songs, stories, games, and books are rich, satisfying, and complex. We need complexity even while we crave simplicity." 

Often when we have a new idea, goal, or project in front of us, we set upon a more complicated path than it needs to be. We start down the hard road, and our overthinking can lead to overwhelm or getting stuck. This is where we can stall out because we aren't even aware a simpler road exists.  

It is so valuable to have other people on our side who are invested in what we are doing. Because when we are stalled out or drowning in complexity, they can see the other road. The easier one. They can spot the shortcuts that you missed. 

This is why we need each other.

If you are overwhelmed, it’s so helpful to talk it through with someone without an agenda or attachment to the issue.

This is one of the things I do as a coach for my clients who are planning a course, project, retreat, business campaign, life transition etc. If you could benefit from having someone who has your back to untangle what feels complicated and overwhelming, I’d love to support you.

Click here to book a complimentary call to establish our connection and explore how I can support you.

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