We often hear that the secret to life or business is simple.
Want to live longer? Keep breathing.
Want to stay in business? Make more money than you spend.
Simple, right?
And yet… behind that simplicity lies astonishing complexity.
Take breathing: your body is running millions of biochemical reactions every second — oxygen exchange, blood circulation, neurological signaling — all without you consciously lifting a finger.
Or business: “Cash in, cash out” sounds straightforward, but delivering it means navigating markets, managing teams, winning customers, handling supply chains, dealing with regulations, and occasionally drinking far too much coffee.
The Paradox of Simplicity and Complexity
Richard Feynman, Nobel-winning physicist, famously said:
“If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Feynman wasn’t dismissing complexity — he spent his life grappling with quantum mechanics, after all — but he knew that clarity lives on the far side of complexity.
First, you wrestle with the chaos. Then, you find the essence.
The Greek philosophers knew this too. Aristotle taught that virtue lies in finding the mean — the balance between extremes. Too much complexity and you drown in details; too much simplicity and you risk missing the truth.
Why This Matters in Life and Business
In both arenas, we face the same trap:
Over-simplification can breed ignorance (“We don’t need a budget; we just sell more!”).
Over-complication can breed paralysis (“We can’t launch until we’ve modelled 1,000 market scenarios”).
The skill is knowing when to zoom out to the simple principle and when to zoom in to understand the underlying complexity.
Action Points to Practice the “Simple but Complex” Mindset
Always start with the simplest statement of the problem.
Life: “I want more energy.”
Business: “We need more profit.”
Identify the layers beneath the simplicity.
Life: Sleep, diet, exercise, stress, relationships.
Business: Sales strategy, pricing, costs, market trends, customer loyalty.
Avoid drowning in detail too early.
Ask: “What are the 3 most important levers here?”
Revisit the simple truth often.
Complexity can pull you into the weeds; the simple principle keeps you grounded.
Explain it so a curious 12-year-old could understand.
If you can’t, you probably haven’t mastered it. (Feynman would approve.)
A Final Thought
The art of life and business is learning to dance between the simple and the complex. The big truths often fit on a bumper sticker — but living them out means engaging with nuance, detail, and the occasional messiness of reality.
What’s one “simple but complex” truth you’ve discovered in your own work or life? Share it below — we’d love to see how you navigate this paradox.