A counter-intuitive truth about continuous improvement:
Simplicity is the only path to progress.
It’s the essence of Lean philosophy.
It’s at the heart of kaizen.
It acknowledges the value of compounding gains and incremental progress to drive real transformation over time.
While it’s true, it’s not exactly natural.
When we’re faced with a new challenge or grappling with an old one we just can’t shake, it’s easy to think that the solution is more.
More attempts.
More effort.
More complexity.
More stress.
More thinking.
More worry.
Sometimes, these strategies seem like they’re paying off.
We huff & puff, and we see things move forward. Even if it’s very slight (so little that no one else notices it), we feel the rush that comes along with being proven right in our decisions.
It feels good to succeed. But this isn’t the kind of success we want.
Rather than energising us, empowering us to capitalise on that momentum and keep the good times rolling, this is the kind of win that leaves us in a deeper hole than when we started.
We don’t realise it in the moment. When you’re stuck in the struggle, progress is progress. Even if it’s unsustainable.
The trouble with unsustainable approaches is that they don’t scale.
You can only increase your effort so much.
You can only work for so many hours in the day.
You can only clench your fists so tight.
In all these ways, we’re limited. There are hard caps on how much we can throw at the problem before we hit our ceiling.
“More” only takes you so far. If the time is right & you’re well-equipped for the challenge, it might take you further than you realise! But to go any further you need something more than more.
You need better.
You need simpler.
Because the real gains come from continuously increasing your leverage – not just scaling your effort.
Putting in more time is easy.
Putting that time into a better system – a streamlined, efficient, more productive machine – is hard.
It depends on your ability to quiet your ego and do what needs to be done.
It requires you to let go of the things you’ve attached yourself to (old ways of doing & old ways of being) in pursuit of something more refined.
Hard work isn’t bad. We shouldn’t shun effort for its own sake. But there’s a difference between working a system to its fullest extent, and being worked to your full extent.
One path leads you forward in a sustainable, scalable manner.
The other leaves you worse off than when you began your journey.
Don’t make progress any more difficult than it needs to be.
Simplify.
Let go of the inessential.
However heavy the load, it gets lighter when we shed the things we just don’t need.