I Am a Rocket Scientist. Here’s How I Escape Religiously Overcomplicating Things

In this complex world, simplification is one of the hardest tasks.

The world, especially the digital one, presents an endless number of perspectives to each and every topic ever spoken about.

Having created these billions of terrawatts of knowledge is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Yet, it is too much for human brains to process. It is too much for my brain to process.

And it made me a rocket scientist. 🚀

The root: Technology made me do this

I overcomplicate things. Religiously.

I always think there is more to any given topic. My hunger for knowledge became like a social media feed. Endless. Dangerously endless. 🧬

And having much knowledge does not make me smart. It is a bit of the opposite. It often leaves me confused and unstructured. Too often, I am attached to details instead of having good oversight.

If I do a research for my job, the internet yells at me which papers I still have to read. Which articles I cannot miss. Which insights I have to chase.

“Social media is the economics of mass distraction”

said Andrew Keen, a British-American entrepreneur, and author. He is right. Same goes for mail. And browsing.

Searching for focus? Error 404, page not found. ❌

My mind becomes a mess.

Escaping overcomplication

Best thing to avoid overcomplication and gain clarity is sitting with your own thoughts. Your thoughts don’t direct you to the next useless bit of information via push notification.

Your thoughts alone don’t get so easily off the path that they were following. They do not continuously expose potentially more interesting information to you.

You do not feel the pressure to process more input.

You generate output.

A good start: Detach from distraction

Technology is a tool that works like a knife: It can kill people but also provide the nicest meals. Personally, it is more often a burden than enrichment to me.

This is why I have to use it with caution. This is why I have to use it more targeted. This is why, in the end, I have to use it less.

If I overcomplicate a topic, I know that I have to detach from technology. Turn off my mail notification. My teams. Best thing is to go off-grid and sit with my thoughts or walk, thinking calmly.🔇

If you have been with your thoughts for a while, make a mind map. Yes. With paper and pen. Write your mind out. Get your own structure.

Without all these impacts from the digital world, things often lose a lot of complexity after some time.

Practice simplification: The ‘Match Pitch’ method

“If you cannot explain a topic in 30 seconds, you cannot explain it at all.”

This quote was once told by my business coach and yes, it is common business knowledge. Business aside, we can use the ‘Match Pitch’ logic to our benefit for each and every topic: Explain your problem and way forward in such short amount of time, it is barely a match burning down.

30 seconds: What is at the very core of it? What is the goal, who is involved, how do we get there? This simple task helps me so much in getting to the point of my stuff. In my job, in social situations, generally, in life.

…

Things can be simple.💡

If you leave your rocket scientist mode. ✌🏻

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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