Keep it Simple, Stupid
Savvy Saturdays - 12/5/20
Tim Ferris, an American entrepreneur, shares a question in an interview that he uses to help analyze situations and organize his thoughts:
If this is easy, what would it look like?
The idea is quite simple.
When faced with a problem, how would you solve it in the simplest manner? 🧐
Tim shares how this question helps focus on what really matters. 🔎
Rather than reinventing the wheel, problems can be solved with existing solutions.
It’s like the acronym K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid.
Instead of trying to create an elaborate plan, it frames the problem in a way where we have the end in mind, and we can boil down the solution as simply as possible. Or better yet, we can instantly carry out a solution.
Tim mentions how he uses the question not only to distribute content effectively, but also to help interact with new people. Every single question he asks are simple questions that are surefire ways to get to know people, have them open up, and provide the opportunity for them to share what they value. ex. “What books having you been digging into lately?” 📚
In startups, something similar to this mindset is called “creating an MVP” - a minimal viable product. An MVP is the minimal amount of features you need to create something that solves people’s problems. Though you can create many cool features and work on the aesthetics of a product, the faster you are able to ship something out for people, the easier it is to receive feedback and iterate.
To create something without the overhead of complexity.
Simple, not complicated.
Being able to have this simple heuristic can go a long way. 💪
Tireless hours of work can be avoided. Decisions can be made without hesitation.
Ultimately, a seemingly gigantic problem can be addressed and quickly solved, or broken into smaller parts.
Questions to ponder: 🤔
What is something you do meaningfully that is a lot more complicated than it needs to be?
What would it look like if that task/process was easy?
Weekly Collections
A collection of resources for you to enjoy… 📰 🎬 🎙️
Faith
Three Steps Toward Full Assurance:
1. Speak the truth of full surrender
Say it out loud, and ask God to kill everything in you contrary to what you’re saying.
2. Act the truth of full surrender
Ask him to give you the power and the love to do it in the name of Jesus, authentically, so that he gets the glory.
In the actual doing of acts of surrender, with that kind of prayer, the reality of the surrender becomes more authentic.
3. Pray for the gift of assurance of full surrender
Ask your heavenly Father that he would work the miracle of Romans 8:16 in your life: that he would take away the doubt.
—Am I Completely Surrendered to Christ | Ask Pastor John
Leadership
It’s important as a leader to know how to speak and to speak well. Here are several tools that an expert speechwriter shares leaders use in speeches:
Three breathless sentences
Three repetitive sentences
Three balancing statements
Metaphor - images of people, love, disgusting images, vermin, sickness
Exaggeration
Rhyme - how easy is language to swallow?
—Speak like a leader | TedX
Productivity
Weekly Tidbits
Learnings, verses, & quotes to chew on… 🧐
Verse of the Week
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”
—James 1:22
Challenging Quote
“A child can teach an adult three things:
To be happy for no reason
To always be busy with something
And to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.”
—Paulo Coelho in The Fifth Mountain
Weekly Update
Personal life stuff… 🔔
Greetings from Austin! 👋
Hopefully, y’all weren’t too offended by the title! 😅 The goal was to capture people’s attention, so if it did, that’s pretty guccci.
Also, lots of things have been happening on my end. With the year closing out, everything involving church is coming to an end (at least until next year). This both provides a lot more time to waste on YouTube, work on projects, and reflect.
In fact, I’ve been reflecting a lot on many different lessons from 2020, and I’ll share a brief snippet. ✂️
On one hand, I look back on 2020 and all I can feel is the burden the year brought. As someone who is heavily influenced by external factors, my emotions were brought to extreme highs and lows, and that was exhausting.
On the other hand, I look back on 2020 and can’t help but feel glad for the perspective it brought. A very humbling year, indeed. 🤔
Definitely, a lot to be upset for, but also a lot to learn to be grateful to already have.
I hope to share more especially during my end of year newsletter post, so be on the lookout for that. 👀
Anyways, here are several pictures from this past week: 📷
Leave a comment if you have thoughts, as I always appreciate your feedback! 💪 And if you have any prayer requests, I’d love to pray for you! 🙏
With that, stay safe 😷 , keep it savvy 🧠 , and I’ll see y’all in the next update 😊
Eric
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Want to write a guest post? Have a cool article, resource, verse, or quote to share? Email me @ eric-lee [at] utexas [dot] edu.