Simplicity is the art of sophistication*
* Whether Leonardo da Vinci actually said it or not I like the sentiment
Life today is moving at such a fast pace with so many choices for people living in affluent countries, giving us a freedom of choice never experienced before.
Great, we may think, but as Barry Schwartz in the TED Talk below points out, this can often lead to dissatisfaction or even paralysis when faced with too many options (175 salad dressings on the supermarket shelf).
Recently though we have seen a backlash, with de-cluttering (our houses, our lives and our minds) becoming fashionable and Lagom, the Swedish art of balanced living; Not too Little, Not too Much, Just enough, being something to aspire to.
The same rules apply in business. Over the years I’ve realised that I need to make things simple so that clients know how easy it is to work with us, whether it’s the signing up or on boarding processes, or the straightforward costings, it’s important that everyone understands what we provide and how it works.
Some other good tips I have come across:
Cut out unnecessary processes
Streamline and maintain existing processes
Reduce over lapping roles which waste time, energy and money
Make it simple for your customers
Your message/ product/service needs to be easily understood
So I’m going to continue to try and de-clutter my house, my life, my mind and keep my business simple.
What Oprah knows for sure is chasing the life you want by accumulating more stuff is a dead end street, ‘I want to be lean and clean for the future and dust off my wings, doing so will make it easier to fly’.