Why Do We Overcomplicate Our Lives?
Life is actually simple; Timothee Chalamet; Dune; Succession's Shiv Roy as a Taker; The power of Travel; MetaFB; Prop gun incident; Longboat sick.
I think I'm convinced by the simple living in the countryside after my rainforest trip last week.
It made me question so many things in life. One of which, is how complicated the life of a city dweller is.
So if you have asked yourself “why my life has always been difficult?”, it’s time to step back because the simple reason may be that you’re overcomplicating things than they should be—A tough pill to swallow for most people, one that needs a level of honesty and reckoning with oneself.
But seriously..
Life is really simple, but we complicate it too much
Some unnecessary complicated things that exist in most of our lives, from the top of my head:
Notifications we don't need to know (like the next sale)
Hosting an event at an 'approved' pompous scale, at the cost of our hard-earned money better spent elsewhere
A smartwatch (& why it's pointless to have one)
The 10-step skincare routine
Why do we need them?
We can do fine without these fluffs and over-complications. But no, humans like to complicate simple things.
So, why do humans overcomplicate things?
Because we have a complexity bias.
Between (1) complex solution vs (2) simple solution, which one would you naturally tend to lean forward to?
Answer: Complex solutions.
We naturally gravitate towards complex solutions because our subconscious thinks the complex option would work as it is “usually the option with the most assumptions and regressions”.
Hence, making us ignore simple solutions because (1) our bias mind thinks that simplicity won’t work or (2) everyone else is doing the same thing.
When you make things more complicated than they are, you stop living in the moment
Sometimes, when you try so hard to complicate things, you stop living and enjoying the present. You end up living in worry, in what your mind (which can be wrong) thinks!
This self-sabotage is unnecessarily turning you into a procrastinator, or worst, the never-satisfied perfectionist.
Both are victims who tend to unnecessarily complicate their lives by avoiding or prolonging the resolution of a conflict:
Leaving things till the very last minute because "it is not perfect enough". 💬Newsflash: perfectionism is an illusion
Dwelling on the problems in their heads instead of facing them heads on in reality. 🙅🏻♀️ Worry is the mother of complications. The more we worry, the more things won’t get resolved.
You’re a work in progress
It's good to have high standards. However, you have to know when ‘good enough’ is better than 'the best'.
Because perfection is a fallacy in ergonomics/efficiency.
And here's the thing about complex routines and procedures:
“Maybe they succeed at first, but entropy soon sets in and the routine gets derailed.”
—Farnam Street
That perfectionist outcome you try to achieve via a complex set of habits will kill you in the long run.
When you overcomplicate your life, you may tend to also overcomplicate other people’s lives. Sooner or later, they’ll move away from you because they never wanted the added stress you've unnecessarily included in their lives.
Be hard on yourself, but not onto others
Focus on the things you can control
Unknowingly, we may also unnecessarily complicate our lives by directing energy to areas we have no control over:
We do more than we should. We overcommit to a point that our lives become difficult and end up at the disadvantaged end.
We feel the need to react immediately to the things we hear, see or feel. When in fact, we don't have to. These are just interruptions that aren’t worth our energy 👉🏼 gossips (other people's problems).
Don’t complicate your life, keep it simple.
If you are young, it is best to eliminate unnecessary complexities and start to simplify your life from now because..
Old habits die hard
Practice habits like getting on top of things the soonest. Finishing things early helps clear the clutter in your mind and lets you live more fully in the present moment!
💬 The compounds of minimalism will be felt later in life, and your future self will surely thank you.
What do you to simplify your life? Share with me!
+ If this letter has helped you gain a perspective, or if you know anyone that needs to hear this, why not share it to a friend?
Current obsessions
🎵 Mariah Carey's One Mo' Gen; NCT127's Favorite; Mahalini's Aku Yang Salah
Timothee Chalamet speaking French; & telling people how to pronounce his name (something I relate to, a lot).
Succession Season 3. 🤯
This 🍃calming vlog of harvesting vegetables & getting Mountain Water in Japanese Countryside
Serious Things
How I feel about screenshots, yet I still take a bunch 📸 of them.
Been reading a lot about travels ✈️these days but this particular one has stuck with me, in a good way: "I think travel is exceptional if we're struggling with questions in our lives and we're stalled. I feel people should use it more as a life boost or a career boost"
Big cities like NYC are painted with a glory picture through songs and films. But it’s good to also know the bad side of a metropolis 🌆 before migrating… such as their sewage system—Boy did my heart sank watching this.
From a PR perspective, Facebook changing its parent company name to Meta is a genius move, I feel.
Alec Baldwin fatally shot a woman with "a prop gun" is an accident that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
If you liked this, why not subscribe?
Recently finished
Dune. Lots of lessons (on discipline, mindset) learned from.
But some 🎞 favorites:
The entire cinematography and art direction 💯
A breakdown of the Gom Jabbar scene. 🤯 at how Hans Zimmer included the eerie “dentist sound” in this scene.
Politics of Dune if you are blur like how I was to what in the world are Caladan, Atreides and Harkonnen!
Elsewhere
A little reminder 💬
Distilling from last week's letter 📥 on Takers Will Always Take From Givers, I think Shiv Roy is one fiction example that screams “a taker”.
From Kitty City
Currently, very longboat sick. I want to go back to the jungle 🥲.
Let me know your thoughts!
…on what do you think of this week’s letter (or just about anything) by replying to this mail, tweet me or DM me at @farihahfuaad. By all means, I love to hear your thoughts! + Your responses help me improve greatly. 💜