Guy Reams (00:01.166)
This is Day 97, the pitfalls of complexity, a warning to the ambitious. There is a significant mistake that many young people make on their rise to success, and I would like to call it out so that others may avoid the pitfall that I found myself falling into on more than one occasion. There will come a time when your efforts will pay off. You will have success. That will manifest in a few different ways, including more income,
more time and more recognition. These might be a few of the perks to your success. You'll be happy that you started to see progress and now that you're in a position to do so, you will want to add things. This is where you start making the mistake. You will want to gravitate towards complexity. You will take on new projects while gaining in complexity along the way. You'll add a new house, a new car, you'll buy a boat or other toys.
You'll upgrade your vehicles. You'll take on new projects. You might even take on a new occupation. You may decide to start a business or perhaps a few businesses. The things you will buy will become complex and require investment of time and money. You'll start to solve for little annoyances in your life because now you have the time and money to do so. You'll start new hobbies. All of these things will have a compounding effect.
You'll start to let your altruistic ambitions flourish. You will get involved in the community, donate to causes, sit on boards, run for offices. You might even start your own charity. You'll do a lot of things because now you have the confidence that you can. Everything you touch starts down the path of success like everything else you have done in life. You think this is the right thing to do. You think you're getting ahead. You feel great about your progress in life.
What you do not realize is this is the gravitation towards complexity and it's reducing your effectiveness. All the advantages you gained by learning to be better, more efficient in life you have now lost by piling on way too much and too quickly. What you should be doing is the opposite. Once you start having success, then you should double down on the formula that has been working and learn to get better at it.
Guy Reams (02:25.474)
Learn how to automate the process, gain efficiency, and become more entrenched in your successful position. By doing this, you add capacity and strength. From this position, you can really ponder what it is that you might do next. What you will realize as you get older that driving towards simplicity is the hard thing to do. That it's the complex things that are easy to let yourself to attempt to adopt until you have so many things going on in your life you just can't focus.
Success is a beautiful thing. It's the affirmation of all the hard work, late nights, and sacrifices you made to reach your goal. When success arrives, it often brings with it an intoxicating mix of rewards, more income, more recognition, more opportunities, and perhaps most enticing of all, the ability to make decisions without the constraints at once that held you back, usually financially.
But amidst the glow of achievement there lies a danger that many ambitious individuals fail to see. A subtle trap that can slowly erode the very foundation of their success. I know this all too well because I've fallen into it on more than one occasion. It's the lure of complexity.
There's always a temptation to do more. When success arrives, it feels natural to want to expand, grow, and take on new ways of doing things. You'll tell yourself, I've achieved so much, now it's time to stretch myself further. And so the cycle begins. You take on more projects, add new possessions, and say yes to opportunities that seem exciting or meaningful. At first, these choices feel empowering.
On paper, it all looks great. Your resume expands, your calendar fills, your possessions grow. What we don't realize is that all these additions, each seemingly insignificant on their own, come with hidden costs. You're setting aside the status quo, pushing boundaries and experimenting with what's possible. But if you're not careful, these additions can spiral into a labyrinth of complexity that pulls you away from what truly matters in your life.
Guy Reams (04:33.679)
There's always a hidden cost to this complexity. Every new responsibility or initiative comes with hidden costs. Whether it's time, energy, or money, each choice you make requires a significant investment of resource. At first, the cost may feel manageable. After all, you've worked hard to build a system that can handle these challenges. Why not test its limits? But complexity has a way of compounding. Over time, the systems you rely on become stretched thin.
And the skills you brought you to this point, to the success, focus, discipline, efficiency, get buried under a mountain of new obligations. Like a poorly trained neural network, you may find yourself overwhelmed by too many inputs, struggling to make effective decisions. For the first time, you may start to notice that your progress slows or that your project outcomes fall short of your expectations. This isn't because you've lost your ability to succeed.
It's because your attention is scattered across too many competing priorities. The tools and habits that brought you success, focus, efficiency, and discipline become diluted. Your attention, once sharp and directed, is now scattered across a dozen competing priorities. The joy of progress gives way to the exhaustion of maintenance. You're no longer moving forward, you're just simply treading water.
You can learn this same principle from many other fields, and I've studied a few. The trap of complexity isn't unique to just personal success. In recent years, many industries have grappled with the same challenge of balancing innovation and simplicity. For example, I did some work with a lot of doctors in my past. A clinical practice is a perfect example.
Doctors face overwhelming arrays of treatment options, diagnostic tools, administrative tasks, and to avoid burnout and ensure quality care, many have adopted best practices that emphasize streamlining workflows and focusing solely on patient outcomes. The reason they have to do this is because if they don't, just the simple management of care becomes so complex it takes the joy out of the job.
Guy Reams (06:58.169)
The same principle applies to personal success. Simplifying your commitments doesn't mean you're doing less, it means you're doing the right things more effectively. By cutting out distractions, you create the mental space to focus on what truly matters, whether that's your mental health, your relationships, or just simply long-term goals.
At its core, the journey toward success is about becoming the best version of yourself. As human beings, we're drawn to growth and improvement, but we're also vulnerable to overextending ourselves. Complexity often appeals to our desire for significance, but it can obscure what's most important. This is where a little introspection can go a long way. Ask yourself, am I adding value to my life, or am I just simply adding more?
Simplifying isn't about avoiding responsibility. It's about prioritizing the things that align with your values and your goals. It's a shift in mindset that can lead to substantial changes in how you approach success. In the process, you protect the things that matter the most, like your wellbeing and your ability to contribute meaningfully to the world. Simplifying doesn't mean giving up on your dreams. It means creating the foundation to pursue those dreams
with purpose and clarity. There's always a role of balance in life. It's tempting to think that more is always better, but balance is where true power actually lies. Just as a story with too many supernatural elements can feel disjointed or overwhelming, a life with too many obligations can lose its sense of direction. By embracing simplicity, you create the clarity needed to navigate the struggles of modern life.
Whether they're external challenges or internal battles with doubt and distraction, in the process you protect the things that matter the most, like your well-being. Simplifying simply doesn't mean giving up on your dreams. It means creating this foundation. There's a power of simplicity. Here's the truth that has taken me years and years to fully understand. Simplicity is absolutely strength.
Guy Reams (09:15.449)
It's not flashy and it's rarely celebrated. But simplicity is what allows you to build something lasting. When you reach a point of success, the best thing you can do is resist the urge to complicate your life. Instead, double down on what's already working. Ask yourself, how can I refine this process? What can I automate or delegate? How can I do less while yet achieving more? By simplifying, you create capacity.
capacity to think deeply, to act decisively, and to maintain the energy you need for the next chapter of your life. Simplicity also gives you the clarity to discern what truly matters, allowing you to invest in the things that bring genuine fulfillment to your life. So here's my closing thoughts on this subject. In fact, this is one of most important things I've learned in my five decades of being on this planet.
The key to sustaining success is recognizing that complexity is not the same as progress. True growth comes from making intentional choices, not from piling on more and more. By focusing on simplicity, you can avoid the trap of diminishing returns and build a life that's not only successful, but deeply fulfilling. If there was one message that I could tell my 25-year-old self, it would have been this.
Success is a journey, not a race. By stepping back, reevaluating your priorities and letting go of what doesn't serve you, you can ensure that your hard work leads to lasting, meaningful outcomes. In doing so, you honor both your own potential and the shared journey of all human beings that are striving to do something greater.