When most people think about a dynamic and successful professional life, they tend to envision routines, habits, and activities that involve a lot of complexity and the juggling of many different projects.
While it’s certainly true that being a successful entrepreneur will involve hard work, and will require you to think on your feet, however, there’s a good argument to be made that excessive complexity is actually likely to have a highly detrimental effect on your professional life.
Today, many of the tools and systems that we enjoy, that are made possible by the Internet and digital technologies, specifically rely on enabling us to simplify aspects of our lives, and our decisions. Services that allow you to compare credit options, for example, explicitly offer the benefit of streamlining financial decision-making.
Here are just a few reasons to simplify your professional life, and to view simplicity as a virtue, rather than a vice.
Because focus and clarity of purpose can be extremely powerful
New entrepreneurs often end up getting themselves into trouble because they spread themselves too thin, and try to do too much with their businesses at once.
But when you’re trying to be all things to all people, it more or less goes without saying that you’ll fail to achieve any one thing to a high standard.
Sure, multinational corporations can do all kinds of different things and offer all kinds of different services – but this is largely because there will be many different teams and departments involved in handling those assorted services.
For entrepreneurs, and professionals in general, focus and clarity of purpose and vision can be extremely powerful. Simplicity makes it easier for you to do a few things very well, and to stand out as a result, as opposed to doing many things to a mediocre standard.
Because simplicity can help to prevent burnout
Burnout is a major problem for any driven professional, and there aren’t many things that have the potential to undermine a business, or to get in the way of your career progression, as much as burning out, underperforming, and having to put everything on hold.
Looking for ways to emphasise and enhance simplicity in your everyday work life can seriously help you to prevent burnout, and to be more resilient in your professional life.
Among other things, an emphasis on simplicity can help you to focus your energies, can prevent you from over scheduling, and can actually help you to set aside enough time for a good night’s sleep.
Because time and energy are always vitally important resources
Time and energy are always vitally important resources for anyone.
If you’re exhausted, and have no time available in your day, you’re simply going to be less productive than you would be if you had more energy and more time at your disposal.
Simplicity can help you to free up more time and energy, which you can then spend in a more directed and intentional manner.
Of course, being more energetic and less busy is also likely to boost your quality of life in a number of different ways.