Not Simple and Not Easy

Let’s make it all really complicated

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. — Confucius

Just in case things went too quickly for you back in the introduction, let’s make sure we’ve checked all of the boxes to get rolling. 

1. Not Simple
2. Not Easy

This is a good place to start so it will get better as we go along. 

Not Simple

We have a lot to cover in this book. Tons. Maybe we should make it a 3-volume set. Let’s call it Complex. Complicated. Rocket Science. 

We might need a follow-up workshop (complete with really long workbook) to run through all of the steps. Maybe we need an app, too. Apps are great. Yes, we need more apps. 

OK, sorry. Let me get back to not simple. 

This is a big decision we’re up against. We’re up against the decision to, well, make more decisions. 

Because it’s difficult, it must be complex. — Someone Probably Said

Let’s go with weight loss. Simple, right? Lose weight! 

Slow down there, Pendergrass. We need to learn about nutrition and our diet, do tests to test our sugar levels and how many carbs we should balance with our proteins. What are proteins, anyway? Let’s take a course at the local college. That should take a semester. Then we’ll start on the diet. 

Complicated. 

Good. Have we covered that well enough? Let’s move on to even worse things. 

Not Easy

We just learned we have loads to do and it’s going to take a long time. That can’t be fun. That can’t be easy. Let’s make sure we have it all lined up. I smell a numbered list coming … 

1. Checkboxes: we’re going to need lots of lists to check off what we’re doing. It might help tone down the Not Simple a little if we have multiple, categorized, color-coded lists. 
2. Time: did you sign up for the course on nutrition yet? I’m not even sure they’re open for enrollment until the next semester.
3. Peers: tell our friends and family or not tell our friends and family? If we do we’ll have some accountability. That could get ugly. If we keep it to ourselves and then only go public when we’ve made some progress we’ll be a success story and it will be easier to talk about. 
4. Mindset: we can’t forget that we need to make this Not Easy so we’re convinced it will work. If it were too simple and too easy, it certainly wouldn’t work. I mean, right? Mindset shift: this is Not Easy. 

That seems complicated enough. 

Action Steps

1. Get going on the list building. 
2. Buy colored pencils. Or maybe pens. Whatever is erasable. 
3. Sign up for college course on nutrition. 
4. Tell friends. Or don’t.
5. Change my mindset to make sure I know it’s going to be Not Simple and Not Easy.

No, the Real Action Steps

1. Don’t do any of the above action steps.
2. Keep reading.
3. Get a cup of tea or coffee.

We’ll get past this.

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