Keep It Simple, Sir

In my continued reading of Richer, Wiser, Happier this week, I was reminded of a time in my military career when the Non-Commissioned Officers were training me as a young Lieutenant and harped to me repeatedly, “Keep it simple, sir.” I now know that this KIS acronym – Keep It Simple – is prevalent throughout many business industries, not just in the military.

 “The greatest enemy of a good plan is to dream of a perfect plan.”

- Prussian military strategist General Carl von Clausewitz

Luckily, I am not a person who strives for perfection; rather, I strive for growth. I have a high standard for growth, and I pour a lot of effort toward that strife, but perfection is never what I am after. This is true for both my personal and professional worlds. It is so important to me that my team understands this concept of growth over perfection. The aim should never be perfection, but rather that your plan is so simple and logical that you understand it implicitly, and you believe deep in your core that it is the right thing to do. Your plan should be simple enough that you can stick to it not only in the times when you are excited about executing the plan but also in those trying moments when doubt about the plan working enters your mind. You might say to yourself, “Man! I just don’t understand why this plan isn’t working….but, I am going to double-down on it because I truly believe this is the right course of action for us to pursue…I have modeled it off of other successful people…and I am going to continue to give it all I have until I know I have reached the success that I set out to achieve.”

 I firmly believe that you should strive for planning simplicity in all areas of your life – health, spirituality, and business. The added benefit of keeping it simple goes beyond just your ability to continue to push through the tough times; a simple plan ensures that every single person in your organization can rally behind it, understand it, remember it, execute it properly, and embody it as they make decisions on your behalf.

A personal anecdote of keeping it simple I felt compelled to share:

My daughter came out of her room a couple of nights ago and said to me, “Dad, how bad is it if I lie? Am I still going to go to heaven?” She appeared to be suffering a lot of inner turmoil about this as she asked this of me. And the KIS mantra immediately came to mind as I responded to her. I shared with her how I truly believe you only have to do two things to get to live in heaven one day:

 1.     You have to love our God with all of your heart and soul and mind and,

2.     You need to love your neighbor just as you love yourself.

 If we just do those two things – and do them well – I know we will make it to heaven.

 

Keeping it simple is critical.

Seek simplicity in all areas of your life and go win.