The Dichotomy of Humanity & Simplicity

Earlier in this blog's life I was writing more motivational entries. Sometimes I didn't like posting these as they made me feel "preachy", as if I have everything worked out, which I don't.

What I've realised of late is that I'm more motivated when I'm writing motivational blogs, proving to myself that I actually write them for me. I don't necessarily put them on the blog for me but the process of putting them on the blog requires me to ponder further than I might otherwise, simplify and condense my thoughts into the most concise, effective form I can muster.

So today is going to be a motivational blog post, for the benefit of myself as much (or more) than anyone else.

So...

I'm going to use quotes to illustrate my points as I go along.

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

And herein lies life's dichotomy of humanity and simplicity. It can be said that the real point of life itself, what it is that truly brings happiness, what it is that truly brings peace and contentment, are very simple things. But humans are not simple. As a physical machine we are more complex than we are able to entirely understand. As a mental machine we are substantially more complicated again. So trying to achieve simplicity in life is certainly no simple task.

Our complicated minds are the crux of the problem so to achieve simplicity we must break down the complicated into something simple and focus on that.

People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results. ~ Albert Einstein

I can totally relate to this - literally and metaphorically. I'm always drawn to the task that gets immediate results, and writing is rarely the simplest task, offering immediate results. It's very satisfying, sure, but it's by no means simple. Inspiration can be a mystery and a challenge and this can easily lead to lack of productivity and distraction.

But all complicated tasks can be broken down to smaller simple tasks. I feel like I'm repeating myself a bit here, as I've also covered this idea here, here, here and here. But I'll continue.

Let's take washing the dishes. A pile of dishes is a job where the result looks difficult, or certainly not immediate, to achieve. The job of washing one plate seems quite achievable though. So the more dishes in the sink the less likely you will want to wash them, although at some point you won't have a choice - unless of course you're one of these people... (if this link doesn't take you straight to the preview for Episode 40 "Hannah, Kathy & Gary", under season 3, then go there first! Then go to Episode 27 "Robin & Ken" preview - also a cracker. Crazy stuff!!)

So if we don't want to be distracted by the things that are less important to us - or to put it another way - if we want to finish the day feeling happy as we've prioritized the things that truly matter to our daily happiness, then we need to make the more complicated tasks (often the most important ones) simpler by breaking them down.

This is crucial for me as an artist because even if I manage to write a song or poem or story one day that writing in itself is only one VERY small part of the larger process which could potentially result in that creative moment truly becoming a career. So the daunting nature of this bigger picture can be quite paralyzing, and tends to lead me to do something else which offers more immediate results, like the wood chopping Einstein mentions in the quote earlier.

In my case the largest, most daunting task is making a career of being an artist. This is a really complicated, uncertain, confusing, daunting thing and to dwell on that for too long is counter-productive. But let's break it down.

To have a career as a musician I have to >>> 

                      have an album to sell and music to perform.

To have music to record and perform I have to (among many, many other things) >>> 

                      write the songs.

To write the songs I have to >>> 

                       sit down and start writing.

So we're simplifying but we haven't yet reached a point that offers us immediate results. So it's still hard to get focused on it and avoid the distraction of things with more immediate results. Let's break it down further.

To sit down and start writing I have to >>>  

                      solidify (and preferably record in some fashion) one musical idea.

More achievable yes, but let's take it one step further.

To solidify one musical idea I have to >>> 
              
                      tune my guitar.

So here we are. A task with an immediate result. And the sound of a well-tuned guitar is a pleasurable thing to a musician. This process will basically always result in me spending time playing the guitar. This in turn will basically always result in the conjuring up of a musical idea. If I hold my focus then this idea will likely become a song.

I feel this illustrates that if I focus on the task with an immediate result I'm much more likely to actually sit down with my guitar, which MUST happen if I'm ever to achieve the large, daunting goal. From there step 2 - writing the music - will likely occur quite organically.

I will then face many more complicated things such as getting a manager.

To get a manager I have to >>> 
 
                       have a manager hear and like my music.

To have a manager hear and like my music I have to >>> 
               
                      find out the names and contact details of managers.

To find out the names and contact details of managers I have to >>> 

                     search, network, investigate.

This still isn't something with immediate result so I'll take it a step further.

To search I have to >>> 

                      enter the words  "Music Manager Los Angeles " into a search engine.

This will of course yield immediate results. It is almost certain that I will find at least one name in that search that has a phone number that I can then call and hopefully organise a meeting, or any sort of further contact.


Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~ Leonardo DaVinci
 
These words come from an achieved artist with one of the most celebrated, influential and enduring bodies of work ever produced. Such is our dichotomy - achieving simplicity is not simple. But going through this slightly complicated process brings us to what is simple.

I'll leave you with that.

Bring any important but daunting goal/job down to the most simple task with an immediate result; imagine achieving the result of a single clean fork. Once that first fork is clean you will find yourself continuing on that job. As you find happiness in seeing each single dish clean, the large goal will soon enough be achieved.