As we don’t talk much about complexity in our lives, other than to complain when it gets too complex, I had never really reviewed my life from this perspective. When I did, recently, I realized that complexity has come to me in waves and how I respond to the growing complexity is as impactful to my success as anything else.
I wonder if it’s common that when things start going well we are more inclined to allow more complexity in our lives and try to adjust and manage the new levels without really examining how much is there. For me sometimes the complexity passes quickly (15 minutes of fame), sometimes it crests on it’s own and fades, and sometimes it breaks me.
My first true complexity wave was when I sold my first company, a small and rather simple landscaping company, along with everything I owned in order to move to Spain to try and launch a chain of restaurants. I didn’t have any real or relevant experience in the industry, just had visited Spain in college and loved it and had an idea.
Aside - “Had an idea” is an all too common reason for failed ventures. Good ideas are not hard to come by, good execution is the secret sauce. You’re not the best person to launch your idea just cause you were first, and you probably weren’t anyways. But I digress.
I had was some potential investors and potential partners so I made the decision and didn’t look back. Making a decision is technically simple - do it or not? From there the complexity starts to build. Where it stops is based entirely on how much you let in. Even simple ideas can snowball into overwhelming complexity - Facebook started as ‘a digital Harvard yearbook’ and Zuck just wanting a date.
The complexity of launching a new business in a foreign country quickly overtook me. I was smart and a good problem-solver, which could spell success in simpler ideas. But in less than a year I had spent all of the money from selling prior business, my girlfriend had left me, and I contracted a parasite in Spain. I woke up back in the US, on my mom’s couch, broke, sick, and alone. It all came crashing down and my life was simple again.
This wave has happened to me several times and after each wave I try to reflect as deeply as I can on how I behaved in the wave and what I would do better next time. Simple plans have mobs of people trying them. It’s the complex ideas that more often are white space. There’s no guidebook and white space complexity rarely gets simpler when tackled. When the wave comes it’s extremely hard for me to maintain presence and self-reflection, it’s all I can do to manage the complexity.
Think about the times in your life you were overwhelmed through the lens of a complexity wave. How does it change your perspective on it? For me it helps me realize that there were many moments I could have said no to more complexity to reduce the overwhelm. The no wouldn’t have to reduce the business, just a no to ‘more.’ Saying no to complexity feels so much easier than saying no to an opportunity.
“I’m stressed, but managing, and with the stress comes a lot of opportunities cause I’m doing a lot. Is this next opportunity the one that will tie it all together and make everything work? Or will it just add complexity and push me closer to a breaking point?”