Distilling it to it's simplest form
/
A few people have recently told me I have a way of making complex things simple. I take this as a compliment for two reasons:
A few people have recently told me I have a way of making complex things simple. I take this as a compliment for two reasons:
1. UNDERSTANDING
Albert Einstein said that if you don't understand something well enough then you can't explain it simply.
It means you’ve done the hard work of finding the relevant first principles or roots of the issue. You’ve taken the time to figure out its context and its significance.
Its what Shane Parish is talking about in his Farnam Street blog post when he says:
“While we all hold an opinion on almost everything, how many of us do the work required to have an opinion?”
2. COMMUNICATION
It’s always easier to help other people grow in their understanding of something by first distilling it to its simplest form.
Say we want to explain to someone what a Grapefruit is. We can simplify the idea by first thinking of it as a citrus fruit. Most people know what an Orange is. Now we can use their existing knowledge of Oranges! We simply tell them:
“A Grapefruit is like an Orange but bigger and more bitter.”
Voila! Writing this post reminded me just how much I love the art and science of communication. I’ll end with another one of my favorite Einstein quotes:
“Make things as simple as possible but no simpler”.
#communication
#simplicity
1. UNDERSTANDING
Albert Einstein said that if you don't understand something well enough then you can't explain it simply.
It means you’ve done the hard work of finding the relevant first principles or roots of the issue. You’ve taken the time to figure out its context and its significance.
Its what Shane Parish is talking about in his Farnam Street blog post when he says:
“While we all hold an opinion on almost everything, how many of us do the work required to have an opinion?”
2. COMMUNICATION
It’s always easier to help other people grow in their understanding of something by first distilling it to its simplest form.
Say we want to explain to someone what a Grapefruit is. We can simplify the idea by first thinking of it as a citrus fruit. Most people know what an Orange is. Now we can use their existing knowledge of Oranges! We simply tell them:
“A Grapefruit is like an Orange but bigger and more bitter.”
Voila! Writing this post reminded me just how much I love the art and science of communication. I’ll end with another one of my favorite Einstein quotes:
“Make things as simple as possible but no simpler”.
#communication
#simplicity