There’s a meme making its way around that compares the thought processes of people at various points on the IQ bell curve:
1) Those on the left side of the bell curve (low IQ) come up with a simple solution.
2) Those in the middle of the bell curve (average IQ, mid-wit) come up with a complex solution.
3) Those on the right side of the bell curve (high IQ, genius) come up with a simple solution.
The low IQ and high IQ individuals might have very different rationales for how they arrived at their simple answer, but simplicity still wins in the end.
This hits me hard.
Early in each phase of my career (strength coach, physical therapist, and entrepreneur) I always fell into the mid-wit trap of complexity.
Physical therapy:
– Mid-wit physical therapists give athletes complex explanations of intricate biomechanical faults and nuanced manual therapy treatments needed to address them (i.e. “uneven” hips, upper/lower crossed syndrome, etc.).
– High IQ physical therapists recognize that the issue is likely from performing little to nothing then quickly undertaking a high workload without a ramp up period (like running repeat 400s on the first week of track practice).
Strength and conditioning:
– Mid-wit strength coaches argue whether the best program for high school athletes is 5/3/1, 1×20, some version of Westside Conjugate, the Tier System, Starting Strength, the Cube Method, or something else.
– High IQ strength coaches recognize that all you need to do is get an athlete to add a little bit of weight (2.5 to 5 lbs) to their hinge, squat, press, and row each week and train twice per week for the entirety of their high school career to get them insane results.
Entrepreneurship:
– Mid-wit entrepreneurs focus on complex sales funnels, Facebook ads, and growth hacks.
– High IQ entrepreneurs focus on building a solution to a problem and sharing it with those who need it.
A quick framework
Occam’s Razor states that when you’re faced with competing explanations for the same phenomenon, the simplest is likely the correct one.
I’m not arguing that the simple answer is always correct and that complexity doesn’t matter.
In fact, I love nuance. I operate best in gray areas with layers of complexity.
But, complex solutions are more rare and shouldn’t be our first attempt at solving a problem.
If you hear hooves, think horse, not zebra.
So, here’s a simple 4-step process to simplifying solutions:
1. Identify the root problem.
This sounds obvious, but too often we get distracted by extraneous variables and are trying to solve the wrong problem or too many problems.
Take a step back and analyze the situation from a bird’s eye view.
Find your linchpin problem; the problem that allows everything to fall into place when it’s solved.
2. Brainstorm and crowdsource solutions
Take a moment to see what possible solutions exist.
After seeing what you can generate yourself, check with appropriate groups of people (or now artificial intelligence databases like ChatGPT) to see what other solutions exist.
3. Choose the simplest solution
Apply Occman’s Razor and shave off the complex solutions.
Start by choosing the simplest solution first.
Simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy.
4. Iterate
Test your solution and evaluate to see if it worked.
If it did, great!
If it didn’t, return to your list of solutions and move on to the next most simple answer.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until your problem is solved.
Best,
Zach
Dr. Zach Guiser, PT, DPT, CSCS