30 Days of Simplicity - 10 Years On

Simplicity really is one of the principles I try to live my life by. It is a significant part of my Why - in particular, that bit about wanting to make life easier for people. So, more around simplifying communication, information and knowledge. Maybe that is part of becoming an information manager in the first place? Who really knows?

It's rather ironic that the activity on simplicity has the most TED Talks contributing to the concept. But, Sandra and Alan's talks are incredibly similar in their message. You can read the original outline post here, and find links to all the talks. Rory's is a lot of fun, while also being a great idea. But, this entire activity probably could have been taken just from John's talk and book.

How this has evolved

If anything, the principles of this activity are more a part of my life now than they were back then. Since leaving government to pursue different career paths - I mean, who needs one? - I have had a significant focus on simplifying communication. This is why I call myself an explainer. That explaining, whether it is written, verbally or through graphics, is focused on making things clearer and easier to understand.

I know I don't always hit the mark, but it is probably the most important lens I use when I do my work.

And now, I am considering simplifying all of this *waves hands around the website*. It's not something I've ever felt I've gotten 'right', especially with two websites. My current thinking is to unify it all in one place - we'll see what happens. The main thing is that I simplify the message around what I do - which has been the hardest thing to achieve as a multi-hyphenate.