This morning as I was running through my ever-changing morning routine before heading to work I realized my house keys were not in my pants pocket. Immediately I mentally retraced my steps and started looking everywhere they may have been: my gym bag, my coat pocket, the pair of jean I wore yesterday, my work bag. Most of these places I never put my house keys. Ends up they were right where I normally keep them, just covered by a piece of paper. I never thought to look more closesly at where I keep them every day and instead turned to possible other solutions. As I drove to work I wondered to myself why my thought process worked that way.

Do we as a society, as individuals functioning in a bigger picture, tend to take our eye off what is so clearly in front of us? It’s an interesting thought. How often when we seek to fix something is change by expansion invoked over focus on the existant. I know I am guilty of looking forward when I should be focused on what is occuring right now, especially when the now is what contains the answer I am looking for. It seems we have a tendancy as innovators and deep-thinkers to take the focus a bit too far, to over-think a situation or a problem. Similarly, a term exists known as Occam’s Razor, named after William of Ockham. The principle focuses on not complicating that which has a simple answer. Phrased another way, we shouldn’t add to a process when it can sufficiently be carried out in a simpler method. The best aspect to a principle such as this is that it is answering a proposed fault by removing additional thought and effort. There are few intellectual contributions which simplify and converge rather than diverge to more information; an ever expanding network.

Stepping back even further, do we dig too deep at times in our lives looking for what is the right answer when the answer is already quite clear? I don’t mean to simply pose a variety of unanswered questions, yet somehow it feels appropriate given the different states we all currently operate within. I do know that life can be much more enjoyable with unnecessary complexities removed. Design your life, don’t merely react to what is happening around you.