A lot of my life relates to complexity. My job, hobbies, and levels of motivation are all closely tied to this idea of intricacy. Specifically, the problem of optimizing for functionality without sacrificing simplicity.
Tennis is an intricate sport. As a true beginner, chances are, you will spend 90% of the time picking up balls, unable to keep a ball in play for more than two shots. After learning the basics and drilling for months, you’ll improve and be able to hit much more consistently. Then, you’ll begin worrying about adding more power and angle behind your shots to be able to compete at a higher level. It’s at this point especially that you have to remember to keep it simple.
The physics didn’t change when you went from intermediate to advanced, there was just more intricacy added. There are more things to worry about and more moving parts. With every shot, you’re now worrying about changing things up and not giving your opponent easy options. Perhaps you’ve even become so worried about generating power that you forget some of your fundamentals. You’ll sometimes miss easy shots straight into the net, trying to use too much arm muscle instead of legs.
In nearly everything, remembering to reduce complexity can greatly benefit us. Maintaining our fundamentals when moving parts get introduced, and not forgetting tried-and-true patterns is important to optimize functionality. In tennis, this means that aiming to change things up or keep your opponent on their toes isn’t actually that big of a concern. Almost all that matters to win, is minimizing your own error rate while hitting quality shots. Simple, right? Just don’t miss!
I like using tennis as an analogy for things, because seriously, I think the statistics of tennis matches apply to most of life. You don’t need to hit the fanciest or hardest shots to win. And frequently, the one dominating the highlight reels are losing matches or losing in the long run from injuries. That’s because winning comes from keeping it simple, adhering to patterns, listening to the data, all while reducing as much complexity as you can.
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