- “Complexity is easy. Simplicity is difficult.” – Unknown.
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Complexity is easy. Simplicity is difficult.
When I evaluate my own work output, I see that complexity usually manifests out of laziness. Or being hurried. Or both.
Complexity is a symptom, I think. Not a virtue. The more busy I am, the more complex my offerings become.
Simplicity, on the other hand, takes a great deal of focus, clarity, and intentionality. It is difficult to do simple (and do it well).
Ernest Hemingway 1 was once challenged to write a short story. A very short story, in fact. I can quote the whole thing because I’ve committed it to memory:
For sale, baby shoes, never worn.
It doesn’t get more powerful (or simple) than that.
Complexity makes people do the heavy-lifting. Simplicity says, “The hard work has been done. Here’s the gem. Enjoy.” Of course, I could just be oversimplifying things.
Notes:
- There is some debate to whether Hemingway was the actual source for this story. The power, I think, remains the same regardless of who authored it. ↩
According to WOMMA, email marketing is 1350% more effective than social media marketing. Yep. You read that right. 1350%. What you got to say about ‘dat, homeboy?
OG Email Marketing
That’s why I jumped at the chance to interview someone who knows something about email marketing. Dan Zarrella is someone who I’ve followed for years. He works for HubSpot and he knows his stuff. He’s a freaking scientist, for crying out loud.
We talked about email marketing misconceptions, mixed martial arts, and the upcoming Science of Email Marketing webinar Dan is leading next week.
Ready? Alright. Here we go:
