Success in a Nutshell & Occam’s Razor

“Everything should be kept as simple as possible, but no simpler.” – Albert Einstein

Gary Keller and I recently appeared on a two-part episode of The Millionaire Real Estate Agent Podcast (You can listen to Part 1 and Part 2 here.) Host Jason Abrams wanted to explore how we motivated, educated, and managed ourselves. Gary answer was immediate, “It’s goals, plans, actions, results, and accountability.  Reset goal, reset plan, take action, be accountable.” 

This five-step process from goals to accountability shows up another four or five times in the episodes. The first four steps – Goals, Plans, Actions, and Results – are sometimes reduced to the acronym GPAR. They also offer a simple formula for the last step, Accountability. 

As Gary repeated this mantra, I realized how often we overcomplicate success. Do we want to be more complicated? “Complicated” can be an excuse for failure or even a form of self-sabotage. “Simple” offers no place to hide. 

Occam’s Razor states that the simplest explan`ation is probably correct. William of Ockham is credited with the concept, although many smart people have said similar things. (Occam is also a lot easier to pronounce than “Durandus’s Razor” or “d’Oresme’s Razor.”) ** In science, they sometimes refer to it as the “Principle of Parsimony.” It’s all just a fancy way to say, KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid. 

If you truly want something, set a goal, create a plan, take action, evaluate your results, and seek accountability. That’s success in a nutshell.**

One question to ponder in your thinking time: What am I overcomplicating that I can simplify?

Make an Impact!
Jay Papasan
Co-author of The ONE Thing & The Millionaire Real Estate Agent 

* Razors serve as shortcuts to better decisions. You can check out Hanlon’s Razor here. 

** So I had to look up how the phrase “in a nutshell” became a thing. Roman writer Pliny the Elder once complained that a copy of Homer’s Iliad was written in such small writing it could fit in a nutshell. That little chestnut was coined around 50 AD!