The Laws of Simplicity

"Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful"

John Maeda a graphic designer and computer scientist in his book "The Laws of Simplicity" provides us with the Ten Laws of Simplicity.

Ten Laws

1. Reduce - A Thoughtful reduction, an easy and simplest way to  achieve simplicity. Because it helps us to remove obvious, unwanted fact and enable us to add meaningful stuffs.

2. Organize - Face, Arm, Hand, Finger, Leg, Foot, Heart, Lungs blah blah looks scattered. When ORGANIZED properly, simply reflects a Human Body.

3. Time - Valuable aspect of Life, Save it. Be Simple.

4. Learn - Learn it, Remember facts, convert it to Knowledge, automatically everything looks Simple.

5. Differences - Adding meaning makes it Simple. Hiding Complex makes it useful. Example - Swiss Army Knife, Only the tool you wish to use is expose, rest other are hidden.

6. Context - Read Read and Think about what you have Read.

7. Emotion - Adds ethics and values to Simplicity.

8. Trust - Simple, We Trust.

9. Failure - The Simplest version of Success.

10. THE ONE - Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

“If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it away from him”

                           – Benjamin Franklin

 

Read to Albert Einstein

You have to learn the rules of the game.

And then you have to play better than anyone else.

A letter from Albert Einstein to his 11-year-old son Hans Albert, found in Posterity: Letter of Great Americans To Their Children.

My dear Albert,

Yesterday I received your dear letter and was very happy with it. I was already afraid you wouldn’t write to me at all anymore. You told me when I was in Zurich, that it is awkward for you when I come to Zurich.

Therefore I think it is better if we get together in a different place, where nobody will interfere with our comfort. I will in any case urge that each year we spend a whole month together, so that you see that you have a father who is fond of you and who loves you. You can also learn many good and beautiful things from me, something another cannot as easily offer you. What I have achieved through such a lot of strenuous work shall not only be there for strangers but especially for my own boys. These days I have completed one of the most beautiful works of my life, when you are bigger, I will tell you about it.

I am very pleased that you find joy with the piano. This and carpentry are in my opinion for your age the best pursuits, better even than school. Because those are things which fit a young person such as you very well. Mainly play the things on the piano which please you, even if the teacher does not assign those.

That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don’t notice that the time passes. I am sometimes so wrapped up in my work that I forget about the noon meal.

Also play ringtoss with Tete. That teaches you agility. Also go to my friend Zangger sometimes. He is a dear man.

Be with Tete kissed by your

Papa.

Regards to Mama.

Caught the bold!!!!!

                                   Learning Secrets from Albert Einstein

Quotes or Quotation - Don’t Recall, Internalize them

“What reaches the heart without going through mind is likely to bounce back and put the mind out of business”

– How to Read a Book (A Touchstone book).

This is the way how we integrate, most of knowledge into our Life. Any fact from the world constructed on the platform of heart without having the mind (thinking machine) as it base can never be converted to a Knowledge – a useable form. And that’s the reason, why most of the people end up messing – their relationship, family and their own Life. Simply they never look for the combinations which are going to work for them.

The above written text is quoted from a book - How to read a book and it shows you, how such quotes should be used and applied to the real life. Quotations are not special arrangement of the words to form unique sentences, so that you can use them in speeches, to advertise your product or elsewhere.

They are the quantum packets of information, optimal experiences, discipline, knowledge which eventually gives the direction to convert the facts into useable form and enable us to take better decision for success and satisfaction.

You often quote a text either from a book or a readable resource. In each of case it’s of equal importance to know that, whatever author writes in a book is backed with proper thinking, analysis, research and most of the time with experiments and experience. And hence it’s important for you to understand what he wants to convey.

It’s a kind of learning process, because knowing a particular fact or quotation is not enough, you should know how to apply them to problems outside of the domain because they help you to learn that skill. Also learning how to think is a kind of hard skill, because you have to research and filter lots of information and facts, do the analysis, and then you have to connect it to the framework- which is not only easy to recall but can be internalize. For that we have to prioritize our learning process, because we have to develop a framework that is easy to remember or recall, integrate it the domains of our interest and make it available for use.

And Quotations are one of them, they never change, they are universal and easy to apply from one domain to other provided they give you the optimal results. As we all know, the knowledge is to be maintained and not just to be added – because adding will bring you at the stage where you say, there is nothing in my mind. Also Quotations are those thought processed ideas that have lasted and will last for the long time.

Success framework from Steve Jobs –

“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time”.

Take your time, think on them, learn them and don’t just recall, internalize them.

Mind - Works and States

The truth is you have control of your thoughts, reactions, and responses. And once you understand how powerful that choice can be, you'll be able to change more aspects of your life than you can imagine - Sebastian Bailey

We never do the tedious task of thinking while doing a particular kind of work. We "go through the motions". We see every single aspect from the perspective of how world shows and eventually feel that we are trapped. We are in an autopilot mode and that's the reason we never look for our decision-Never think while taking the decision, never go back in the past to correct the future decision. Never change the state of mind, we are AUTOPILOT.

And all these eventually leads us to a programmed individual - losing the skill of thinking, thinking more, thinking creatively and thinking differently.

Today, in the world of high pressure and dilemma, it’s important that our mind should work at peak potential of thinking. Not only to achieve success but also to look the world from our own perception, to develop our own vision, to develop the best problem solving skills, which will provide us the eternal satisfaction of living LIFE and Enjoying It.

Sebastian Bailey elaborates on this in Mind Gym: Achieve more by thinking differently.

We can focus internally or externally.

Internal Focus

When your focus is internal, it’s much like you’re having a conversation with yourself. Consider the voice you hear in your head as you read this book. Even while you’re reading our words, another dialogue might be asking if it’s worth continuing to read this chapter or if now is the time to have a cup of coffee.… When your focus is internal, you are conscious of the fact that you are thinking; you can hear and pay attention to the running commentary in your head.

External Focus

Where are you right now? What’s happening? What noises do you hear? Who is close to you? External focus is an awareness of the things outside your own head. And when you focus in this way, you aren’t aware of what you’re thinking. Your attention is on what is going on, not on what you think about it, how to interpret it, or whether it could have an impact on your future.

When you are really caught up in something, whether it’s the thrill of a football game or the latest twist in your favorite reality show, you are externally focused. And when you find yourself thinking, Why am I wasting time watching this ridiculous reality show? you have returned to an internal focus.

Where should your focus be?

Your mind is always occupied in one of two places: what is going on inside your head or what is going on outside your head. It is impossible to focus at the same time on both what’s internal and what’s external, just as it is to focus on neither. What is possible, though, is to switch between them, which, with a little mental discipline, you can do pretty much whenever you want.

The truth is we need to alternate between being internally focused and being externally focused.

The Four States of Mind

When you add up the types of focus (Internal or External) and with the ways they help us (helpful and harmful) you get four distinct states of mind: Autopilot, critical, thinking, and engaged.

We always need to be in helpful states: And we want to flip between Thinking and Engaged.

Thinking will help us, to hear the inner voice, understand the ideal perception of successful people and to develop our own.

Engaged state will give us the optimal experience, the state of FLOW