Day 9 Simplify | Motivational by Steve Jobs

This is ringing truer than true these days.

“Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean and make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” -Steve Jobs

I have mountains to move. Tall, craggy ones with lots of drop offs. They’re the kind of mountains that don’t have clear paths up and over. Mountains with dark trails littered with fallen trees and rocks to climb over.

This week, my mountains seem to have grown. It might be that I’ve been busier than busy with my Listen to Your Mother performance (more on this soon) and the hectic schedule that comes with the end of school schedules and spring time activities. And it might be the cold I’m trying hard not to catch or my brain on overdrive. But my attempts at simplification are more difficult than I thought they would be.

I’m struggling at the foot of the mountain, barely out of the foot hills. And I feel silly for saying that simplicity doesn’t come, well, simply.

It’s kind of a bitch.

I don’t really know where to start and then my mind races all over again and I get nothing, nothing done or simplified. I was able to write out a meal plan and grocery list the other day, and I have stuck to it so far. And I took a two trash bags of too-small baby clothes to Goodwill yesterday. But quite honestly, that doesn’t really feel like it is enough.

I have this deep desire to simplify. And there’s a lot of work to do, obviously. So why is my momentum so slow? Why does this process such a struggle?

This is why Steve Jobs’s words give me hope. Motivation. (And yes, I realize this is the whole reason why I seek out these amazing quotes as part of my 30 Days.)

Simple is hard. But if I can just get started, just start putting one foot in front of the other, start moving upward, then I know I can make my life simpler. And when I do start walking and working toward simplifying my physical space, then I can see the path to simplify my actions. And then, I’ll be able to simplify my thoughts.

Then, and only then, I will move mountains.

I have mountains to move, and if simplifying is my way to do that, then tomorrow, I’ll try even harder.