Simplicity is the Trademark of Genius

Do few things really, really well. Zuckerberg, his hoodie. Steve Jobs, his turtlenecks. So many creative superstars. What do they do? They have uniforms. That’s about going minimalist. They don’t have to exercise their cognitive bandwidth every morning when their well of focus and willpower is full. They just put on the uniform. They don’t waste any energy, don’t waste any willpower, don’t waste any thinking on what they need to wear. That’s an example of going minimalist. Even in your work, rather than releasing 1,000 mediocrities, be in the business of focusing on one masterwork. Maybe it’s every year, maybe it’s every four years like Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel ceiling. For years focused on the ceiling. It damaged his eyes, it hurt his back, yet he made history. If you look at some of the great restaurants on the planet like Piazza Duomo in Alba, Italy, there’s only six tables. Not thousands of tables, six tables. So they can dial in the user experience and create magic.