Simplicity Over Complexity

Hello!

It’s Thursday, 13^th November 2025. Welcome back to Bold Efforts. Some topics arrive quietly and then refuse to leave. This one has been following me around all week. Simplicity. Not the aesthetic version people post online. The real, practical version that changes how you work, think, and live. The kind that asks you to stop pretending complexity is a sign of intelligence.

When I used to work in corporate, I used to treat complexity like currency. Big plans felt serious. Long explanations felt impressive. Detailed frameworks made me feel like I had things under control. Now as an entrepreneur, the more I build, the more I work with people who operate at a high level, the more obvious it becomes. Complexity is often a distraction disguised as effort.

Simplicity is where real work begins.

You notice this most clearly in productivity. Every founder wants to be more productive. Every team wants to move faster. And yet most people drown themselves in their own systems. They build workflows on top of workflows. They buy new tools instead of improving their process. They create dashboards no one reads. They call it optimization. It is actually avoidance.

Simplicity is the opposite. It forces clarity. When you simplify your work, you remove the excuses. You can’t hide behind busyness. You can’t pretend progress is happening because a spreadsheet looks full. Simple work exposes reality.

The highest performers I know all operate the same way. Their days look almost boring on paper. A short list of things that actually matter. No unnecessary meetings. No dramatic rituals. No endless analysis. They spend most of their time doing the one thing that moves their project forward. That is why they win.

There is a strange truth about productivity. The simpler your system, the harder it is to lie to yourself. If your priorities fit on one page, you can’t pretend the twelfth task is important. If your calendar is clean, you can’t hide behind back to back calls. If your notes are short, you can’t pretend you didn’t understand the problem.

Simplicity gives you nowhere to run.

And here is the part people don’t admit.

This is especially true for anything that compounds. Health. Skills. Money. Focus. The things that reward you the most are the things that demand the most discipline. Simplicity sounds gentle, but in practice it asks for a level of consistency most people are not ready for.

And that is why it is powerful.

Think about the best product experiences you’ve had. The ones that feel natural the moment you touch them. Behind that simplicity is a war. A team said no to features. They cut ideas that were clever but unnecessary. They threw away months of work because the flow didn’t feel clean enough. They sacrificed their ego to protect the user’s mind.

That discipline shows up everywhere in high quality work. In design. In teams that communicate without wasting time. In leaders who speak clearly. In companies that make decisions fast because their priorities are simple.

Simplicity reveals intent. It tells you who actually understands what they are doing. When someone explains their strategy in a few sentences, you trust them. When a product feels obvious, you trust it. When a leader gives clean direction, you follow.

Complexity, on the other hand, is often a mask. People hide behind it because they are unsure. Or afraid. Or trying too hard to look smart. You can see it in meetings where everything sounds sophisticated but nobody knows what to do next. You can see it in products with twenty toggles that confuse everyone. You can see it in companies that add layers of process instead of fixing the root problem.

Life is no different. As you grow older, you realize most outcomes come from a few core decisions. Who you spend time with. What you focus on. What you tolerate. Everything else is noise.

Simplicity is not about having less. It is about thinking less about the wrong things. It frees your attention. It sharpens your judgment. It brings energy back into your day. It makes your work feel lighter because you are finally carrying only what matters.

When you commit to simplicity, momentum builds. You make decisions faster. You execute cleaner. You get to the real work without circling around it. And people around you feel the shift because simplicity spreads. It encourages honesty. It sets a culture.

We live in a world that worships complexity. But if you want to create work that lasts, if you want to protect your mind from chaos, if you want to build a life that feels like your own, simplicity is the real competitive advantage.

Remove what drains you. Strengthen what moves you forward. That is the entire game. Thank you for reading. See you next week!

Best,
Kartik

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Who am I?
I’m Kartik, founder of Polynomial Studio, a holding company and product studio building AI-driven businesses for the future of work. The way we work and live is being rewritten. AI, remote work, and shifting economic forces are reshaping careers, businesses, and entire industries. The big question is where it’s all heading.

For the past eight years, I’ve been at the forefront of these shifts, working across real estate, technology, startups, and corporate strategy. I’ve helped businesses navigate change and stay ahead of what’s next, always focused on understanding the forces shaping our future and how we can use them to build something better. Click here to know more about me.

Why Bold Efforts?
I started Bold Efforts because I believe work should fit into life, not the other way around. Too many people are stuck in outdated systems that don’t serve them. This newsletter is about challenging the status quo and making the effort to design work around life. It brings together bold ideas and actionable insights to help you build a healthier, more balanced relationship with work, leading to greater purpose and fulfillment. If you’re looking for fresh perspectives on how to work and live better, you’re in the right place.

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