#PositiveVibes - Slice It

By John R. Nocero & Nicole M. Palmer

The VIBE: Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.

John: Patrik Edblad recently shared a mental model called Occam’s razor. It is a very effective problem-solving tool. You may have heard of it. If not, here’s how you slice it. William of Occam was a 14th-century English friar, philosopher, and theologian. He’s considered one of the prominent figures of medieval thought and was involved in many major intellectual and political controversies during his time. The Razor is basically a rule of thumb for problem-solving which states that: “Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.” Another way of putting is that the simplest solution is probably correct. It keeps you from overthinking. Using Occam’s razor, you “cut away” what’s excessively complex so you can focus on what works. This approach is used in a wide range of situations to improve judgment and make better decisions. Now, Occam’s razor obviously isn’t perfect. There are exceptions to every rule, and you should never follow them blindly. But, in general, favoring the simple over the complex will improve your judgment and help you solve problems faster and better.

 Nicole, do you ever get paralyzed by too much choice? For example, you got into the grocery store and there are about 50 different types of popcorn, but all you want is regular popcorn and there is extra butter, movie theater butter, butter like your mom’s butter, apple-bottom jeans butter, peanut butter and all other types of butter butter in between. It’s all too much so you grab jujyfruits, which are delicious. But you still don’t get the popcorn. Maybe it’s too deep, but you get it. Where are the examples you can use Occam’s Razor, cut the nonsense and get right to the point?

 Nicole: John and I often talk about how less is more. In other words, let’s keep it simple. Occam makes a great recommendation that you should choose the simplest solution when it comes to problem solving. It seems like common sense to choose the simplest solution but often we get caught up on analyzing our options. We are living in a world where the options can be endless.

Stick with what you know: We are creatures by habit. As my Dad always told me, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. If you love popcorn stick to your favorite brand and flavor. This will never disappoint you and it will save you time and money. If the manufacturer changed their recipe of your favorite flavor, then you may need to find a new brand or flavor. This concept can be applied to your everyday decisions. If you have a process and it works for you, stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes in life, we create unnecessary problems for ourselves. Creating a new process doesn’t always equate to a better process.

 To summarize, keep it simple, stick with what you know, and don’t get caught up on overthinking and analyzing every finite detail.

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