Marlow's Musings 6/22/25
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
My son had to have brain surgery when he was 14. It saved his life. As you can imagine, it was a tough situation to deal with as a parent—stressful times, a long recovery, and more. This, however, is not that story. This is about making things simple.
Many of you are wondering how I'm going to connect brain surgery to simplicity. Stick with me.
Regular readers know an adage I share frequently: things should be as simple as possible, though no simpler.1
Which brings me back to brain surgery. I asked the neurosurgeon the success rate of the procedure he would be performing on Chris.
“Up until a few years ago, it was about 90%.”
Chris had undiagnosed hydrocephalus—water on the brain. The channel that allows cerebrospinal fluid to flow from the brain ventricles to his spinal cord never developed. For over a decade, as his brain produced fluid, volume and pressure increased undetected. It wasn't until he was nearly dead that doctors discovered it.
The procedure required going in and creating an opening between the ventricles and the spinal column. The surgeon explained he would open the skull and insert a metal rod into the brain and poke a hole to create an opening in the ventricle to allow the fluid to flow into the spine.
“We used to use lasers to cut the tissue. Given where we are working in the brain, if anything went wrong and the laser cut too deep, there would be nothing that could be done. We lost quite a few patients. Now, though, we use a metal rod to poke a hole, and the success rate is 99%.”
Who pondered, ‘Hey, what if we just poke a hole in the brain with a metal rod?’
Before I go too much further, because some of you will wonder, the surgery was a success. After many years of rehab and struggles, Chris is doing well today.
As an engineer, the lesson that technology isn’t always the answer hit home. Sometimes, simpler is better. I can’t tell you how many times I was asked to automate a process which would have been incredibly complex to do, only to find after examination that the process didn’t need to be performed to begin with.
There's a meme gaining popularity that reflects a growing sentiment. In the picture is a washing machine from many years ago with various captions to the effect of, “I’d pay more for one of these that works and is easy to use.”
Our complicated machines and systems today aren’t as reliable as our older ones, even as they do dozens more things. There is a growing unease and desire to return to older ways of doing things. The zeitgeist of going back to ‘simpler’ times.
Simplicity is often misunderstood, both in our systems and in our Ikigai. We need simpler, but not simple. Here’s the distinction. Sometimes we need more complex things. A pencil is simple. A laptop is complex. I can do things with a laptop that I can’t do with a pencil.
Not complexity for complexity's sake, and not complexity at the start, but built on functioning systems and practices. We need systems and processes that can do many things, some of which are complex. They should be as elegant and simple as possible while still delivering all that we need.
Life is easier now than at any time in human history. Why does it feel so hard? Because things have become complicated. Not just complex—many things necessarily are. Too much of life has become complicated, and that's where we've gone wrong.
Change is possible. Even brain surgery, as I learned, can be made simpler.
As simple as possible…and no simpler.
Word of the Week
Elegant (adj.)
/ˈɛlɪɡənt/
1: Pleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance or manner
2: Ingeniously simple and effective
From Latin elegant, meaning “choice, fine, tasteful,” this word describes the perfect marriage of simplicity and sophistication. It represents solutions, creations, or expressions that achieve their purpose with grace—no wasted motion, no unnecessary complexity, nothing missing that should be there.
Elegance embodies the principle of “as simple as possible but no simpler,” with the added dimension of beauty. When we develop an appreciation for elegance in our lives, we begin to recognize the difference between impressive complexity and meaningful simplicity.
We start to ask not “How can I do more?” and instead ask “How can I do this beautifully?” The elegant path often reveals itself when we stop forcing solutions and start listening to what the situation requires.
In case you missed it…
This week’s Ikigai Thought for Today…Search for Meaning
Exploring the idea that the need to prove who you are to others disappears once you know who you are. Life begins once you accept who you are and realize you are enough.
Ikiquest+
This week’s Coffee Contemplation…Hills
I came up with the saying for my running: "They are hills until one day they aren't." I explore my granddaughter’s observation that the hill at her Summer camp got smaller since last year.
Ikiquest+ subscribers can always listen to the audio narration or read the transcription. This week, I opened up the contemplation to everyone to explore Ikiquest+.
If you aren’t yet an Ikiquest+ Subscriber, you can give it a try for free by clicking the box here. The choice is yours.
Comment of the Week:
This week’s comment is from Kyle, who heard me speak on a LinkedIn Live event and had this to share…
“I listened to his story and what it all has meant to David and the ability for him to Live the life of purpose he is supposed to live. While on the call I ordered the book. I am about to read chapter 3. While starting this book and reading the first two chapters I can feel the change in myself …What I am starting to realize already is like David I may have been starting to live my Ikigai without knowing it.”
What struck me most?
His realization that he "may have been starting to live my Ikigai without knowing it." Exactly! Your Ikigai isn't hiding somewhere waiting to be discovered. It's already there. The thing is, now you need to uncover it.
Quote I’m Pondering
This thought is from Cate Hall2…
But struggling is not evidence that you’ve tried everything. To the contrary, the continuous need for willpower may be the sign of a badly-engineered life.
Living your Ikigai should be easy. Not perfect, not without struggle, and also not hard.
Final Thoughts:
For twenty years, I struggled with dozens of self-reflection approaches, productivity systems, and complicated frameworks, trying to understand my purpose. Most promised ten steps (or more) to a meaningful life. Each seemed to require advanced degrees in psychology, philosophy, or physics to implement.
The irony wasn't lost on me when I wrote “The Ikigai Way.” After all that complexity, the answer was elegantly simple: a framework built on just three elements—essence, purpose, and harmony.
Like the neurosurgeon who discovered that a metal rod worked better than sophisticated lasers, I learned that the most profound insights about living come from the simplest approaches.
Your Ikigai isn't hiding behind complicated assessments or lengthy processes. It's already there, expressing itself in small ways, waiting to be recognized through a simple lens that helps you see what was always present.
As simple as possible...and no simpler. Even when it comes to uncovering who you're meant to be.
Quest well!
Although this idea is often attributed to Albert Einstein, it is unlikely that he said this exact phrase.
I am so glad to hear the happy outcome of the operation and subsequent rehabilitation, David. Those must have been challenging times for the whole family. But what an amazing illustration. We tend to underestimate the power of simplicity.
My parents are stuck in various Kafkaesque situations at the moment, due to complex computer systems stopping them from changing account details remotely. Meant to be helpful but not.
The washing machine and dryer analogy reminds me of Barry Schwartz's TED talk on The Paradox of Choice. TL; DW - more options don't mean more satisfaction, as we tend to assume. They mean the surrender of more possibilities (read: less satisfaction).
https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice