The urge to overcomplicate

“Simplify, simplify” —That guy who lived in a cabin right outside town and had his mom bring his lunch.

I am writing this to remind myself of my own tendencies, since I apparently need to be reminded once in a while.

I’m noticing more and more that many people overcomplicate things.

Take barbecue for example. It’s not enough to learn how to grill meat as close to perfection as you can. There are different kinds of grills. Gas or charcoal, sometimes lump charcoal for the elite. Some are better than others. If you’re going with charcoal, which you are if you’re serious about barbecue, now you can argue with strangers on the internet about what kind of charcoal is the best charcoal.

There are sites on the internet where people are rating their charcoal and having heated discussions. ¹

And I understand. You want the maximum experience. You want your barbecue sessions to be as good as they can be. You want the meat you are charring for your family to be as tasty as it can be. But perhaps it’s more about technique than tools?

The mother lode is probably cameras. Oh boy, if you’re into photography, there is just an endless amount of meta. There are always new cameras. There’s always new photo editing software. The sad truth is that photography is not something that can constructively be talked about all that much. There are some principles and rules—understanding aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and rule of thirds—but then the rest of it is all soft, squishy feelings and art.

It’s about developing your eye. It’s about looking at the different photos people are taking, including yourself, critiquing them, seeking to improve them. This is all hard. What’s easy and still technically your photography hobby, is cameras and lenses. Man, if I just had that 1.4 prime 50 I could take such kick-ass pictures. My current 1.8 prime 50? No no no no no it is not doing it for me.

Gear lust is harmless, except for your wallet, but it’s not practicing photography, is it?

Obviously I’m as guilty as anybody else, probably more guilty, since I have more than a little bit of the curse of overthinking and displacing. You can’t just plow ahead and do the thing. You have to think about the thing. Ruminate. Mull it over. Read more blog posts and forum posts about it. Talk to others about it. Debate! The fools and their Nikons! Fools!

I think in the end for a certain kind of person it’s more fun and satisfying to think about doing the thing than to do the thing. Because once you’ve done the thing, the thing is done. And now what are you going to do? Are you going to just sit there? And enjoy the results? Are you going to just sit there and enjoy life? Are you just going to sit there with your thoughts when you could optimize the thing and quiet your brain for a few more fleeting minutes?

“Simplify, simplify”