It’s neither as well as both.

Things become complicated once people start to explain things based on their competence. They have learned a skill, developed a habit of analyzing a situation, and have some way of coming to a decision.

But most of it is their experience that is being condensed into a reaction. That experience often isn’t structured or fully understood, and the individual steps in the process continue to be somewhat instinctual. It is doing one step after the other with the desire to keep their outcome within eyesight. With the drawback, that the overall objective may become lost in the fog of details.

It’s an approach that works well for almost everyone. The few times this process doesn’t feel convenient are left to be forgotten soon after. That is once the task is over.

In its execution, the process feels simple and is simple.

It’s like playing golf, driving, or walking. These activities are simple.

The moment they become difficult is when people start trying to explain them to others or when they are seeking to achieve an outcome that is the one, they dream of.

In that moment, all the details impacting the activity suddenly become meaningful and it seems that they all have the same priority. Thus, they all have to be named and thought of. It becomes a task of finding a way to control all the details as they interact. To do so thinking steps in. It quickly becomes overwhelming as the structure of the process has been dissolved by the thinking. The thinking tries to determine the interdependence of elements to control the result. It transforms a complex task into a mechanical one, making it a complicated one.

For many, this is a natural process. It’s how a detailed understanding can be displayed, one that they can perceive as competence.

In awe of competence, and with the desire for the best possible results, following the complicated path becomes a standard.

Another path is to approach executing tasks with the idea to learn from them instead of getting it over with. It asks to look at the result and learn from how it came about. It means to constantly do something a little bit differently and to keep in mind what the task is there for within its context as well as on a more general level.

This could seem to be too simple an approach though. Following the complicated path may have something more heroic about it.