K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple, Silly!

K.I.S.S.

Honestly, I’ve heard that acronym in several settings ranging from very casual to professional venues and I’ve never liked it. “KISS”? Really? You couldn’t have come up with another acronym to tell people to keep things simple?

 Just a few awesome acronyms I came up with right now:

Simplicity always is the best (SAITB)

Simplicity Is My Persona, Live Excellently (SIMPLE)

Simple work makes for simple minds (SWMFSM – uh….probably not)

Simplicity:  Always Sassy (SAS)  (Ooo!! That’s a good one!)

Okay, so all those acronyms are lame.  The point is that keeping things simple gets the job done.

This last week I was in Connecticut at a conference with all the states across the nation that are replicating the Help Me Grow model. Help Me Grow is a model to enhance the networks within a community system and improve the linkage of parents to resources to aid in their child’s development. Check out the website or blog!

It was interesting to see the challenges the other states were facing as they implement Help Me Grow. Each situation is unique, but the common thread I saw was that in striving to do something new, we will often get overwhelmed and bogged down by all the extra “stuff”. If a model has proved effective and efficient for years, why change it?

One of my favorite things that Dr. Paul Dworkin said during the conference was  “What enables implementation is the simplicity of the model.”

This applies to all aspects of life. What enables us to implement changes in our life, or new habits, or new systems or new schedules is simplicity. We’ll be much more successful if we do the simplify and focus on the essentials. Thoughts? How do you keep life simple?

Here are a few pretty (and simple) photos I took from my beautiful trip!

Dr. Dworkin speaking at the conference