Moving on

This is a post I started month ago. I wonder if it still holds true. Here it is.

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Simplify, Simplify, Simplify.

If that were the motto of our president-elect, I could put aside most of his rhetoric. To rise above the fray and become a superstar in modern society, one must make some compromises. Each of the recent candidates made compromises both publicly and privately. Many of these required value judgements that do not align with my values. Unfortunately, when we can't pick all the personality traits of our presidential candidate, we must accept a few undesirable traits.

Whether I think the current president-elect was the better of the two candidates is no longer relevant. What matters now is how do we move forward. Here are some strategies.

1. Data has served me well in my life. Let's look for ways to keep data driven decision making in the foreground.
2. Simple incremental change has generated buy-in faster than broad sweeping change. Let's keep our eyes on distant goals - e.g. job availability, justice equality, and sustainable living - while focusing on immediate changes we can make today.
3. Simple systems out perform complex systems. Even the most complex systems only operate well when they can be broken down in to simple parts. Overly complex systems or policies become unwieldy fast.

All this comes down to simplicity. Note that my first comment is about data. Although simple systems and simple incremental steps are essential, data is the guide to the vision.