My Obsession with Complexity

I have come to realize that I have an obsession with complexity. I love complex problems, people, environments and situations. It is not so much the complexity itself, but rather the thrill of working my way through the complexity. I do however wonder sometimes if it is healthy. I see others make a lot of money addressing simple problems while I keep chasing big, hard nasty problems and I cannot help wondering if I have some sort of fatal flaw in that regard.

Consider my friend David who owns a lighting company. While I am off trying to figure out how to design, build, and launch complicated sensors made from the rarest of earth elements and integrate them into complicated satellites and submersibles, David sells lights. Yup, lights. Nothing crazy, nothing complicated. Just lights. He imports them from China and sells them here. There is no emerging value proposition, elevator pitch or disruptive use case. It’s a light. Duh, you use it when it’s dark. It’s simple, elegant, profitable and apparently not for the likes of me.

I am not entirely sure why I gravitate to the complex. Maybe it’s the Engineer in me? Maybe it’s the same reason I like Sudoku – the exhilaration of finding an elegant solution to a monstrous problem. Or maybe I’m just odd that way. Whatever the reason, I am drawn to complexity like a moth to a flame. Sometimes I get too close and get burned by a problem too big for me to solve. But mostly, I like it this way. I don’t think I would be happy selling light bulbs.

Ty
The Idea Whisperer
@tyshattuck