Simple Rules

If you’ve got too many rules to remember, you’re less likely to follow any of them. Simplicity is the key to effectiveness.

1. Why Simple Rules Matter in a Complex World

We live in a world brimming with interconnected systems and endless decisions. Simple Rules, by cutting through the noise, help us focus on what’s truly important. They guide us through confusion when too many choices or considerations arise, making decision-making faster and easier. The authors argue that Simple Rules are not just helpful—they're essential in today's overly complicated environment.

Take the complexity of regulations, like the US tax code, which spans 3.8 million words—longer than seven copies of War and Peace! With such overwhelming intricacies, even experts are often wrong. Instead, Simple Rules can cut through this mess by boiling things down to what matters most.

Emergency triage in an army hospital offers another illustration. Instead of focusing on every minor detail, doctors use Simple Rules to prioritize patients based on vital signs. This saves lives while avoiding decision paralysis. The focus is on rapid and impactful actions.

Examples

• US tax experts giving incorrect advice due to overly complex codes.
• Army doctors using triage rules to prioritize patients in emergencies.
• Decision-making simplifications within companies that thrive by eliminating overly complicated systems.

2. Simplicity Makes Rules Memorable and Flexible

Lengthy sets of instructions are hard to follow. However, reducing rules to a manageable number ensures they’re easy to remember and adhere to. This brevity also leaves room for adapting to specific situations, so you're not boxed in by rigid guidelines.

A great example is Michael Pollan’s food philosophy, which boils healthy eating down to three rules: “Eat food,” “Not too much,” and “Mostly plants.” These clear and easy-to-follow directions take decades of nutrition science and make them accessible, dramatically reducing health risks like diabetes or heart disease.

Another example involves Claude Monet. By using Simple Rules in his art, such as focusing on light and limiting subjects to haystacks and water lilies, he was able to push his creativity further without being overwhelmed by too many options.

Examples

• Michael Pollan’s “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” approach to diet.
• Claude Monet’s artistic focus on light and recurring subjects.
• Entrepreneurs relying on fewer guidelines to manage their businesses effectively.

3. Coordination is Key for Collective Success

When teams or societies work together, individual actions require alignment to succeed. Simple Rules ensure collaboration without overwhelming participants. The effectiveness of such rules shines in both human and natural interactions.

Take Japanese honeybees, for instance. They protect their hive from hornets by swarming together and vibrating their wings to cause lethal overheating—an organized cooperative strategy driven by instinctive rules. Humans, too, benefit from similar simplicity. For example, Zipcar only has six rules for car-sharing, such as “Refill gas,” which are simple but ensure smooth operation across users.

Simple Rules allow for trust and accountability without micromanagement. When everyone adheres to them, collective success follows, whether in a beehive or a car-rental network.

Examples

• Japanese honeybees’ “thermoballing” technique showing collective action.
• Zipcar’s ease of car-sharing achieved through just six operational rules.
• Improv comedians using guiding rules to create coherent group performances spontaneously.

4. Decision-Making Can Be Streamlined

There are six types of Simple Rules, and three of them focus on decision-making: boundary rules, prioritizing rules, and stopping rules. These rules simplify choices and help ensure better outcomes.

Boundary rules are clear-cut, like avoiding homes with cars parked outside if you’re a burglar. This simple guideline aids decision-making faster than overcomplicating factors. Prioritizing rules help in ranking options; an old Babylonian principle advises dividing investments into thirds—land, merchandise, and savings—offering diverse risk management. Stopping rules prevent overindulgence; the French use the clear prompt to stop eating when feeling full, a cultural habit contributing to their lower obesity rates.

Examples

• Burglars' boundary rule: avoid homes with cars out front.
• Ancient investment strategy dividing assets into equal thirds.
• French dining habits to stop eating when satiated.

5. Performance Also Thrives on Simplicity

The remaining three types of Simple Rules—how-to rules, coordination rules, and timing rules—enhance how we perform tasks. These rules are minimally prescriptive yet increase efficiency.

BBC announcer Seymour Joly de Lotbiniere revolutionized sports commentary with how-to rules like reporting scores regularly and providing personal facts about players, transforming bland reporting into engaging broadcasts. In improv theater, actors rely on coordination rules like always replying with, “Yes, and…” to ensure flow. For timing, insomnia sufferers benefit from rules like sticking to the same wake-up time every morning for improved sleep habits.

Examples

• Sports commentary enhanced through how-to rules.
• Improv comedy thriving with rules like, “Yes, and…” reciprocation.
• Medical research-backed timing rules improving sleep.

6. Experience Shapes the Best Rules

Formulating good Simple Rules requires reflecting on what has worked before. Personal experience is a goldmine of insights, as Tina Fey showed with her rules for managing a comedy show, including blending different comedic styles among her staff.

For businesses, observing competitors works wonders. Netflix adapted some rules from Blockbuster, like pricing models, before diverging to revolutionize the industry with its own updated rules. This balance between borrowing and innovating demonstrates the fluidity of Simple Rules.

Examples

• Tina Fey compiling lessons from Saturday Night Live into management rules.
• Netflix mimicking then outpacing Blockbuster’s approach.
• Loaning scientific principles to create customized life strategies.

7. Create Rules Step by Step

To create your own Simple Rules, start with a goal. Identify the critical action that defines success, locate obstacles (your "bottleneck"), and craft targeted rules.

For eToro, a stock-trading platform, recognizing that top investors were the lifeblood of its ecosystem led to a focus on incentivizing them. Similarly, if you want to lose weight and notice late-night snacking as the issue, shifting to rules like, "Only snack from small bowls" makes the solution more actionable.

Examples

• eToro targeting bottlenecks to grow its expert investor community.
• Weight-loss strategies tweaked with rules like avoiding bulk snack buying.
• Kodak rediscovering creative limits through simplified product development.

8. Adapt Rules Over Time

Simple Rules may lose effectiveness as situations evolve. Rules need regular re-evaluation to ensure they’re still helpful.

Airbnb initially misjudged its audience, devising rules for festival-goers when its core clientele turned out to be older, wealthier travelers. Adapting to include standards like “Fresh soap in every lodging” helped meet shifting demands. Similarly, outdated TV rules like “stable recurring characters” no longer apply, as digital streaming options allow viewers to rewatch episodes for context.

Examples

• Airbnb shifting focus to address wealthier clientele’s preferences.
• TV production breaking rigid episodic rule formats in the age of Netflix.
• Apple adjusting its simplicity-led design rules as market functions evolve.

9. Break the Rules When Needed

Sometimes, breaking or entirely abandoning Simple Rules becomes necessary when they no longer serve their purpose. Embracing change is part of innovation.

From networks like Netflix ditching the no-character-displacement rule to companies pivoting in entirely new business directions, success often requires bold steps beyond existing formulas to respond to new challenges.

Examples

• Netflix evolving its production rules for modern storytelling.
• Businesses dropping hallmark products when consumer habits change.
• Cars switching from combustion engines to electric solutions entirely against traditional auto-industry rules.

Takeaways

1. Reflect on your daily habits to identify where Simple Rules could bring focus and ease into your decision-making.
2. Regularly review and adjust your rules to ensure they’re still relevant and helpful in changing circumstances.
3. Learn by observing others—whether role models, competitors, or peers—and apply their lessons to craft your own efficient guidelines.