As you improve at something, you journey along a curve. You’ve probably seen the memes. I’m sure it’s got some fancy name like "The Complexity Curve of Mastery."

But it looks like a hill. So I’m calling it Picasso’s Hill

Why?

Because dude can draw and paint his ass off. But he got to his signature style by returning to simplicity. Check out Picasso’s Bulls if you want to see this in action.

Pablo Picasso, “The Bull”, lithographs, 1945

So about that hill…

a graph with two axes: horizontal goes from beginner to master and vertical from simple to complex. A curved line shows how the beginner starts at simple before going up to complex and back down once they reach master (like a hill). An arrow at the bottom shows that time passes to get to master.

When you first start, you’re on the simple end of the curve. 

As you progress you climb the curve to complexity.

Then you hit a point in your progress where you head back down the hill to simplicity.

But this doesn’t mean you’re back where you started. You hiked over a hill.

As James Clear puts it:

The amateur does not know what to do.
The master knows what not to do.

So keep it simple, stupid

JK, you’re not stupid 💜

Stay curious.