Today I was reminded about the importance of simplicity. It happened while I was cleaning out a drawer that I rarely open. It’s called the “junk drawer” and it’s the repository for all of the “stuff” I don’t need but don’t have the will to throw away. As I was rummaging through the “junk drawer” I found the remote control from the very first T.V. I owned. The amazing thing about the remote was how simple it was. It had exactly 15 buttons — 10 of which were number keys for changing the channel. It looked so bare. For a moment I thought maybe the rest of the buttons had fallen off!
My current television’s remote has — get this — no less than 43 buttons! Here’s the rub — I still only use the functions that were on my old remote. But now I have to hunt for them in the sea of extra buttons. And the buttons that I do use have become so much smaller due to the fact that more needed to be squeezed onto the face of the control. Sometimes I actually have to pause and think before using the remote. That’s sacrilegious! You shouldn’t have to think at all when watching television — that’s the whole point!
I see this same problem when I read college and scholarship applications and essays. I would venture to say that more than 90% of the application essays I’ve read have too much extra “stuff” which only serves to hide the good stuff. Much like the difference between my two remotes, it’s much better to have a clean and focused design than a feature-filled jumbo. This is why I’m a huge advocate of ruthless editing and keeping only the core of your message.
This isn’t easy since some of the material that you need to cut may be both interesting and important to you. (I can imagine the Sony engineers who designed my current remote finding it very hard not to add new features simply because they could.) You’ll have to make some tough decision. But the result will be a highly focused and powerful message that will stick in the minds of the admission officers and scholarship judges. A 500-word essay that shares an important slice of your life is much more powerful than that same essay with the addition of 500 extra words. You see, honestly, if I could, I would gladly exchange my current super-duper remote that does too many things I don’t care about for my old one that only did the few things I really needed. I would love it!
