Back in the 1980s, Fred Brooks wrote a paper called “No Silver Bullet” which has become a classic in its field (software engineering, as it happens, but it’s relevant far beyond that – as I’m about to show you).
A silver bullet, of course, is the special magical technology used to kill a werewolf or some other monster. In Brooks’s metaphor, a silver bullet is a simple solution with a powerful effect, and he argues that, in software engineering, there’s no such thing.
photo credit: An Nguyen Photography
The reason for this is the distinction he makes between accidental complexity and essential complexity. Accidental complexity is the complexity that comes from the way we’re tackling a problem, and as we get better at solving problems we can reduce it. Essential complexity, though, is part of the problem itself. You can’t have a simple solution that solves the whole of a complex problem, because it’s a complex problem.
That’s true whether it’s a software problem or a personal development problem. I’ve been an IT consultant for years, and I’ve sometimes joked that what my clients really wanted was a system with one button that did whatever they wanted at the time. And they wanted us to push the button for them.
The Internet marketing space is full of offers of exactly that – push-button systems that require no work. Guess who makes money off these? The people selling them (and nobody else).
And, sadly, personal development and self-help are cursed with would-be silver bullets too. Fads, gizmos, gimmicks, Secrets and magic beans abound.
Ringtone “therapy” and other quackery
A while ago I came across a typical silver bullet: therapeutic ringtones for your mobile phone. Cure hay fever by holding your mobile up to your nose while it’s emitting this special, pollen-dislodging sound!
Another ringtone from the same company claims to help you lose weight. It can join weight loss lip balm, overnight slimming cream, calorie-burning drinks and a concoction of snake oil (sorry, palm oil) supposed to make you feel more full when added to your food, in the Hall of Not Bloody Likely. Sorry: losing weight is hard. Your body is set up to resist it. Weight loss is a complex issue and there is no simple solution – no silver bullet.
While I’m at it, there’s no such thing as a superfood. Some foods are certainly very nutritious and very good for you, but relying on single foods for a powerful health effect, in the absence of a balanced diet? That’s magic bullet thinking.
Supplements. Don’t get me started on supplements. They range from actively dangerous through expensive placebo to worthwhile in some circumstances. If you eat a healthy diet, you probably don’t need them, and if you don’t eat healthily, changing your eating habits would be a lot cheaper than taking the supplements. (But eating healthily isn’t as easy as taking a pill, is it?)
Informercial fitness gadgets that make you look like a bodybuilder in “10 minutes a day”, celebrity-endorsed “cleansing diets”, I could go on all day. Very few people have ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence, motivation and critical thinking skills of the average consumer. But here’s the thing: All these silver bullets are predestined not to work, by the nature of things. They’re trying to fix a complex problem with a simplistic solution. All they do is reinforce a self-image of failure in the desperate people who try them.
Personal development silver bulletry
The most obvious silver bullet in the personal development huckster’s arsenal is one that rhymes with “Flaw of Distraction”. The idea that everything is connected? I’m totally on board with that. The idea that your attitude is important? I completely agree. The idea that if good things aren’t happening to you it’s because you’re not thinking right, that every bad thing that happened to you was something you “chose” (for a definition of “choose” that’s so far from the everyday use of the word that, I’m sorry, it should not be described using that word), and that you can have anything you want if you fantasize about it correctly? Actively harmful nonsense.
I’m a hypnotherapist, and as such, I get my share of people who are looking for a silver bullet. There’s a perception of hypnotherapy as a magic solution that means your complex problems can be instantly fixed with no work on your part.
People ask me, “Can you make my daughter stop smoking?”
“No,” I reply.
Your daughter is smoking for her own reasons. She will stop when she’s sufficiently motivated. If you have to make the approach for her, that argues to me that her motivation is not sufficient. I’m not going to waste my time and your money.
But I’m sure there are plenty of other hypnotherapists who’ll say yes. Some of them may even believe it.
Accidental complexity
OK, time to round off the ranting and come back to the point. Remember how I said that Fred Brooks identified two kinds of complexity? There’s the essential complexity that’s part of the problem itself. We can’t make that go away. I sometimes talk about the “law of conservation of complexity”: it’s like energy, it can’t be got rid of, you can only move it around.
One of the ways to move it around, though, is to come up with a really good solution that has minimal accidental complexity. Accidental complexity is avoidable. It’s there because of how you’re approaching the problem. And if you solve the problem well once, you now have a resource that helps you solve it again in the future. You don’t have to think through all the steps every time.
That’s what I set out to do with the techniques that I show here on the blog (and in my online courses). Real life is complex, but a well-designed solution that takes account of that complexity can still be simple to implement.
If you’re struggling with a personal development issue, I can promise you that some of what you’re finding difficult comes from accidental complexity, from the way you’re approaching the problem.
If it’s a habit you’re struggling with specifically, and you’d like some suggestions for getting rid of some of that accidental complexity, I’m currently running free half-hour habit help sessions for a limited time. Book one here.
This post is part of a series, How Not to Change Your Life.
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