The Important Distinction Between “Simple” and “Easy”

The words “simple” and “easy” are not synonyms. A task or process can be simple but not easy, and it might be easy but not simple. 

Let me provide a couple of quick examples to illustrate what I mean:

Driving a manual-transmission car is one of the most complex that a human being can do. It requires you to do multiple things with your hands (steering, changing gears) while engaging each of your feet in a separate task (one on the gas and one alternating between brake and clutch); furthermore, you’re required to make constant decisions about how to manage each of those tasks while maintaining a sharp focus on road conditions and making constant decisions about lane strategy and routing – some of them in a split second. Very few daily tasks require anything like this constellation of simultaneous duties and decision-making. And yet for most people who drive, the process is quite easy; for experienced drivers, a lifetime of practice and skill acquisition make driving a car, even one with a manual transmission, something that can be done without too much conscious thought – and can be accomplished safely and effectively while listening to music, carrying on conversation, thinking about work, etc. For most people, driving a car is not simple, but it’s easy.

Walking on a smooth, paved surface, on the other hand, is one of the simplest things a human being can do. It involves no skill beyond what most humans have typically acquired by the age of two. However, I once had an experience that really