What Would Easy Look Like?
Remove avoidable complexity until the essential work becomes easy to repeat
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 93%
What Would Easy Look Like? is a simplification question applied to a concrete outcome. Define what must be delivered, list the people, tools, and steps currently surrounding it, and remove anything that does not protect the result. Use the least elaborate setting and workflow that can still meet the standard, assign clear ownership, and run the reduced version. Add complexity back only when actual use exposes a need. Kutcher used this mentality to operate a multi-million-dollar business with a lean team and to record a major podcast in an undecorated spare closet. The mechanism counters the tendency to make projects feel so large and intimidating that action stalls. Easy does not mean careless; it means eliminating avoidable friction so the important work becomes repeatable.
Origin
Kutcher says she repeatedly asks what work would look like if it were easy and uses simple systems and a lean team to keep publishing and operating.
Core principles
- 01Complexity can disguise avoidance
- 02Repeatability matters more than impressive production
- 03The easiest viable process protects action
- 04Done creates evidence that perfection cannot
How to run it
- 1
Define essential success
Write the outcome and the minimum quality conditions it must meet. Separate those conditions from preferences and status signals.
Pro tip Describe what the recipient needs, not what would impress peers.
Watch out Do not label mandatory safeguards as optional complexity.
- 2
Expose the process
List every step, handoff, tool, and person involved. Mark which items directly protect the outcome.
Pro tip Look closely at approval loops and decorative production.
Watch out Invisible work cannot be simplified responsibly.
- 3
Remove avoidable friction
Delete, combine, or downgrade items that do not protect the outcome. Choose available tools before acquiring new ones.
Pro tip Ask whether the work could still succeed in an ordinary room with a smaller team.
Watch out Cut complexity, not the promised value.
- 4
Run the easy version
Complete one cycle with clear ownership and observe where the reduced process struggles. Measure completion and quality.
Pro tip Make the process easy enough to repeat on a low-energy day.
Watch out A process that works only through heroics is not easy.
- 5
Earn every addition
Add a step, tool, or person only when evidence shows the simple process cannot meet an important need. Keep the reason explicit.
Pro tip Prefer the smallest correction that resolves the observed constraint.
Watch out Growth can silently restore the complexity you removed.
In the wild
Kutcher recorded her podcast in an undecorated spare closet containing boxes marked random. The location was not impressive, but it supported the essential act of recording without turning production into a larger project.
→ A simple repeatable setup supported consistent output while the business stayed lean.
Common mistakes
Confusing easy with careless
Removing a quality condition that protects the user is not simplification; it is degradation.
Scaling before constraint
Adding people and tools without an observed need creates coordination work instead of useful capacity.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for recurring creative and operational workflows where polish has begun to obstruct delivery.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when simplification would remove required safety, quality, legal, or accessibility controls.
From the transcript
“one thing that I often ask myself is what would this look like if it were easy”
“I think that a lot of times we over complicate things and make them really big and scary and intimidating so that we don't actually…”
“done is better than perfect and that's how I've run my entire life and my career”
From the episode
YAPClassic: Jenna Kutcher on Finding Rest in a Hustle Culture and Building a Business That Actually Fulfills You
YAPClassic