In 2011, I went to see a sports physio with an achilles injury.
I was doing a lot of cycling and running – my right achilles was playing up.
I walked in, and he looked over my legs, my calves, my feet.
He did some prodding around, prescribed some new shoes, and gave me a small wedge to put in my shoe under the heel.
I left, the problem still largely there.
So, I saw another physio, who also was a cyclist and runner.
“Can you run for me a little?”
I popped my shoes on, and ran outside for her.
“Well, that looks great. It doesn’t look like it’s the running…”
The next week we spent two hours looking at my bike setup, and she ended up moving the cleats back on the bike shoes. The cleat position was fatiguing the area, so when I would run after cycling, it was causing the issue.
For me, this fixed the problem in a day. No new shoes. No wedge.
The first physio reduced the problem. We looked at some tactics for the lower leg area.
The second physio simplified the problem, and looked for a cause. She figured that with the volume of cycling and running I was doing, it could be a biomechanics issue.
Simplification isn’t reduction.
The two are not the same. It’s quite possible that the challenge in your health, business or project is a simple one, but not one that is reduced into short term tactics.
What do you want to create?
For who?
And when?
Simple, but not reduced.
