About three weeks ago, I found myself entangled in what seemed like a web of complexity. I wasn’t involved in anything that should have been so taxing. I was only moving from one location to another. Yet, I found myself having to stop, catch my breadth, and remind myself that I could do this.

It is interesting to me that we have all the data, information, and even the technology to tell us what to do and how to do, yet, life has never been more complex than it is today. It seems it should be just the opposite.

After gathering my thoughts, I’m happy to say that victory prevailed; but not until I first became determined to take ownership of my complexity. It was full of uncertainty and stress, but it was my uncertainty and stress. Was the battle worth the outcome? Yes, it absolutely was.

How did I win my battle with complexity?

Once I accepted ownership, I began to take a close look at the many parts of my situation. This is called detail complexity, which involves the many number of parts present and involved. After developing my plan, I had the detail in order. But there are two types of complexity. One is detail as I explained before, and the other is dynamic complexity, which is an entire different ballgame.

Many of us are fairly comfortable with detail, or managing the parts. But its the dynamic complexity that I found to be more of a challenge. Dynamic complexity represents the constant changes that are taking place simultaneously as we attempt to manage the detail.

I discovered that it was the changing dynamics that attempted to create the greatest stress, not the detail. But to successfully manage the dynamics required focused attention on the detail, while simultaneously and carefully staying aware of how the dynamics were shifting and altering the detail.

At the end of the day, I am beginning to understand why so many problems in our workplaces, homes and other organizations remain unsolved. We manage the details without addressing the change.