When preparing for a recent business trip, it struck me that I was spending more time making sure I had a full set of batteries and power cords than making sure I had enough clothes! But as I arrived at the airport without a paper ticket to lose or forget, it struck me that all is not lost in the pursuit of simplicity.

Simplicity. A beautiful word. A word which, by its mention alone, creates a sense of relief in this increasingly complex world. Simplicity is a value most would agree is something worth striving for. But so often it seems all to hard - if indeed we have time to think about it at all.

And that's where the problem starts. For simplicity doesn't just 'happen'. In fact without conscious effort the opposite – increased complexity - is almost certain to happen.

Our modern world generates complexity at the speed of thought (to paraphrase Bill Gates). Where once we communicated with the outside world by fixed phone or mail, we now have to deal with phone, mobile phone, fax, email, voice-mail, SMS, instant messaging, internet telephony – the list goes on. Where once we had filing cabinet we now have a desktop, laptop, PDA and mobile to coordinate.

And these examples only relate to technology. Complexity is imposed on us by the surfeit of choices available to us at every turn. By bureaucracy and regulation. By the speed of the market place and the even greater speed of change. By an ever-rising flood of information.

Modern evolution almost requires complexity as a matter of course. It certainly doesn't encourage simplicity. Did you ever see anyone advertising a television 'now with less features'? Or a software vendor offering a product 'downgrade'?

We ultimately have two choices: We can be swept along on this wave of complexity, working harder, faster and with less control as we try to fit everything in. Or we can make a conscious decision to simplify our businesses and our lives, to start peeling away the unnecessary and getting back to basics.

Save ‘jumping ship’ and hiding ourselves in a forest somewhere (which introduces a new set of complexities), achieving absolute simplicity is something none of us will ever achieve. But if we don’t make some effort, if we don’t look for ways to simplify, we can guarantee our lives will become more complex, more busy, less efficient and more stressful.