Narrative Essay on KISS Principle (Keep it Simple, Stupid)

When it comes to any aspect of my adult life, I’ve always followed a simple phrase that is always repeated to me when I come home about a big decision in my life. K.I.S.S, keep it simple stupid. I’ve always taken this saying as most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore, simplicity should be a key goal in design, and unnecessary complexity should be avoided, and one should always try to come up with a simple or at most, the least complicated way of effectively solving their problems, so as to not create issues as they may lead to further problems in the future.

I’ve always tried to apply this philosophy to my own personal life as well as situations I’ve encountered and it’s served me well so far in life, so much so that I plan to use it heavily in my life as a Healthcare Professional, how I would treat and handle my clients as well as my practice, and after taking The Myers-Briggs Test and Via Characters Test, I think that can largely be attributed to my tested traits. 

According to the Myers-Briggs test, I’m an INTJ-A, Assertive Architect, and according to the Via Characters test, my top 5 strengths are Judgment, Prudence, Self-Regulation, Love of Learning, and Perseverance. This wouldn’t be my assessment of myself had I been asked before I took the test, but now after thinking about it, it makes more sense. The informed and curious aspects of the INTJ personality are what I believe to be my strongest aspect, and the best example of that is seen in how I handle my weight loss journey and change both my eating and my sedentary habits, as they are how I would go about changing a client's habits as a Healthcare professional. When I began, the reason I was simply not happy with my appearance, I was not happy with what I saw in the mirror, how it made me feel, or how I felt when others looked at me, and I wanted to change all of that by losing weight and simply reducing to a healthier weight. When I started my behavior change, I knew next to nothing about fitness, exercise, or how to properly handle weight loss, and the lack of information I found in diets routines or fitness plans was frustrating, so I decided to start educating myself on proper health behavior habits such as basal calories, caloric deficit and surplus, macro ratios, nutrient-dense foods, and proper structuring of exercise in order to build my own meal plan and exercise routine based off my own research and my own judgement of what my body could and could not based on my current situation before I even began to try and exercise, learning how to plan sets, repetitions, and how many days between exercise. Using my judgment and my prudence through the information I acquired, I was able to determine a baseline for my body to know how much exertion it could handle, and then program how to gradually increase my body's threshold over time, and how to schedule planned exercise. It ended up working very well, as I went from 210 lbs, down to 165 lbs, I was able to lift up to 200 lbs, I noticed was able to move more freely and gracefully, and I slept better than I had ever in my life and I had a more positive outlook on life, more self-esteem and felt more confident in how I looked physically, but I eventually had a relapse in behavior. 

The relapse in behavior came at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic when there was a government mandate to stay quarantined at home. All the businesses closed and that included my local gym where I went to exercise. I attempted to continue exercising at home, but simply did not have the motivation to continue and was unable to go outside for an extended period of time. I eventually stopped exercising altogether and ended up putting all the weight back on, going back to my old state of health. What might have prevented my relapse was having a support group as unlike before I was largely on my own and had no support group, no one to encourage me to continue on beside myself, had I had a support group or encouragement from others, it might have been possible for me to continue, but sadly that did not happen, there’s no point in planning if the plan is never going to be executed. However, I would make sure that any client I had a detailed profile for them of exercise I know they would enjoy and would actively attempt to execute with or without my presence so they can commit to action independently. I would ensure anyplan I construct had accessibility and modifiability, making it so that the client could continue to have external motivators outside of themselves in order to continue their changes in behaviors, rather than having themselves be the sole motivation so they would not make the same mistakes I made. However, the overall journey I experienced taught me some very valuable lessons and habits, along with the insight that I still continue to use to this day.

One of the lessons I learned from my fitness journey and about myself is that planning is key, but also that life, in general, is a gradual process that shouldn’t be rushed nor wasted, and I’ve attempted to implement that into my morning routine. Per my philosophy of K.I.S.S, I attempt to keep my morning routine simple. In the morning, I tend to wake up early so as to give myself time to fully awaken, but also relax and think about the day as I shower, dress, one of the behaviors I’m proud of is that I always plan out my mornings before I wake up having my clothes ready, waking up at a time so I will have plenty of time to simply relax, knowing how much time it takes for me to get to my destination so I can always attempt to take the scenic route through parks or trails, or simply a place with a beautiful view so as to put myself in a good space mentally before the day officially begins. 

However, bad habits have continued to linger from both COVID and my exercise routine. The most notable of them are my poor habit of skipping breakfast in the morning, as well laying in bed with my phone out of curiosity, which can cause me to begin the day exhausted or to procrastinate in bed rather than getting up and ready for the day ahead. Overall, it’s this simplistic level of planning and self care that makes my routine so easy to follow and put much of my life in balance such as my mental health as it gives me time to focus on myself and puts me at ease with being alone and comfortable with myself, along with managing my work well.  

Overall, as shown with how I plan out my routine, form my habits, and execute behavior change, and how I care for myself, my intent largely revolves around simplistic planning, routines and orders that are easy to understand, and easy to adapt to gradually, and I plan to incorporate all of this into my career as a Healthcare Professional. My current career goal is to become a Physical Therapist, specifically one that assists in bodily movement in sports or rehabilitation after injuries, surgeries, and other sudden changes in one's life, and helping people come back from injuries is a gradual process that needs to take time and careful planning. Simplicity is key when tending to people’s health, they likely do not have the years of education and training we do nor the patience for it, in my opinion, it’s far easier to give them simple, self-explainable routines or instructions that can easily be fit into their daily lives that gradually evolve and adapt to helping them form better health behaviors, such as rather executing a full cardiovascular workout routine, begin with simply taking a planned walk every day that can be performed with friends and family who can encourage them to continue and then when that becomes too easy, then swap it out gradually with running, and then eventually running, or if recovering for example from Knee Surgery, guiding them through what exercises they can and cannot perform so they can continue to exercise by themselves or with a workout group. It’s all about planning ahead and taking heed of what your body can and can’t handle and trusting yourself enough to know when to slow down or progress, and in my opinion, that’s where the strength of both my character and my personality work best in accordance with my desired field in health care.