1/ There's an old business parable originally published in 1916 called "Obvious Adams"

I first read it maybe ten years ago and a couple times every year, I think back and realize the wisdom of it.

2/ The story is about a guy, last name Adams.

His whole strategy is he just does the most obvious thing. Hence, Obvious Adams.

3/ When he wants to get a job in advertising, he walks into the office of an ad agency head and says

"I have decided that I want to get into the advertising business and I thought the obvious thing to do was to come and tell you so."

(Spoiler: he gets the job)

4/ His first job was working in the book keeping department and noticed a simple change would make the process more efficient.

He did it.

It reduced the amount of time his job took and error rate by 25%

5/ The whole rest of the book follows Obvious Adams career as an ad man where, you guessed it, he just does the most obvious thing over and over.

6/ There is a lot to be said for strategy, but I am struck by how much of being successful at business just comes down to executing on the most obvious course of action.

7/ When I get stuck, I often think back to Adams and often find I am overcomplicating things and should just do the "obvious" next step.