Word FaQ

Is there a difference between “difficult” and “complicated”?

Difficulty is usually a measure of your endurance, your will, your fortitude and generally your commitment to following through on the task. These things are difficult, but simple:

Ø Run a marathon. Just put one foot in front of the other, for 26 miles straight.

Ø Lose weight. Eat less and exercise more than your base metabolism needs.

Difficult tasks have us fighting our impulses, our emotional needs, our desires and our limits.

Complication is a measure of the number of steps, components and elements involved in the problem. These things are complicated, but easy.

Ø Assembling a bicycle. Lots of little parts, but anyone who follows the instructions is fine…usually.

Ø Getting a Linux system running. Lots of steps, eh? But the instructions are well-documented online.

There are things that are *both*, but it's obvious that when something is one or the other, the reasons for why it will take a long time or be expensive are entirely different.