Simplexity Numbers 5 and 6 – Valuable Tips for Living

Simplexity is a new word that means a simple concept, but one that may be complex to put into practice. Here are two new examples. Scroll down to the end to see a list of earlier simplexities.

Simplexity No 5. Be Careful.
One gift that my father gave to me was, “Take care of yourself.” He said an old sergeant in the Australian air force taught him this. After a lot of thought over the years, I have generalized this into something simpler, but wider in its scope: “Be careful.”

This came up recently while I was caregiving for an elderly lady in Kansas. When I checked on her in the morning, after she had awakened, her C-PAP mask was lying on the floor. I had helped her take off the mask during the night, because it was leaking, and set it on her bedside table. Apparently, it fell off because I wasn’t careful enough.

I drove from New Mexico to Kansas to visit this same lady who was in hospital with pneumonia. After an 8-hour drive I opened the door and walked in the hospital room. My friend was crying because she couldn’t get attention, even though she held the emergency button in her lap and had been shouting out for help.

I was incensed and told the nurse this was unacceptable. I told her the patient couldn’t remember which of many buttons was the emergency, and the door was closed to her room. I suggested that she read the background report on the patient, to leave the door open, and to check frequently as it was the patient’s first nite in the hospital. The nurse was not careful in getting to know this new patient. She did apologize later.

One of my better science students at Oral Roberts University was from Singapore. She was eager, diligent, serious, and a rapid worker, but she rarely double-checked her final answer to a science problem. This meant I had to double-check everything she had done, and I sometimes discovered a problem. I urged her to learn to double-check her own result before releasing it, and I promised that this would serve her well in her future employment.

Being careful leads to fewer mistakes. If you are walking over rough ground or on a rocky trail, take small, careful steps, as a fall can lead to serious damage. If you are walking down stairs, make sure you keep one hand on the banister at all times.

I recently installed a new clothes drier. I used a tape measure on the old one, to be sure of the length, depth, and height. At the store, I asked the sales lady to recommended a new one, which she did. However, my measurements showed it would stand at a different height level to my washing machine. But I wanted them to be at the same level. So I bought another brand. I was relieved that I had been careful and took the time to make accurate measurements – much better than having to return the first clothes drier to the store because it didn’t match the washer level.

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Simplexity No 6. Ask others for help.
My education included a PhD. This was almost four years of training to think through problems for myself, and to find an acceptable answer by myself. This is what a PhD is designed to do. It was a great experience in personal growth and my self-esteem grew as I learned to trust my own resources. I worked by myself primarily, learned to be independent, but did not learn how to ask others for help.

My first job after the PhD was with a group of scientists studying the sun. My boss wanted me to study how solar cosmic rays, energetic protons and electrons, were accelerated in the sun’s atmosphere before they propagated all the way through interplanetary space until they impacted the earth.

I couldn’t picture any way the cosmic rays could be accelerated at the sun, and turned my thoughts to how shock waves traveled across the surface of the sun, and how some of them even traveled to earth. I communicated poorly with my boss because I was too independent to ask for advice. I moved on from the company after one year.

Over the next decade I learned how to network, one of the best things I ever learned professionally. When faced with a problem, my first thought became who could I ask for help? I could call and talk with someone and get the answer in 30 minutes. If I relied on myself, it might have taken a whole day to figure it out and find an answer.

If the person I called didn’t know the answer, I would ask if he could recommend someone who did. These days, we have Google and AI, and we can ask them for an answer. Asking for help is so much more efficient than trying to work it all out by myself.

A professional that I knew never learned this. His ego prevented him from calling someone else for help, because his PhD training said he should be able to figure it out by himself. The result was a waste of time, and it cost more money for the person paying him.

In the new age of AI, everyone can gain information from Google and AI. Networking to get to meet the leaders who are hiring will be an important key in finding a job. If you are in the job market, learn how to network.
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The list of simplexities so far:

Simplexity No 1. Keep your Body Moving.
My heart doctor on TV explained to elderly people why it’s important to keep moving your body. As he said this he was touching his toes then arching his back, then swinging his outstretched arms from side to side. The doctor said it increases blood flow that refreshes muscles, and carries essential ingredients to remote parts of the body, including your brain. Nowadays, every doctor tells his patients to move as much as they can. It’s why my present cardio always tells me to keep playing pickleball.

Simplexity No 2. Find Something to Look Forward to Each Day.
The practical side of this means that if you don’t have something to look forward to today, show some initiative, be creative, call up a friend to chat or arrange to have lunch. Or offer to help someone inside your family, or outside it. Visit someone who is ill, or in a nursing home. Arrange something to look forward to, which is the simplest kind of hope.

Simplexity No 3. Reach for New Things.
Roko Paskov was a College Professor at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee. He passed away in April of 2025. Forty years ago, I discovered a quote by him that changed my life: If you want to grow and become vibrant, successful and alive, live all your life on tiptoe stretching and reaching for new things. I carried that quote in my billfold for over a decade.

Simplexity No 4. Never Give Up.
Winston Churchill saved England from Nazi Germany in World War II. Later, he was invited to give a university graduation address. After he strode to the podium, he began by saying, “Never, never, never give up.” Then he went and sat down.

Simplexity No 5. Be Careful.
Simplexity No 6. Ask others for Help.
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The season of spring has arrived in the US, with the threat of thunderstorms and tornadoes in Tornado alley, which includes Kansas. See pink color in map.

I wish you well during the spring season, please be careful in Tornado alley, and may God bless you.
The Gray Nomad.
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Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. [Ephesians, chapter 5].