A coaching tool from the 13th century

Ockham’s Razor is one of my favourite coaching tools dates back to the 13th century yet feels incredibly applicable to the world we live in today.

“All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one”

I’ve been coaching for many years and am often asked to share tools I use as a coach to support clients cut to the chase and so gain clarity and focus.

One of my favourite coaching tools dates back to the 13th century yet feels incredibly applicable to the world we live in today.

Ockham’s Razor

Following the lead of Matt Haig in yesterday’s post: “Simplicity is harder work than complexity”, let me reduce the tool to:

“All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one”

The tool in question is called “Occam’s Razor”, after William of Ockham, a 13th-century philosopher. Again, keeping it simple, feel free to follow the last two links to learn more in-depth, but my distillation of the principle is all you need to consider the use of Occam’s Razor as a tool for coaching.