Human brains can normally only keep 3 to 4 things in mind at a single point of time. So, if you find yourself getting overwhelmed with complexity, most probably, you’re trying to work with too many things at once.

A few simple tools to take care of this are:

• Notes

• Diagrams

• Simplifying and summarizing

• Teaching it to a 5-year-old (not to be taken literally)

• Distilling the essence

• Connecting the dots one by one

• Drawings

• Explaining it to a rubber duck (yes, really)

• Explaining it to your grandma

• Saying the same thing in your native language

• Explaining why not

• Trying the opposite

• Playing the devil’s advocate

• Explain using negative terms

• Creating a story around it

• Creating a physical model of it

• Writing all the reasoning you came up with for or against each point

Point is, there are many ways to get unstuck when complexity arrives. Try some of the above and see.