Bells and whistles

A defense contractor once explained that transport vehicles are approached differently in various branches of the military.

In one unit, the vehicle is fitted with lots of features and functionality.

In another, well, here’s how the contractor put it: “They’ll just rip that stuff out. They like the vehicles lean. They’ll strip away any extraneous gadgetry and only keep the essentials.”

There’s something inspiring about this latter approach. A sense of “We don’t need bells and whistles; we just need to get the job done.”

Sometimes we get caught up in our desire for convenience and comfort. But this can be an obstacle to forward progress. Instead of waiting on special tools and features, many times we can just set about our work.