Less is more

On MasterChef, nervous cooks try to impress the judges by crowding the plate with twelve components, three sauces, a foam, and extra garnishes. Because they split their focus twelve ways, every item comes out mediocre and the dish loses its point. Winning cooks keep it simple: they pick one hero ingredient, pair it with two or three elements that make it shine, and cook those few things to perfection.

AI models act like nervous cooks across everything they build. Whether asked to design a web app, write an essay, plan a project, or design an API, they try to look thorough by dumping every possible control, setting, badge, subtitle, caveat, and buzzword onto the plate at once.

Less is more is a life and craft philosophy: focus on what matters and do the important things well. When you try to do everything at once, you do everything in a mediocre way.

1. Pick the hero ingredient and cut competing garnishes

Before writing code, drafting prose, or planning a project, ask one question: "What's the hero on this plate?"