Complex Vs Complicated

Special shout out to JoJoe, who, during yesterday's chat, helped me develop this perspective about the difference between these two words!
Please note; your dictionaries might have the same meaning for them and that's okay, I am not disagreeing with them, I am just sharing a philosophy that we developed through examination of a couple of ideas relating to the two words.

To simplify the idea, let's break down all there is in this life to just two things; Complex and Complicated.
Whatever you are working on in this life, or trying to figure out is either complicated or complex.

For complicated things, one input gives you a particular output, everytime, if the system is working fine! Ergo, there is a pattern to follow and it is so chronological that you can trace it back and see how to produce the same output.
A good example; driving a car is complicated, but the idea is starting it, setting it right to set off, step on the accelerator ( all that is input) and it moves (output). There will be no other way around it if the car is functioning normally.

For Complex things, on the other hand, one input, results into different outputs almost everytime. There is a chance that maybe this one input, out of 100 times, produces the same output about only 5 times. Therefore, there is no pattern to it, you can't trace it back to the source!
Typical example is business; two people may invest 5M in the same business idea, but won't profit from it the same way (same input, different output). Therefore, the idea of starting a business same as that of the richest men will not, with certainty, help you get as rich as they are.

Complex - No formula
Complicated - Yes formula

Most of our frustrations emerge from treating complex situations as complicated.
Relationships are complex, there's no formula for them to work, stop trying to find one!

Softwares are complicated, there's a formula for it to be usable by anyone.

If you're not figuring out your life financially, it's not because you're going about it wrong,there's no formula. I'm not saying you should stop trying, hustle on, but appreciate that you can make it in the line of business you're in as much as others are making it from wherever they have business. What is working for another may not work for you (I'm sure that's a familiar statement).

Learning this has helped me put my life in better perspective, I am hoping that if you understand it the way it is intended, it will help you as well.
Reach me on https://wa.me/256706100942 if you have any questions or supplements about this, I'll be happy to interact with you. Thank you for sparing your valuable time to read this, stay safe and Merry Christmas. 😌