How to Improve Your Life By Removing Things
6 ways to solve problems by subtraction
Most people believe that more equals better.
We want more money to improve our finances. More clothes will revamp our looks. And finally, more hard work will lead to more professional success.
However, more is not always the solution. It is sometimes the root of the problem.
In this context, subtraction is an underrated problem-solving tactic.
A while ago, I came across an ebook called 17 Questions That Changed My Life by Tim Ferriss. His question number 11 was the following:
“What if I could only subtract to solve problems?”
The question piqued my interest. I had been decluttering my home for a while, and I was on route to becoming a fully-fledged minimalist. Nevertheless, Tim’s approach added a new dimension to my minimalist mindset.
I gradually started to solve problems by removing things. No new commitments, purchases, or ideas. Just subtraction.
A few months after fervently applying this method, I savored its benefits. By nipping problems in the bud, I was fighting causes instead of treating symptoms.
On this basis, here are six ways to improve your life by removing things.
Working with more determination by removing excuses
As Benjamin Franklin once said:
“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
That’s why, during my experiment, I implemented a zero-tolerance policy in terms of excuses.
In this context, I adopted a simple technique.
Whenever I wanted to do something, I wrote down every possible excuse and crossed it out.
For instance, when I was feeling unmotivated to go to the gym, I took out my notebook and noted three possible excuses:
- I am too tired today;
- I feel like I should watch a movie instead; and
- I already went to the gym yesterday.
Immediately after writing them down, I drew a line across them. It may sound like a mundane act, but the crossing gave me the feeling that the excuses had ceased to exist.
As such, I realized that removing excuses was the key to being more determined in my endeavors. I started with gym excuses but later extended the ritual to other activities in my personal and professional life.
Reducing consumerism by getting rid of clutter
When it comes to fighting your consumer addiction and becoming better at prioritization, less is usually the answer.
In this regard, buying more stuff won’t make you better at deciding what you truly need.
Buying less stuff and getting rid of unnecessary items, on the other hand, will help define the value of material possessions. In other words, you’ll know what purchases bring joy and value to your life.
Consequently, selling, donating, and tossing things you don’t need is a powerful way to rethink your relationship with material possessions. Better still, it will improve the visual aesthetics of your home by eliminating clutter.
Boosting mindfulness by eliminating stress factors
Many people try to adopt mindfulness-bolstering habits. They meditate in the morning, try out yoga, and take hot baths.
All well and good, but mindfulness is a classic case where early intervention is required.
Before signing up for yoga classes, ask yourself what causes stress in your life. Once determined, remove those everyday stress factors.
According to the American Institute of Stress, 83% of Americans suffer from work-related stress. Most people, however, turn to mindfulness-fostering instead of cutting the root.
How do we tackle this problem?
When it comes to your workplace, assess which elements create the most stress.
Remove as many as possible, and then add mindful activities to your schedule.
As an example, in my corporate job, I used to receive over 200 emails a day. My email inbox was always open, and I replied within minutes. The email madness became a primary stress factor and drove me crazy.
After a while, I realized that I didn’t need to respond immediately. Clients usually called if their matter was urgent.
As such, I removed two things from my day-job: immediate responding and an open inbox tab.
Together with everyday mindfulness techniques, the removals eliminated stress right from the get-go — an excellent illustration of the power of treating the cause, not the symptoms of a worry.
Dealing with organizational trouble by killing paper and deleting emails
To organize their paper, lots of people buy dividers, folders, and other tools. In that same vein, they counter their email flood with inbox management systems.
Again, you are treating the symptoms, not the cause.
My digital nomad lifestyle forced me to become 100% paperless, and I never regret removing paper from my life. Luckily, most banks, administrations, and other letter-sending institutions now offer paperless options.
Consequently, if you want to become more organized, kill the paper, and delete emails. Keep the most crucial emails and scan critical documents. If you take on the challenge of becoming paperless, you’ll notice that not many documents are “critical.”
Dealing with financial woes by reducing debt, subscriptions, and other commitments
Much like fighting consumer impulses with decluttering, canceling subscriptions, reducing debt, and eliminating commitments can boost your finances.
Take a good look at your next credit card bill. There will probably be lots of subscriptions that don’t add value or joy to your life. The same applies to loyalty programs and automatic shipments.
According to CNN, 60% of Americans have less than 500$ in savings. And while canceling subscriptions won’t make you rich, it will be the first step toward adopting healthy financial habits.
Celebrating smalls wins by removing perfectionism
Finally, removing perfectionism changed my life.
Before completing my “solving problems by subtraction” experiment, perfectionism hampered all of my projects.
As Good Therapy writes:
“Perfection can lead to self-defeating thoughts or behaviors that make it harder to achieve goals.”
That’s what happened to me. When writing an article for a freelance client, I never considered it “good enough.” Similarly, I never liked my photos enough to send them to potential buyers.
My perfectionism resulted in missed deadlines and an inconceivable number of lost opportunities.
Akin to removing excuses, I began eliminating perfectionist thoughts. Likewise, I started to worship the god of progress.
From now on, every project would start with two affirmations:
- perfection doesn’t exist, so you can’t reach it; and
- try to perform better than last time.
These two statements helped me celebrate small wins and destroy my perfectionist mentality.
As such, they taught me that the key to personal and professional growth is to advance toward small goals and focus on progress, not perfection.