Via Negativa 101: Definition and How to Use it (With Examples)

Improving by Subtraction

Our brains are wired to add things to improve something. People think that adding items together makes them better. Or, solving a problem is best done by suggesting more and more solutions. That’s good for sales agents; they might push you more and more offers, selling you products you don’t need and claim they improve your life with each one.

Or think about those who add more exercise to their routine to gain more muscles and reduce fat. Or those who add applications to their phone to improve their lives, open another social media account, install another software to improve their computer performance, etc.

Endless examples.

But very few think about things in the opposite direction: Improve by subtraction or the via negativa approach.

So, what is the via negativa?

A common programming statement is, “Remember that there is no code faster than no code.” In medicine, the best intervention is “primum non nocere” (first, do no harm).

So what is via negativa?

The idea of via negativa is a religious practice of approaching God by negation; what is not, or to describe him in terms of what he isn’t. in practice, the idea of via negativa is broader: what to avoid? What to remove and not what to add.

In the book Antifragile, Nassim Taleb extends the via negativa to a broader approach:

“the fo”us on what something is not, an indirect definition. In action, it is a recipe for what to avoid, what not to do — subtraction, not addition, say, in medicine.”

To make things more precise, the via negativa improves things by subtraction. Instead of asking yourself, what can I add to this to make it better, think about it in the opposite direction: What can I subtract to improve?

The same philosophy and point of view should be applied to other aspects of your life and work:

• Clear writing is more about deleting things than adding lines.
• A clear mind is about removing what bothers you instead of adding more thoughts and ideas.
• A healthy diet is about eliminating unhealthy food like processed food and sugar.

And more examples that we will discuss in the following.

Productivity

So let’s see this philosophy to the productivity world.

Everyone wants to be more productive, make more in less time, finish the tasks and move faster with projects. But it turns out that we don’t achieve our goals every time we set them.

Most people focus on creating more projects, suggesting more ideas, and making something better. Contrary, very few people focus on elimination and subtraction, or the via negativa style.

People love to say yes to too many things, and they find themselves overloaded with projects and tasks to complete, which in most cases they don’t. Because we love to say yes to offers, it makes us feel more important gives us the false sensation that we are doing something valuable and meaningful. More than that, you might feel more productive when you have so much to do.

The problem is with more projects, tasks, and goals to hit; you might find yourself overwhelmed, busy, and out of control. Once that happens, you will struggle to finish what you started.

So probably the ultimate productivity hack is to say NO; the via negativa.

Saying no is a trade-off, of course. You decide to give up other things in trade for something you genuinely want to do. Keeping things simple and declining projects and offers will free your time and let you focus on very few projects. You move faster and become more productive once you don’t have too many things to do.

A significant part of productivity is focusing on important things rather than doing multiple tasks together or multitasking. As I wrote before, multitasking is a myth, and it’s probably not possible. So we remain with the ultimate productivity hack: via negativa, or saying NO.

Productivity Via Negativa

Here are more examples of how to use via negativa to improve your productivity:

• The fastest meeting is no meeting at all. Deny meetings without a clear, concise purpose and agenda, and don’t meet for the sake of meeting itself only.
• Reduce the number of apps you use. Remember that you will finally use only 20% of the apps you have one way or the other. So why don’t you reduce their number?
• To create more ideas, you have to think and review yourself. You don’t get there while talking to others or doing more tasks. You have to block time and reduce the number of tasks instead.
• Too many goals will overwhelm you. If you try to run after too many rabbits, you will catch neither. Reduce the number of your goals, and even try to focus on one goal at each time.
• Finally, productivity is all about increasing your focus to be more efficient. So, if you want to improve productivity, you have to focus on what is essential and block what is not: email, messages, your phone, hallway chats, and other distractions.

Decision Making

To make good decisions, avoid bad ones.

As part of our human nature, we want the best for ourselves. And when we have to decide about something, we try to optimize it, make it the best decision ever. This approach gets us deep into a loop of perfectionism optimization and delays our decision-making. It also might increase the chances of making a wrong decision because we keep searching for a better alternative.

Bad decisions, whether out of extreme perfectionism or just because they are bad, can complicate any situation. Remember how many times you decided to buy something and realized after one day you made a mistake because you didn’t need it.

But there is an alternative approach, via negativa. Using the via negativa, you can make good decisions by avoiding the bad ones.

It’s noIt’sat your decisions will be perfect; maybe they are far from being so. But over time, you will learn to avoid more bad ones and leave more space for good decisions to pop up.

Finance

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor, has a set of rules he lives by and decides on his investment portfolio.

Rule number one in Buffett’sffett’sis to never lose money.

Rule number two: Never forget rule number one.

Buffett is using the via negativa approach. Instead of focusing on earning more money, start with avoiding losses.

In the modern western world, we are all wired to think about more money, bringing more happiness, satisfaction and filling our desires.

But that’s not necessarily true. Instead of focusing on earning more money, we should focus on not losing it, using it wisely, and, most importantly, using the available money to create more time.

Via negativa also works in investing: Instead of focusing on buying more stocks, cryptocurrencies, or real estate, ask yourself which assets are not profitable that you can remove.

Nutrition

As obesity rises in the last century and becomes a pandemic, more people are willing to lose weight and eat healthily.

Food companies took advantage of this hive. So the market is full of “health” products” that “people tend to consume for the sake of eating healthy.

The classical diet approach adds more meals, let’s say six meals a day. Which, and I understand, is bothersome to prepare and deal with. That’s the reason why most people fail diets.

Anyway, via negativa is much easier. It focuses on removing rather than adding food options, which make the following strategies more effective:

• Don’t aDon’talthy products. Remove carbs and sugars instead.
• Don’t pDon’te six meals a day, fast for one day, and reduce the number of meals you eat.

Simple strategies such as subtracting simple carbs and fasting will help anyone lose weight quickly.

And one last thing. The simpler your meal, the better it will be. Food is tastier when you remove unnecessary ingredients, not when you add more.

Relationships

To become happier and more satisfied socially, you can choose to remove toxic relationships from your life. These relationships bring no benefit, joy, or added value to your life. Improving your relationships is not about creating more but cutting toxic ones.

Time to Optimize

I hope this article persuaded you to consider the via negative approach. And I will finish with one last story.

After World War II, the American industries conquered the world. Japanese technology was far beyond the Americans. Japanese industries decided to improve, so they started removing unnecessary steps that might make them less productive and consume time, effort, and workforce.

Over the next few decades, Japanese companies became among the best rated globally. More products came from there, and Toyota conquered the cars market.

Japanese success is due to via negativa approach. Instead of asking what to add, they ask themselves how to become better and be more efficient with removing manufacturing steps, reducing the number of workers, and avoiding bad decisions.

After their products became widely popular, they started to optimize them and improve them over time.

And it would be best if you learned from the Japanese people. Remove what you don’t ndon’tuse the via negativa.

Finally, following the negativa approach and eliminating what you don’t becomes the right time to do things ideal and optimize them. Once you set simple things by subtraction and your path is evident, you can optimize it and make it better. But don’t make things better from the beginning because you will ultimately fail.