Chapter 275

Via negativa: improving by removing. “Via negativa can also be used to describe a similarly ‘negative’ way of improving one’s life; instead of concentrating on what you do, the focus turns to what you don’t do. -Tim Ferris

This is one of the most powerful ideas ever - improving by removing. I have been using it for a decade with clients, and I first heard of the concept from Marshall Goldsmith. He wrote about how most people need to remove 10 things from their lives, not add some new magical addition thing, to make forward progress. Nothing has impacted my daily structure of life, and my productivity more than learning what not to do.

Perhaps it is my personality, perhaps it was the timing of when I first read about it, but this approach resonated with me and made perfect sense. Not surprisingly I have made the hugest improvement gains in my life by practicing it. Although I have to admit that I have been doing this so long that it doesn’t feel like practicing, it just feels normal. It feels right. Like a wonderfully old comfortable pair of jeans.

For me, improving by removing, first involved relationships. Poisonous toxic unhealthy relationships. I had to change jobs (after 23 years) to weed that particular garden, but it proved to be the best decision ever. There are no words for how dramatically this changed everything. Then I improved by removing approval from others as something I sought. Wow! Then I improved by removing all the other boundaries that kept me locked up in a small tight psychic prison - and spread my wings to fly.

Been soaring ever since.

Don’t you want to try!