The six laws of subtraction

New Years Resolutions seems to be about what to add to your year.  But what about endeavouring to subtract instead? Business Insider published an article online giving ideas on ways to subtract from your life and I decided to use this article as a stimulus and as an opportunity to reflect on 2012.

Key things that I have added to my life considerably this year:

Travel – I have been to several countries spanning five continents.

Career – I have transferred from the arts to the medical sector.

Stress – All the stress associated with being away, the constant moves, moving industry sectors and gaining new skills fast and so on.

Key things that I have subtracted from my life considerably this year:

Insane schedule – I am no longer switched on some sort of hypermode and I didn’t have the stress related to an intense schedule.  I am still constantly ‘on’ but I don’t have the related stress like before.

Commitments – Related to the above but I felt that I should say yes or felt guilt for saying no to various discussions.  The decision was final when I made the move.  I also learnt to say no.

Putting on a mask / being on a certain ‘dimension’ – I felt that I had to be a certain person or take on a certain personality.

There has been definitely been a lot of stress involved this year.  But the key thing here lies in self-confidence and also in autonomy and independence and there were a number of times this year where I’ve had to summon up all of these qualities and to just get on with it.  Another key thing here lies in autonomy over one’s direction in life.  I was going 100 km/ph but I realised that I was going in the direction that I no longer wanted to go to.

So, I did a lot of subtracting in order to add new things to my life.  

Subtracting is part of the game.  Do it in a smart, considerate way and win.

The six laws of subtraction

Law 1: What you leave out is just as important as what you keep.

Law 2: The simplest rules are the most effective

Law 3: Limit information and let people come up with the answer themselves

Law 4: Smart limits can make you more creative

Law 5: You have to break something to make a break through

Law 6: Doing something isn’t always better than doing nothing