It’s natural to accumulate. It’s what society says successful people do. But since we started our business and substantially cut our income, the concept of “more” has taken on a whole new meaning.
Case in point: We were lucky to have bought our house near Greenville, SC, before the real estate market went bonkers. The home was bigger than we needed, but we certainly didn’t mind the expansive kitchen, storage space, and ability to have two private offices for our work.
The thing is, when you purchase a home like this, you don’t expect to leave your jobs two years later. And what were great features at face value became burdens to maintain.
The latest was when our refrigerator stopped cooling—a refrigerator that was part of a giant fridge-freezer combo. To replace it with something of quality would cost upward of $5,000. This was the point when “more” became too much. It was time to employ the power of subtraction.
A regular fridge would suit us just fine, and it would allow us to save our resources for the things we really value—like travel, meaningful experiences, and good food. Never mind the huge gap it would leave in the wall—we’d figure it out for a fraction of the price.
Striving for More
Just as we accumulate more in our personal lives, we often do the same as leaders. There’s constant pressure to expand, to do more. And “more” doesn’t just mean serving more people. It means more staff, more funding, more space, more technology, more everything. When we get caught in this quest for more, we can inadvertently create more of what we don’t want—employee burnout, cumbersome processes, mission creep, growing pains, and quality concerns.
Thinking Like a Sculptor
This is where the power of subtraction distinguishes the great leaders from the good ones. Think of it like being a sculptor—chipping away the unnecessary to reveal a masterpiece.
To activate this power, ask these questions when you’re considering adding more.
- Is this project aligned with our strategic goals and long-term vision?
- Is this effort (or a form of it) being done by another organization?
- Can we do this with quality and without over-burdening our team?
- Are resources readily available?
- By saying “yes” to this, what will it mean we’re saying “no” to?
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, says, “You need focus to become exceptional at anything. Massive amounts of time and energy are wasted optimizing things that should be left undone. You have to be great at saying no. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is eliminate the task. Downsize. The rooms you don’t have don’t need to be cleaned. The items you don’t own don’t need to be organized. The projects you don’t take on don’t need to be finished. Is this a problem that needs to be solved? Or is it a problem that can be eliminated all together?”
Want to cultivate your power of subtraction? Explore our strategic planning and process improvement services for ways we can help you focus and make room for your greatest impact.