Solve by subtraction
Ask what to remove before asking what to add.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Ask what to remove before asking what to add.
- Why it works: People default to additive solutions — adding steps, features, rules — and systematically overlook subtractive ones, even when removal is better. Inverting the instinct ("what can I take away?") counteracts that documented bias and often finds simpler, more robust fixes because every added element is also an added failure point.
- Evidence: Backed by randomized trials / meta-analyses.
- Avoid: Reflexively layering a new rule, tool, or habit onto a problem that would be solved by deleting an existing one.
Why it works
People default to additive solutions — adding steps, features, rules — and systematically overlook subtractive ones, even when removal is better. Inverting the instinct ("what can I take away?") counteracts that documented bias and often finds simpler, more robust fixes because every added element is also an added failure point.
How to do it
- 1Before adding anything, ask "what could I remove to fix this?"
- 2List the elements, steps, or commitments currently in the system.
- 3Cut the ones that add the most complexity for the least value.
What the evidence says
RCT / meta-analysisResearch on additive-versus-subtractive change found people reliably default to adding and neglect subtracting, even when subtraction is the better solution — a real, replicated bias that inversion-by-subtraction is designed to counteract.
Honest caveat: The study establishes the additive bias; using subtraction as a deliberate fix is the practical inference from it.
- — Adams, Converse, Hales & Klotz (2021), "People systematically overlook subtractive changes", Nature
Common mistake
Reflexively layering a new rule, tool, or habit onto a problem that would be solved by deleting an existing one.
IX Coach reviews an overloaded routine or plan with you and helps identify what to subtract first, rather than piling on another habit.
Practice this with IX Coach →