Member-only story
The other day, I played a round of We’re Not Really Strangers with my friend. We were discussing what we wanted to be better at.
He told me:
“I wish I could be better at letting go. I like change, but I hate letting go.”
I didn’t realize it then, but these two things go hand in hand. It is difficult to change without letting something go. In some cases, it’s impossible.
The Importance of Subtraction
Many people think that self-improvement can happen solely through addition. Addition of new habits, books, water, exercise. And while these are all good things, what is equally important is the other side of the coin: subtraction.
Removing what does not serve you allows you to dedicate more time and energy to the things that do.
Take the physical example of a mug. You cannot put another item where that mug is unless you remove the mug first.
The same concept holds for ideas. If you have one idea telling you to move east and another idea telling you to move west, it is impossible to keep both ideas. In order to move east, you cannot move west. It’s written in the laws of nature.
