Solve by subtracting

Sometimes less is better than more

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to solve by subtracting. In life, our
bias is often to add, but taking away can be

(00:26):
just as useful. I recently read a fascinating book by
Light E. Clots called Subtract The Untapped Science of less.
Klotz has built his career studying how people approach problems.
In particular, he noticed an interesting phenomenon while building a
lego bridge with his young son. The two sides they

(00:49):
had constructed were uneven, so Clots went to grab an
extra brick for the short side. As he was doing so,
he saw that his son had taken a brick away
from the tall side, which of course solved the problem
just as easily. He wondered why he had automatically thought

(01:09):
to add a brick. He put the same test to
various other people and found that the overwhelming human bias
is to solve the problem by adding a piece rather
than taking one away. This is an interesting bias because
in many cases subtracting seems like a better solution. Fewer

(01:31):
materials cost less than more materials. When it comes to
things that take time, time is an absolutely limited resource.
When we add things to our schedule, we cut off
the opportunity to do other things. Clot cites examples in
his book From the Real World, We're Subtracting wasn't the

(01:54):
obvious solution, but turned out to be a better one.
For instance, I always love walking along the Embarcadero whenever
I visit San Francisco. There used to be a freeway there.
The city only took down that freeway because of an earthquake.
With all the traffic and congestion in San Francisco, getting
rid of a road might seem a bit crazy, and

(02:18):
yet doing so massively boosted property values and use of
the San Francisco waterfront. Yes, traffic is bad, put traffic
is always bad. People figure something out. In any case.
When you know that the bias is to add rather
than subtract, you can take steps to counter that bias.

(02:41):
This has obvious ramifications with new products. Rather than add
more features, maybe things would work better if you took
some features away and made the ones that remain really awesome.
When you think about adding something to your schedule, think
first about what you might take away. Perhaps people are
missing deadlines with a project. Rather than schedule more check ins,

(03:06):
maybe you should cancel as many meetings as possible so
people have time to do their jobs. Maybe instead of
sending more emails to employees about the various benefits they
could be using, you could limit this down to one
email so people have time to use their benefits rather
than sorting through their inboxes. Rather than making forms longer

(03:30):
to get more useful information from applicants, make them shorter
so people can answer a few questions well. That can
give you useful information without confusing things. I have often
noticed this with writing. I like to think that I
already write tight, and yet whatever I have said is

(03:53):
almost always better after I have subtracted ten to of
the words. I could keep trying to explain things to
make them more clear, but they tend to naturally be
more clear with the needless words omitted. So today, as
you think about your various choices, look for situations where

(04:16):
your first thought is what to add. Maybe you do
need to add something, but maybe you need less of something.
Try to look at both angles. There is great power
in subtracting. But even when adding and subtracting are both
reasonable options. Subtracting might produce a simpler and more economical solution,

(04:41):
and there's something very satisfying about that. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. M Hey everybody, I'd love

(05:02):
to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E
the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

(05:25):
out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.