Adding By Subtracting: Via Negativa

Much has been written throughout time about the elements that will move us to real success. We are constantly beaten over the head and virtually bombarded with information about the power of positive thinking, the value of mindset, the necessity of goal setting, and umpteen ways to be motivated.

But I’m always looking for more. I search for a better way, new tools, and new ways of thinking. I am in a constant learning mode, and sometimes, at least, new is old.

Enter the Latin phrase VIA NEGATIVA. The phrase originates from Christian theology, but the phrase also defines a powerful strategy for personal and professional improvement and achievement of success, by adding through subtracting.  I know it sounds a little nuts but hear me out.

Via Negativa represents a strategy of adding to your life by subtracting from it. One definition I found called this practice a “Negative” way of improving one’s life. It said, “…instead of concentrating on what you do, the focus turns to what you don’t do. This path has two main thrusts: stripping bad habits and situations out of your life and avoiding bad habits/situations in the first place.”

What do most of us do? We set goals, or we create, throughout our year, resolutions that really are things we want to start doing and habits we want to add or subtract from our lives. We want to read more books, start a diet, make more money, or be a better person, and then we make a good run at them. But then we run out of steam, lose motivation, and have a big fat cheeseburger and maybe two beers. You know what I mean.

Inevitably, we get upset with ourselves, become surly because we haven’t made any progress, and then have a couple more beers.

So, Via Negativa says that to grow, we must first identify and eliminate bad habits and anything that could possibly create a downside. In his book ANTIFRAGILE, Nassim Taleb says that the best way for a person or organization to become antifragile is to decrease their downside. A downside is defined as those things, people, actions, habits, or systems that make you vulnerable to volatility and risk.

Suppose your success goal was to lose weight; to achieve that, you went to the gym every day. However, what would happen if, after your workout, you rewarded yourself with that half-pound cheeseburger, beer, and a quart of ice cream? Do you think that you would ever achieve that weight loss goal? You are going to the gym, but without subtracting the urge for the burger and beer, the likelihood of ever losing an ounce is slim to none.

Consider the negative power of toxic relationships. These situations affect your entire being. They affect how you look, act, and speak, directly affecting your personal and professional perception. Positive input, positive results. Negative input, negative results. If the only thing that your golfing buddies can talk about is how bad the economy is; or that the government a mess, or that taxes are sure to soar and that the sky is falling, and you’re surrounded with this environment, then do you ever think you will achieve a powerful positive mindset for your business let alone your life? Unless you eliminate those relationships and find new, like-minded associations and colleagues, you’re destined for a life of mere surviving versus one of thriving.  You must make changes and eliminate the barriers to success.

Overall, there are two Via Negativa Strategies: 1, eliminating the downside, and #2, simply avoiding the downsides!

The second strategy is to be more aware of the dumb stuff we can do and avoid doing it. The legendary Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, said, “It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.”

Look, the stupid things we do in life are only stupid IF we do not learn anything from them. With every person or organization I work with, building sales skills, one of the first things we do is an exercise to understand and define their target customer clearly. Once the target consumer is clearly defined, we do something equally important. We take the time to determine who their target customer isn’t.  In business and life, we can easily live a life of survival because we don’t identify and eliminate those things, people, actions, habits, or systems that slow us down or ruin us altogether.

So, do something good for yourself by stopping doing things that aren’t good for you. Please!

VIA NEGATIVA, adding by subtracting, growing by eliminating.