In yesterday's post, I introduced the concept of via negativa, how things can dramatically improve by removing what is bad.

Here are 7 more examples of this principle across domains:

1. Know what not to do than what to do

According to Nassim Taleb, author of Antifragile

"Charlatans are recognizable for giving positive advice, and only positive advice."

Instead, negative advice is used by the professionals. If you do not go bust, you will become rich. By not losing, you will win. If you continuously know what to avoid and stop doing, you will narrow it down to a unique solution you are exceptionally valuable for.

2. Focus means saying no

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, put it the best:

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

3. Hyperproductivity means doing less but better

In the same way, you want to narrow your efforts down to actions that will truly move the needle. After the exploration phase, you want to optimize down to the essential moves ruthlessly. By always striving to do less, you can skyrocket in the remaining activities faster.

4. Total Presence means getting rid of thoughts.

If you are totally present, your mind is at zero. Nothing is happening inside you regarding commentary and other distracting, hypothetical scenarios. You simply are what you see, hear and feel, absorbing what is happening without effort.

5. Remove data points to find the signal

For example, if you look too much at people's eye-colours, you might miss the big truck coming at you. Looking too much at data and everyday fluctuations gives you a distorted sense of what to pay attention to. Be slightly detached instead since you will not miss the signal, no matter what happens.

6. Subtractive knowledge

No matter how many white swans we see, we cannot state for sure that all swans are white. However, if we see one single black swan, we can immediately conclude that not all swans are white. Thus discomfirmatory evidence is more rigorous.

7. Decide with only one reason

Let's finish off with Nassim Taleb again:

"If you have more than one reason to do something, choose a doctor or veterinarian, hire a gardener or an employee, marry a person or go on a trip, just don't do it. It does not mean that one reason is better than two. Just by evoking more than one reason, you are trying to convince yourself to do something. Obvious decisions, robust to error, require no more than a single reason".

So do not act until it is purely obvious. Hell yeah, or no.