How to Do Less This Year

If you were a university professor, would you expect to learn something new and profound from a three year old?

That’s what happened to Dr. Leidy Klotz. With engineering degrees from some of the top schools in the country and as a professor at the University in Virginia, Dr. Klotz teaches design thinking and consults some of the top performing companies on the planet. That’s why he was surprised when he saw his three year old do something extraordinary while playing Legos.

They were building a bridge together, and had initially created the span where imaginary cars would drive across. However to support the span, they needed to each build corresponding pillars. As they connected the pillars and the span together, something was off: Dr. Klotz’s pillar was taller, and Ezra’s was shorter. The bridge was wonky, and the imaginary cars were falling everywhere. Oh no!

Dr. Klotz went to retrieve an additional brick to elevate Ezra’s side and make them even, but as he turned around he noticed Ezra had done something remarkable: he had simply REMOVED a piece from the taller tower, now making both pillars flush.

Did you catch that? While Dr. Klotz went to ADD yet another brick, Ezra the 3 year old instead REMOVED a brick and solved the problem.

Dr. Klotz was amazed. From an Engineering perspective, Ezra’s solution to remove a brick was the superior answer. It was more cost effective, simpler, and required less resources. Dr. Klotz’s solution of adding a brick, however, was not as effective. It cost more resources, was more complex, and not as stable.

That got Dr. Klotz thinking. How come (with all his degrees and years of training) he was pre-disposed to ADD more to the problem and Ezra the 3 year old reduced and simplified the problem?

So he went and tested this with university students and other professionals. In a series of experiments where participants were presented with a variety problems that could be solved by either adding more things or subtracting things, Dr. Klotz discovered that people universally looked for ways add MORE to solve problems.

The takeaway? “People systematically overlook subtraction… This is arguably the most fundamental question about how we change and make things better. Am I going to add, do more, or am I going to take away, do less? And we are finding that people systematically overlook the option of subtraction and doing less.” (Easter, M. SCARCITY BRAIN, 2023 Pg 54)

What does this have to do with influence and success?

As the New Year begins, we often give time to reflect.

· How has the past year gone?

· How do we want the New Year to go?

· What do I want to change?

In these moments, like Dr Klotz, are we thinking about things to add? Or things to subtract?

Like me, you’ve probably watched people embark on grand New Year’s resolutions. I’m going to START a new program! I’m going to do MORE of this thing! I’m going to ADD these changes in my life!

I know I’ve fallen victim to unrealistic new solutions that I thought would “change everything”. I also know that nearly every one of them fizzled. One reason? Because, like Dr. Klotz, I was so focused on ADDING something new when reducing or simplifying and SUBTRACTING would have been much clearer and effective. Hence, I pursued a fool’s errand of complexity masquerading as simplicity… and failed.

As Dr. Klotz’s research suggests, my brain hadn’t even considered the possibility of “subtraction” and chances are, your brain doesn’t either. It turns out our brains are wired to make things much more complex than they have to be. They have learned over millions of years that scarcity is a bad thing, and are predisposed to search for MORE.

More food? More toys? More meetings? More shiny things? You name it… we are very good at OVER complexifying ourselves into cumbersome and over burdened lives. And yet we sit here wondering why we struggle with mental health and everything feels so difficult and tiring…

But what if we learned a thing or two from Dr. Klotz’s son, Ezra? What if we made the pursuit of less… intentional?

· This year, instead of pondering what you want to ADD, what do you want to SUBTRACT?

· Instead of establishing something NEW, what do you want to ELIMINATE?

· Instead of doing MORE, what do you want to do LESS?

When we become committed to the pursuit of less, we will find our abilities to go deeper, engage more thoughtfully, and ultimately be more present in a dizzyingly distracting world…

All these will increase in the most meaningful way.

I guess the old saying is true: Less is MORE. How do you want to make the next year, the “Year of Less”?

Just ask Dr. Klotz, his son Ezra, and their box of Legos.

I can’t to see how you make this your best year yet!

Christian

CHRISTIAN HANSEN has gone behind the scenes in some of the biggest organizations in the world to find out the reasons why some people get chosen and why others don’t. As the #1 bestselling and LinkedIn Top Ten ranked author of “The Influence Mindset: The Art & Science of Getting People to Choose You” Christian helps teams and organizations who want to stand out and be the obvious choice. With degrees from Brigham Young University and The London School of Economics, he’s helped thousands of individuals position and sell themselves. A fan of international communication, history, and choral music, he currently lives in Utah with his wife. Reach him at: TheChristianHansen.com