Scientific Definition
Progress more often comes from removing the wrong things than adding the right ones — cut activities, commitments, beliefs, relationships that drain.
Plain-English Definition
Progress more often comes from removing the wrong things than adding the right ones — cut activities, commitments, beliefs, relationships that drain.
Feynman Explanation
Most plateaus are addition problems being solved with more addition.
Core Principle
Progress more often comes from removing the wrong things than adding the right ones — cut activities, commitments, beliefs, relationships that drain.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Progress more often comes from removing the wrong things than adding the right ones — cut activities, commitments, beliefs, relationships that drain.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Portfolio pruning, headcount focus, strategy narrowing.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Most plateaus are addition problems being solved with more addition.
Examples
- Buffett's '20-slot punch card'; Jobs's product cuts at returning Apple.
- Portfolio pruning, headcount focus, strategy narrowing.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Quarterly subtraction review: name one thing to stop in each life domain.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Quarterly subtraction review: name one thing to stop in each life domain.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
How will I feel about this in 10 minutes / 10 months / 10 years?
Inattention or forgetfulness caused by low attention, hyperfocus, or distraction.
Forgetting to compare an offer with the next-best alternative.
Outcomes that could have happened but did not.
Overthinking a situation so that decision-making stalls.
The first number on the table silently sets the range for every number after it.
Tversky & Kahneman's classic: identical outcomes flip from 'risk averse' to 'risk seeking' when framed as lives saved vs. lives lost.
Our perception is shaped by what we selectively pay attention to.
Favoring suggestions from automated systems over conflicting human judgment.
A color appears different depending on adjacent colors.
Decisions are constrained by available information, cognitive limits, and time.
The ability to focus on one voice in a noisy environment.