The New Year ritual of vowing to quit smoking, drinking or dessert is not for me. I’ve long preferred the idea that resolutions should be adding something positive rather than squeezing out bad habits. In a typical year, I might resolve to exercise more, to see more live music or to spend more time with my children.
I’m not claiming I always succeed — it’s a mixed bag — but the practice always felt constructive. For a better life, I thought, one should add good things rather than subtracting bad ones. But I am starting to wonder. Even the words “positive” and “constructive” suggest a mindset of addition. Maybe I need to learn to subtract. In their influential collection of creative prompts, Oblique Strategies, the musician Brian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt included the suggestion, “use fewer notes”. Quite so.
Leidy Klotz, author of Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, argues that I’m not the only one who lacks the subtractive instinct. Take a wonky Lego bridge with two uneven supports. Do you fix it by adding bricks to the short support? Or by removing them from the longer support? Most people add, when it would be easier to subtract.