Here's why you need to do less

The psychological trap of addition - and why removing is the secret to moving faster

Welcome to issue #25 of LYB. Each week, I break down the psychology behind why you think, act, and feel the way you do - then show you how to change it. If you know someone this could help, share this post. It’s public for a reason.

You have a problem, so you add a solution.

You feel unproductive, so you download a new task manager. You feel out of shape, so you sign up for a marathon. You feel disconnected, so you join three new networking groups.

Your immediate thought: “I need more.”

But then the weight hits. The calendar fills up. The notifications multiply.

You’re busier than ever, yet you feel like you’re standing still. You say you want progress, but what you’re actually getting is noise.

Here’s the truth: you’re not failing because you’re not doing enough. You’re failing because you’re doing too much of the wrong things.

Here’s why your brain is addicted to adding - and how to find freedom by doing less.

Your brain is biased toward addition

Your brain is a survival machine, and for most of human history, “more” meant “safe.” More food, more tools, more social ties.

The result? We have an addition bias. When we encounter a problem, our default neural pathway is to add a new element rather than remove an existing one.

How this shows up:

• The Productivity Trap: You add “optimizations” until your morning routine feels like a second job.

• The Commitment Creep: You say “yes” to new projects because you’re afraid of missing out, even though your current ones are starving for attention.

• The Information Overload: You subscribe to more newsletters and podcasts to “stay informed,” but all you’ve done is destroy your ability to think for yourself.

Your brain thinks it’s helping you “level up.” In reality, it’s just burying the signal in the noise.

The “Context-Switching Tax” is bankrupting you

Every new commitment isn’t just one more thing on your list. It’s a performance tax on everything else you do.

Psychologists call this “attention residue.” When you jump from a meeting to a project to a phone call, part of your brain stays stuck on the previous task.

If you have 10 commitments, you’re operating at a fraction of your mental capacity. You aren’t being “prolific”; you’re being shallow.

The paradox: You think adding more activities will lead to more results. Instead, it ensures that none of your activities get the depth required to actually matter.

Comfort is the killer... but so is clutter

We’ve talked before about how a life without stress is empty. But there is a massive difference between purposeful stress and clutter.

Purposeful stress comes from pushing against one big, meaningful resistance. Clutter is the “bad stress” of 1,000 tiny, meaningless obligations that drain your battery without ever moving the needle.

You don’t need a longer to-do list. You need a to-stop list.

How to start doing less

This isn’t something you fix by adding a “simplicity habit.” It’s about aggressive removal.

1. Practice the “Rule of One” Pick one meaningful challenge. One project. One health goal. Everything else gets the “good enough” treatment or gets cut entirely. Depth wins over breadth every single time.

2. Audit your “Shoulds” Look at your calendar. How many of those activities are there because you actually want them, and how many are there because you feel like you “should”? Remove the “shoulds” and watch how much oxygen returns to your life.

3. Increase the friction for “New” Your brain defaults to the path of least resistance. Make it hard to add new things. Wait 48 hours before saying yes to any new commitment. Force yourself to delete an old activity before you’re allowed to start a new one.

4. Embrace the “Void” Stop filling every gap in your day with noise. Sit for 10 minutes with no phone and no input. This retrains your brain to tolerate being unstimulated, which is the foundation of deep focus.

The freedom of the “Good Enough”

The self-improvement industry wants you to believe you’re perpetually deficient. They want you to keep adding until you’re “optimized.”

I’m done with that.

You are allowed to do less. You are allowed to have an empty evening. You are allowed to say “no” to a “great opportunity” because you value your peace more than your potential.

The result: When you remove the noise, you finally hear the signal. When you stop doing everything, you finally have the energy to do something that matters.

Stop adding. Start subtracting.

Keep removing,

-Josh

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