Are you watching The Bear?

The latest season doesn’t disappoint.

The first episode (mini spoiler alert) is a beautiful montage of Chef Carmy’s early years.

In one scene, he’s trying to impress the vile head chef with a new dish.

The head chef peers at it and releases a stream of expletives:

‘What the hell is this *^&%?  There’s way too many components.  You wanna add another *&^%ing sauce, huh?  Do you?’

And he writes down one word on a sticky note:

SUBTRACT

‘That’s how you get better.’

We should all have the word ‘subtract’ on a sticky note somewhere.  Possibly tattooed on our knuckles too.

You see, we’re conditioned to think more is better – psychologists call it the ‘addition bias’.  

In one study, participants were asked to change a pattern on a grid of squares to make it symmetrical.

Although removing existing squares would have worked, 78% chose to add new squares.

You know already less is more in an email.  Shorter is sweeter.  But sometimes it’s not just about taking out words.

It’s about subtracting ideas too.

Our audience can only consume so much at a time.  And when we remove ideas, we give our other, more important messages room to breathe.

We let our ingredients sing.

So tell me – what are you going to take away?  

An item from your standing meeting agenda?  

A whole slice of your presentation?  

A big chunk of your newsletter, like I’ve just done?  

I’d love to know.