Via Negativa — The Opposite Approach To Dramatically Improve Your Life

Instead of adding things that make you feel good, remove things that make you feel bad instead.

In our current times, we are obsessed with the next shiny object, the flashing milestone, and everything we do not have. If we just had that special car, that many followers, this partner, this paycheck, we will be eternally happy, right?

Although these sound good in isolation, they do have side effects. Cars require maintenance. There are downsides to becoming famous. Relationships can be a roller-coaster in itself, and we often fall prey to the hedonic treadmill. Although I’m certainly not advocating for abstaining from these things, it is vital to know that what you seek has its own challenges.

But there is another way:

Via Negativa — The Negative Way

In the masterpiece Antifragile, Nassim Taleb defines Via Negativa like this:

“The principle that we know what is wrong with more clarity than what is right, and that knowledge grows by subtraction. Also, it is easier to know that something is wrong than to find the fix. Actions that remove are more robust than those that add because addition may have unseen, complicated feedback loops.”