Leidy Klotz
Appearances
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
It's to think about subtracting as a way to make things better. And, you know, if we think about any situation that we encounter, this happens all the time, whether it's, you know, you mentioned the minimalist ideas that often has to do with the physical things in our house. We ask, how do we make our living space better? It's like, well, I could add this blanket or whatever.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
whenever we are at whenever we ask that question we have multiple options one is to add things one is to kind of rearrange things and one that we overlook is that we can actually take things away one of my favorite quotes to gain knowledge add things every day to gain wisdom subtract things every day and this is like that quote still gets thrown around the internet and it's
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
It's evidence that we've been overlooking subtracting for a long time and that we still overlook it because that kind of quote rings true and counterintuitive still.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Yeah, that's what our research found. I mean, so I've been interested in this for a really long time as a designer, engineer, architect, professor. I kind of noticed these instances where taking something away actually creates something better, whether it's editing words, right? If you write 200 words and you're challenged to narrow it down to 100, that'll be a better 100 words.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Or it's these streamlined, elegant, modern designs that looks better. And so the question was, do we actually overlook that? And the answer is yes.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
The best example is, I mean, I was playing Legos with my three-year-old son, and this was before we had done the research. What we were doing was building a bridge, basically. And the problem we had was that the Lego bridge wasn't level. So there was one column on the bridge that was shorter than the other column. And so I went to solve this problem to improve the situation.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
I turned around behind me to grab a block to add to the shorter column. By the time I had turned back around, my son had removed a block from the longer column.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
And so what's cool about that example is that we didn't know it at the time, but the thought process that I went through was pretty close to what we think is the normal process that most people would go through in trying to improve a situation, which is to think, what can I add to it? And then if my son hadn't been there, I would have just added the block.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
and created the level bridge and moved on without even asking whether subtracting was a better option.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
In that case, it was just an option. I mean, you could make an argument that my son's solution was easier and required less resources. But, you know, this is why we needed to do research, right? We needed to figure out, do people overlook this even when it's
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
One of our studies was a study of real life. Our university's strategic improvement plan asked for, hey, what are ways that we can improve the university? And we looked at that data and only 8% of the suggestions were to take something away. So it was overwhelmingly additive suggestions, which again, this suggests that options are being left on the table, right? The people aren't...
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
fully exploring the range of solutions that could make this university a better place.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Yeah. I mean, I'm so glad you brought that up. And if somebody likes adding, by all means, add. I mean, this is not us trying to say subtracting is always better. It's that... you know, we systematically don't think of it and then we're we're missing out on options.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
But I do think that it well, I know that it's helpful to remember to consider subtracting when when people were reminded that, hey, you can add or subtract here. Just a simple reminder that increased rates of
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
taking away which you'd say well big deal because shouldn't a reminder increase rates of anything but the rate that that reminder didn't increase rates of adding so when we when we're reminded to add we can add or subtract we subtract more.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
So that's, again, evidence that we're systematically overlooking it, but also something we can put into practice immediately, which is, hey, these are important decisions I have to make in my life. Cleaning your desk, you probably don't need a reminder, but when it's doing your
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
weekly to-do list maybe you need to remind yourself to also consider some stop doings right or some stop stop things that you want to take off of your weekly to-do list yeah that's uh you know a little bit of the the science but it also you know has very real implications for how we live our lives
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Right. And it's very analogous to how we do it in the physical world, right? And so the physical example that I like is balance bikes. And these are the bikes that kids two and younger can ride a balance bike. And this bike is small for that age group, but it also has the pedals removed, which is the subtractive innovation. And then the kids can stride on top of the bike.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
And then the surprising thing is that they can actually balance. So it's a great... Great invention, but the same thing that was happening with the solar system on a smaller scale. To be able to come up with this invention, you had to let go of the idea that the drivetrain is a fundamental part of the bike.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
One great example is spending money to save time. And it's analogous to the to-do list and the stop doing list. But basically what you're doing is taking something off of your calendar and you're actually paying for the subtraction. But research shows that that can actually make us happier, right? Spending money to save time. So that's a subtraction that can make our lives immediately better.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
better and then the the cleaning one you mentioned the desk and i know like okay cleaning up your desk i think that the cleaning illustrates that the more the more you take away the more noticeable it becomes whether it's a really tightly edited podcast or a super clean desk or you know a really streamlined modern design there are these examples of subtraction where it is noticeable that somebody put in the effort to take away what about though
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Maybe I'm nitpicking here, but... No, no, the nitpicking's good, I think, yeah.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Yeah, I'm not saying subtract. I'm saying think add and subtract, right? One of the reasons that we don't think about subtracting is because we position these things as opposites, right? It's either add or subtract. And really what we should think of them as is, complementary approaches to making change, right? So you're thinking about, okay, how do we improve our family life?
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
One way is to add a vacation. One way is to subtract a vacation. Now you've thought about both of them and, you know, They're complementary approaches to change. That's great. You brought both of them to mind and you can go about making the best decision for you.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
I think the root of that question, like Whitey said, we should subtract or just because we don't think of subtracting, we should always subtract. I think that often comes from a place of positioning these things as opposite each other instead of complementary.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
And if they're complementary, then we go a long way towards overcoming the fundamental problem here, which is that we don't even think of subtracting.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Yeah. And if it's not a light bulb going off, then you don't have to follow through with it. I mean, but I think, you know, how can we capture all these this really low hanging fruit, these cases where it's just so obviously so much so obviously better when you think of it.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Any behavior has multiple reasons for it, but this definitely... goes beyond cultural based on our research and based on, you know, kind of how it's working in our brains where, I mean, we did in some of our experiments, for example, tested people in Japan and Germany, and our goal wasn't to do a cross-cultural comparison. So they weren't,
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
you know, this isn't conclusive that it's exactly the same across cultures, but there was more variation within those cultures than there was between the cultures. So what we found in those other cultures was quite consistent. And there's a lot of just really good biological reasons why we might do this. I mean, so there's the competence issue, right, where we want to display competence.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
That's a biological instinct. There's also just acquiring things, namely food, has been really good for passing down genes. An instinct to acquire in that case helps you make it through. If you do that during good times, it makes you more likely to make it through the lean times and pass genes down across generations. So there's that biological reasons.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
I also think there's some just real cultural reasons, but the cultural regions extend beyond, they cross all the cultures that are around now, or nearly all of the cultures that are around now. And that as we're developing civilization, it made a lot of sense to add in most cases, right? If there's no highway, it makes sense to add a road to connect the places. But now that, you know, there's a
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
so many highways that some are bisecting cities now that subtracting highways becomes a more viable option, or at least it's on the table now. And so through the history of civilization, adding has been often the better way to make things better. The same with knowledge, right? The less knowledge you have, the more likely the additions are helpful.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
The more knowledge you have, the more kind of opportunities there are to reflect on the information that you already have. And then the other cultural thing is we just walk around in this world where adding is all around us. Right. So and even if somebody subtracts something, you may notice it the first day. But after a year or two years, there's not this reminder that subtracting is to thank.
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How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
And, you know, we get our cues from the world that we live in. So it creates this reinforcing cycle where you're less likely to think of subtracting. you're less likely to encounter subtraction, which makes you even less likely to think of it. And that reinforces itself. So I think it's a, to back to your question, I think, yes, there's a cultural element to it.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Yes, there's a biological element to it. And these forces reinforce each other.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
More is better is almost, I mean, that doesn't even need to be said, right? That's just kind of life. And I think the less is more in those phrases that become so catchy, they've endured for a really long time. And the reason we need them, I think, is because they're effectively reminders, right? They work like the reminders worked in our experiment to say, hey, look, sometimes this might work.
Something You Should Know
How to Solve a Problem Before It Happens & When Less is Really More
Think about subtracting as a way to make things better. One of my favorite quotes, to gain knowledge, add things every day. To gain wisdom, subtract things every day. All this today on Something You Should Know.