October 26, 2016
Interview with Matthew May, author of the book The Laws Of Subtraction
Mike Carruthers:
It may just be human nature but when there’s a problem we feel the need to do something.
Matthew May:
It’s the old adage of don’t just stand there do something. But doing something isn’t always better than doing nothing.
Matthew May, author of the book The Laws of Subtraction: 6 Simple Rules for Winning in the Age of Excess Everything…
One of the lessons I learned is that I spoke with adventure journalist Boyd Matson and he taught me a pretty powerful and strong lesson he said, “Stand still when the hippos charge. If you’re on a photo safari and you come across the water hole with mama hippo and she doesn’t like the way you’re looking at her calf if you run and she charges you will not make it. You must stand still.” And I think in life and in business we all have metaphorically speaking some sort of 2 thousand pound beast barreling down at us. And sometimes the best thing to do is to simply stand there and do nothing.
In any situation in life we typically have 3 choices.
What to do versus what to not do. What to put in versus what to leave out – and what to pursue versus what to ignore. And most advice that you hear always talk about what to pursue, what to put in and what to do. And it really doesn’t focus on what to leave out, what to ignore and what to not do. And I’ve just found that if you focus on that second half of each of those choices big decisions become exponentially easier.
