Via negativa: leave three WhatsApp groups before you add one habit

Meera in Nagpur decides on Sunday that from Monday she will wake at 5 am. She sets the alarm, keeps her walking shoes by the door and buys lemons for warm water. At 1 am her phone is still buzzing. The school friends are arguing about a reunion, the society group has a long thread about the water tank, and the family group has sent its good-night forwards.

At 5 am the alarm rings and she switches it off. The plan was fine. The phone on the pillow was the problem.

What the model is

Via negativa means improving things by taking away instead of adding. The phrase is old, from theology, and Nassim Nicholas Taleb uses it in his book Antifragile for everyday decisions. Before you add a good thing, look for the harmful thing you can remove.

Removing can be simpler to do than adding, and simpler to check. A new habit needs effort every single day. Taking something away is often a one-time change.

Meera's morning, step by step

First she lists what she wanted to add: a 5 am alarm, a walk, lemon water, ten minutes of writing. Four new things, and each one needs energy at an hour when she has none.

Then she asks a different question: what is already working against this plan? The answer is easy to see. Three groups keep her awake until 1 am, so any 5 am plan starts with four hours of sleep.

So she adds nothing yet. She mutes the three groups after 10 pm and leaves the charger in the hall, so the phone sleeps outside the bedroom. It takes her five minutes, once.

The check is also simple. The next morning she asks one question: did the phone buzz at night, yes or no? That is easier to answer than "am I becoming a disciplined person?". She keeps the walk and the lemon water for next week and sees how the mornings feel first.

Where it goes wrong

Removing can be overdone. If Meera left the society group completely, she might miss the notice about a water cut. If she left the family group, an aunt might feel hurt. So she mutes, she does not leave, and she checks the groups once in the evening.

It can also be a way to avoid the real change. Sometimes the gap truly needs something added. The question is only about order: look for what to remove first, then add with what is left.

One thing to try today

Pick one thing that eats your time or sleep and take it away for a week. Mute one group after 10 pm, or move one app off your home screen. Write the name of it on a slip of paper now, and tonight tick it off if you did it.

This is a way to think, not financial, medical or legal advice.

Each Sunday: one mental model and one real decision to try it on. Find more in the library at /models.