51% of Getting What You Want Is Not Wasting Time on What Doesn’t Work
Most businesspeople think progress comes from doing more: more effort, more tools, more strategies, more willpower.
But in reality, at least half of success comes from subtraction.
From stopping.
From letting go.
From refusing to keep pouring time, energy, and emotion into things that clearly aren’t working.
Let’s dig into four powerful, research-backed reasons why eliminating what doesn’t work is one of the fastest ways to get what you want.
1. The Brain Has Limited Decision Energy
(Decision Fatigue Is Real)
Every choice you make drains a finite mental resource. When you keep repeating strategies that don’t work—whether it’s a team building program, a cost cutting initiative, or a sales and client strategy—you burn cognitive energy with zero return.
Research on decision fatigue shows that:
- Poor decisions increase as mental energy declines
- Willpower weakens the longer you push ineffective strategies
- Simpler systems outperform complex ones over time
Translation:
Stopping what doesn’t work preserves mental bandwidth so you can execute what does.
2. Sunk Cost Bias Keeps People Stuck Longer Than Failure
(And It’s a Trap)
Humans are wired to continue investing in things simply because we’ve already invested in them—time, money, or emotional energy.
This is called the sunk cost fallacy.
Examples:
- Staying on a plan “because I’ve already tried so hard”
- Keeping a strategy “because I’ve come this far”
- Remaining in relationships or routines that no longer serve you
The data is clear:
People who cut losses early outperform those who “stick it out” in failing systems.
Progress accelerates the moment you stop defending a bad investment.
3. What You Tolerate Becomes Your Ceiling
Neuroscience and behavioral psychology both show that repeated exposure to ineffective or harmful patterns normalizes them.
Over time:
- Frustration becomes familiar
- Inefficiency feels normal
- Underperformance gets rationalized
When something doesn’t work and you keep tolerating it, your nervous system stops flagging it as a problem.
Growth doesn’t start with adding better habits.
It starts with removing the ones that quietly cap your potential, your team’s potential, and the culture’s potential.
4. Clarity Emerges After Elimination, Not Addition
High performers don’t just ask:
“What should I do next?”
They ask:
“What should I stop doing immediately?”
Studies on performance optimization show that:
- Reducing ineffective inputs creates faster gains than adding new ones
- Fewer, better actions outperform many average ones
- Momentum increases once friction is removed
Clarity isn’t found by piling on more effort—it’s found by cutting away what’s not working.
The Bottom Line
Getting what you want isn’t about grinding harder.
It’s about being honest sooner.
If something:
- Isn’t producing results
- Is draining energy
- Requires constant justification
Then continuing it isn’t perseverance—it’s avoidance.
Fifty One percent of progress is subtraction.
And the moment you stop wasting time on what doesn’t work, you create space for what finally will.
For your own help professionally creating space for what will work, SET UP A FREE TIME TO TALK, and let’s see what can be added by subtracting from your day.
