Trim back

Any time I see a “proposal” or “recommendation”, I cringe a little.

The problem is that this almost always entails adding work into whatever system we’re talking about. Want to improve marketing? Add more money, more people, more work. We should start this valuable program? More money, more work, more time.

That’s how we get overloaded.

The recommendation I really want is which things are no longer worth doing, not delivering the value they once did. Work that nobody would miss if it wasn’t being done anymore.

This is a great exercise to do around the end of the year, when we’re a little more reflective and thinking about how the next year will be different. A good time to let things drop off that are no longer serving.

One caution, though: sometimes an activity has value not because it “delivers results”, but because there are other benefits. Sleeping 8 hours doesn’t directly deliver anything, but I sure as heck wouldn’t want to sacrifice the energy and mental improvement I get out of it.

Even work can have side benefits that we don’t want to lose.

So what are you thinking you might want to give up for 2026?