Delete for Greatness

The journey to becoming great at something is never a simple one. There are countless steps that must be taken until someone can confidently believe they are great at something. No one who picks up a skateboard for the first time can land any trick they want. It takes countless hours, countless habits forming, and countless habit corrections to finally grasp and possess the ability to manipulate the board how they please. This process is the same for any field, any subject, and any skill. A key area of the path to greatness that is often neglected is how important it is to delete bad habits as opposed to constantly trying to improve and learn new ones. Deletion will help elevate you to greatness just as if you learned an entirely new habit.

The art of being a comedian is difficult, to put it bluntly. Becoming a great comedian is even harder. It oftentimes takes years of performing at small comedy shows, bombing jokes live, and picking yourself back up to try the next night to become recognizable and proficient in this industry. Chris Rock, one of the most successful comedians of all time, still hones his craft. Before recording a Netflix show, or kicking off a new tour that will go to massive venues, Chris retreats to small comedy clubs to delete jokes and refine his act. He will perform dozens of times, notebook in hand, mumbling to himself as he takes notes on jokes that worked and jokes that did not. He does all of this with the idea that if he deletes and iterates upon the bad ideas, his headline show will feature greatness. We see the result of these efforts when he performs as the headline event.

This mentality of refining and iterating upon what you are already doing is how you can make immediate improvements in what you are trying to accomplish. Instead of having to learn a new skill or way to do something entirely, you can modify what you are already doing. If you find yourself struggling to get into the shape you want to be in, swap the ice cream sandwich on Friday nights for a yogurt parfait. If you find yourself unable to consistently wake up early in the morning, go to bed 30 minutes earlier so you can have more time spent asleep. Delete the bad and modify them with changes so they become versions that are much better for accomplishing what you desire. Greatness is deletion used for perfection.