↓ Listen to this edition right here. Hit play below! (Yes, this is me. Not AI.) Audio Length | 6 min 20 sec

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I killed my lawn. On purpose.

I live in the suburbs of Phoenix, where a green lawn takes a lot of water, money, and attention. For years, I tried to get mine looking great. More water, less water, more fertilizer, less fertilizer, different watering times. Eventually I gave up and paid someone to maintain it, hoping enough professional care would finally get me the result I wanted.

It never really did.

I kept spending money to make something work that probably never made sense in the first place. I live in a desert. Growing grass here isn’t exactly what nature intended. And every time I pulled into my driveway, I was reminded of it.

Eventually, I realized I was asking the wrong question. Instead of asking how to make the grass grow better, I should have been asking whether I needed grass at all.

So I had the grass removed and replaced with landscaping suited to the desert. It took an upfront investment, but the yard looks better, should cost less to maintain, and uses far less water.

There was another benefit I hadn’t fully appreciated until the work was finished. I no longer pull into my driveway thinking about what needs fixing. That problem is gone.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes improvement is the wrong decision.

There’s a limit to how much you can optimize something, and past that point, improvement is the wrong objective. Improving something and eliminating it are two different decisions, and most of us only ever make the first one.

I came across a line on LinkedIn recently that stuck with me: “Three years of focused elimination beats ten years of steady improvement.” I can’t vouch for the math, but it matches what I’ve seen.

I went through a similar process with Brenits Creative this year. After years of offering a broad range of branding, design, and marketing services, I realized the breadth was taking time and attention away from the strategic advisory work I enjoy most and where I create the greatest value. So I consolidated my offerings, eliminated services that no longer fit, and became more selective about the work I take on. The result is a more focused business, clearer positioning, and fewer competing priorities.

Businesses do this all the time. We keep investing time, money, and energy into things that aren’t producing the results we want. We try new approaches, make adjustments, hire different people, and buy better tools, hoping the next improvement will finally make it work. Sometimes it does. But sometimes we’re just getting better at maintaining something that no longer belongs.

It might be a service that generates revenue but consumes a disproportionate amount of your time. A marketing activity you’ve kept up for years because you’ve always done it. A process that demands constant attention and adds little value. Or a customer relationship that creates more frustration than opportunity.

We tend to evaluate these things by their financial cost. But there’s another cost that’s harder to measure: the mental space they occupy. Even when we’re not actively working on them, we know they’re there, waiting. And that attention could be going toward something more productive.

This is why I’ve always liked the Start, Stop, Continue exercise. Most people have little trouble listing what they want to start, and what’s working well enough to continue is usually easy to spot. The Stop list is the hard one, because stopping means admitting that something that once made sense may no longer be worth the investment. That’s uncomfortable, especially when you’ve already put in considerable time, money, or effort. But having invested in something isn’t a good reason to keep investing in it.

I’ve written before about shaping a business the way you’d care for a bonsai tree, with small, intentional cuts that encourage healthy growth. That still holds. But pruning and elimination are not the same thing. Pruning is about shaping what you have. Elimination is about deciding what no longer belongs, so you can grow.

Improving what’s working still matters, and so does trimming what’s grown too complicated. But when something has stopped working, removing it is what makes room for what comes next. Elimination isn’t the opposite of growth. Often it’s what makes growth possible. The goal isn’t simply to do less or spend less. It’s to put your resources behind what matters most, and the return isn’t always measured in dollars. Sometimes it’s time recovered, frustration eliminated, or simply the relief of no longer having to think about something that wasn’t working.

I don’t miss the lawn. My only regret is that I didn’t ask the question sooner. If cutting something feels scary, it’s OK. It’s going to be OK. I promise.

So the next time you find yourself trying to improve something that keeps disappointing you, ask a different question:

Does this really need to get better, or does it need to go?

I’m curious what’s on your Stop list right now. Hit reply and tell me.

If you’d like to go deeper on this, I’ve shared more insights in these posts:
→ Make a Start, Stop, Continue List to Bring Clarity to Your Brand and Marketing
→ Small Cuts, Big Impact: Shaping Your Business Like a Bonsai
→ Most Businesses Don’t Need More Marketing
→ The Baggage Your Business Carries

That’s all we have time for today.

Until our next BrandTherapy session…

Thanks,
Andy

P.S. Know a business owner who seems to be wrestling with their positioning, marketing, or what to do next? I’m always happy to meet smart people facing interesting business challenges. An introduction is always appreciated.