71. Addition by subtraction.

We all have them—people who take far more from our lives than they contribute. Whether the person is a friend, a colleague, or someone on your team, find a way to get them out of your life or minimize their impact on it.

One man on a team I was managing was an incredible distraction. He didn’t show up to meetings on time. He didn’t hit his sales targets. He didn’t respond to requests for information. I tried everything I knew to motivate him. Finally, I realized that he didn’t want to be motivated. So I let him go. After he left, the entire team changed for the better. You could sense people start to breathe and feel energized again. I realized that I’d waited too long. It had cost me and my team far too much time. It’s never easy to fire someone. But experience has taught me that delaying a course of action out of compassion for one man was penalizing the entire team. Nobody was helped by my extended efforts to fix the situation. Moreover, the employee in question went on to find a position with another company. It was a better fit, and he flourished. I learned never to wait again.

I would argue that friends should also enrich your life by challenging you to be your best, giving you honest feedback, supporting your efforts to grow, and standing by you when you’re in trouble. If you’re not getting this kind of input from the people in your life, do something to change that.