Why quitting is the most important start to the year
Like every year, the start of the year invites us to make big plans. Some want to exercise more, others want to finally get promoted and earn more money, and still others want to tackle private projects: finally renovate the chicken coop or knit a jumper.
Of course, this pursuit of new things is exciting, but it also makes us tired. There is always something to do, improve or add. No wonder our wardrobes are overflowing with clothes, our computers with open tabs and our smartphones with photos and unanswered messages. But perhaps it is not the many beginnings that are the problem, but the few endings.
When people talk about the future today, there are increasing calls for reduction, focus, and ‘quality over quantity.’ And this is precisely where a concept comes into play that is often overlooked when considering social and operational change: exnovation. The overlooked sister of innovation does not want to start, but to end. It refers to the conscious ending of innovations that once had their purpose and appeal but have become unsustainable over time.
Exnovation thus also stands for omission, mindful termination, the strategic departure from things that have become useless or even dangerous. Exnovation is the courage to tidy up – not as a matter of principle, but in order to regain the ability to act.
How I came to exnovation
In the early years of our lives, we are enthusiastic about innovations. Take social media, for example. Wasn't it exciting when we first started using Facebook? Back then, endless scrolling and fake news were still a long way off.
But innovations age. Today, some cause more complexity than clarity and more side effects than benefits. In companies, old channels and solutions not only tie up time, but also money and employee skills. They block alternatives that would be better but find no space. Exnovation means recognising the problems of once-celebrated ideas and giving them a dignified send-off.
I first encountered exnovation during my research for ‘Veganomics’. In this book, I explore the idea of what a future might look like in which people no longer need meat, milk, eggs or leather. In doing so, I realised that the problem on the way to this future is not a lack of innovation. After all, meat-free sausages, milk without udders, and even leather without animal skin have long been available.
But to make the shift to a vegan future, it's not enough to just innovate; we also need to break old habits. This also applies to the transport revolution and the transition to a different world of work.
Exnovation is not a loss
The key idea for a future through exnovation: stopping is not a loss, but a liberation and an invitation to try other paths. Since I stopped buying animal products – primarily for ethical reasons – I have been keeping chickens myself, which are allowed to roam around the garden until they die of natural causes. Or I have learned to cook Indian food by giving up animal products. Suddenly, I enjoy getting up early on Saturdays and going to the market. Those who part with the outdated are actively choosing the potential of the future.
On a meta level, exnovation follows five steps. First, side effects become apparent – whether in a diet rich in animal protein, in building with cement or in the daily use of cars. These are all mega-innovations that have their roots in the 19th century. In a second step, countercultures emerge that highlight the side effects of old innovations and develop alternatives. In a third step, resistance to these alternatives arises, along with hostility towards the initiators of exnovation. Finally, the old is strategically abolished and the old innovation moves into a niche – like the horse-drawn carriage, the CD or the fax machine.
These steps sound formal, but they describe how people function: we learn more about a problem, look for alternatives, try new things, struggle with our habits – and at some point we realise that letting go is inevitable.
Why it's hard to stop and how to succeed anyway
Unfortunately, exnovation is much more difficult than innovation. Something new can be brought into the world quickly, but getting rid of it can take months, years, decades or even centuries. This is largely because humans are creatures who prefer to start things rather than stop them. Falling in love is more pleasant than breaking up, births bring tears of joy, deaths bring tears of sadness.
There are also three errors in thinking that stand in the way of exnovation: Firstly, the belief that new things are good per se. They are supposed to bring happiness, money and identity. Secondly, we are afraid of loss – of control, routine or status. Thirdly, people often misjudge the future.
Potential losses have a stronger effect on our emotions than potential gains. In addition, people underestimate exponential developments. Managers and politicians struggle with changes that start slowly but then change the world at an ever-increasing pace. This is relevant not only because lifestyles can change quickly, but also because the side effects of old innovations can become increasingly severe. The best example is climate change. These three errors in thinking lead us to neglect exnovation because we cannot imagine how liberating it is when something is gone.
Good exnovation is not clear-cutting, but a consciously designed transition. It requires clear reasoning, transparent communication and psychological security. People need to feel that stopping does not mean becoming superfluous, but rather being important for the further development of the whole.
Quality instead of quantity – an invitation
What helps in a company that wants to learn to stop and purge? For example, an exnovation mailbox where employees can anonymously submit farewell wishes. Regnosis exercises also have a liberating effect. You transport yourself to the year 2035 and ask not what will have been newly created, as is usually the case, but what will have disappeared – and why that was a good thing. If you want to take a systematic approach, you can work with an exnovation canvas to systematically review as a team what should be eliminated. And if you like technology, ask an AI about potential exnovations, precisely because it has no political or emotional barriers and may therefore find it easier to identify things that are worth exnovating.
Perhaps the beginning of the year is exactly the right time to rethink. Instead of filling up the agenda, we can empty it. Instead of adding, we take away. Instead of increasing the effort, we increase the effectiveness. Quality over quantity means freeing ourselves from ballast. We give ourselves permission to live or work in a clearer, more focused and more effective way.
What if, in 2026, we discover that stopping is sometimes the smartest way to start?
