Thousands of years earlier, the Taoist philosopher Lao-tzu wrote that the path to wisdom involves “subtracting” all unnecessary activities: “To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day.” The art of subtraction is incalculably important, particularly in an age of information overload when our minds can so easily become scattered. If you expose yourself to it, there’s a deafening din of discordant political news, social media notifications, robocalls, and other disruptive noise. In
