If there's a really really good reason, step 2 is to get rid of the SD card. Personally, none of mine even have an SD card inserted (ok, one does). I use network boot/NFS for everything. Some people attach other kinds of SSDs.
The one I lied about is a reverse telnet server that has been quietly doing its thing for 4 years without a hitch, apart from the time I had to replace the (PiJuice) backup battery because it was looking a little swole. But I should take the time to at least have a backup of the card ready to swap out when it fails.