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- #45: Hell Yeah or Nah
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đź’ˇ The Idea: Hell Yeah or Nah
👨🏻‍🏫 The “how-to”: How to beat Perfectionism
LIFE/ PRODUCTIVITY/ WEALTH
Hell Yeah or Nah
"You curse your past self for saying yes to that thing that you have to do today. Three months ago, it was easy for you to say yes to this thing in the future when you have infinite time. The solution is to raise the bar all the way to the top, say no to almost everything and leave space in your life, leave free time." - Derek Sivers, on when to say yes.
Derek Sivers is an interesting individual. He is successful, financially, and yet exudes a deeper philosophical and spiritual success that’s hard to pin down. He has discovered cheat codes to life and shows how one can live more true to themselves and be a more powerful force for good in the world.
According the ChatGPT, Derek Sivers is an American entrepreneur, author, and musician best known for founding CD Baby, an online CD store for independent musicians. Born on September 22, 1969, Sivers started CD Baby in 1998, which eventually became one of the largest platforms for independent music distribution.
Sivers is also recognized for his philosophies on business and personal development, which he shares through his books and public speaking engagements. His approach often emphasizes simplicity and counter-intuitive thinking.
Sivers' background as a professional musician and circus clown before his entrepreneurial ventures adds to his unique perspective and approach to business and life.
Derek is not a run-of-the mill success, he’s lead a unique, exciting life that’s helped him glean immense wisdom. One mental framework that I took from him in a podcast conversation with Tim Ferriss is his “Hell Yeah or No” framework.
The idea is simple - we are inundated with too many things. Too many emails. Too many social invites. Too many series, movies, books, podcasts, work requests, cryptocurrencies, hobbies, activities, foods, diets, exercises, etc. Attempting to try them all in one life is admirable but will come with a lot of difficulty and disturbance. It will also come with little gain, as most gain is achieved by repeatedly doing something.
It’s also counter to our nature. We as humans seek to fall into repeatable patterns of behaviour.
How do we then make space for exploring the world, trying new things, etc. while still doing things that are good uses of our time?
Well, by being more pragmatic with our time.
And the way to do that is to not say “yes” to every single request or fancy that crosses your mind. The mind is fickle and always changing. Using “Yes” as a filter is not good enough, as your day will soon become filled to the brim.
You need a higher barrier, a better filter, through which to parse the numerous activities competing for your time and attention.
The secret - don’t go for things that give you a “Yes”, do for ones that give you a “Hell Yeah!”.
What would happen if you only did things you were super excited and ecstatic for? One thing is you would do less things - since less things pass the threshold of Hell Yeah. When you do things, those things will will make you happier. You will also have more free time to contemplate other aspects of life and to allow for opportunity to find and allow more Hell Yeah activities in your life.
So think about how you spend your day, your weekend, your holidays.
Are you just filling it with things you could do any other time of the year? Things that only stir you half-emotionally?
You can do better.
Make a list of some high quality “Hell Yes” things to do, places to go, foods to eat, people to meet, etc.
Then do them.
Life’s to short to be filled with emotionally bland activities. Bring joy and excitement back into your life.
Have a “Hell Yeah or Nah” attitude.
PRODUCTIVITY/ LIFE
Mark Mason shares some brilliant advice on the thing that trips most people up, including me - perfectionism.
Perfectionism can be thought of as a quirk, trait or preference to want to always get things done “perfectly” before it is finished, released, or shown to the world.
This was fine and dandy in the factory-style workshops known as schools, where you often had one chance to hand in an assignment, one chance to write the final exam, or just one chance to present your project.
The real world, however, is very different. One has near infinite chances to put things out into the world.
In the digital landscape, you can share your website today and improve on it as people use it and you find out what works and what doesn’t.
Imagine if you could write an exam, hand it in and then get feedback where you are wrong. Then you get it back to work on it again and you can hand it back when you are ready. You can keep doing this as many times as you want. You can imagine that this method will result in better learning by the student and overall better marks at the end of the process, with many kids eventually getting all questions right. i.e. getting a “perfect” score.
This is one of the many flawed paradigms that were installed in us at an early age. As a result, most people are stuck in standard 9-5 jobs (or worse) with no prospect of how to leave, escape and strive for something better.
What if I fail? What will people say? How can I live on less money?
These questions stem from various fears and beliefs - the most toxic is the desire to be “perfect”. That is, the desire to get it right, completely, and on the first try. To not make any mistakes.
This image of perfection is not only unrealistic, it sets you up for disappointment when you inevitably fail at something. Your distaste for failure will make you want to cower from trying anything new.
After all, the best way to avoid failure is to not try anything at all.
This is an unhelpful and paralysing belief.
Don’t strive for perfect output, strive for a perfect process
As per Mark’s advice, and my own experience, it’s better to change your personal definition of being “Perfect”.
Instead of focusing on a once-off outcome, think of your work, and life, as an ongoing process of putting things out there, getting feedback, reflecting on it, improving it then putting it out there again.
Old focus:
Until this product/ idea is perfect I cannot release/show it
New focus:
The more products and ideas I release, the more chances I have for improvement
Failure, after all, is just a stepping stone between successive iterations on your way to success.
Failure is part of a perfect process. The process of perfecting oneself.
After all, it is never one sole thing that makes us perfect, but our continuous striving towards greater things that exemplifies the perfection lying within evolution, life and the universe.
The most important conversation is the conversation you have with yourself each day.
My parents struggled with crack addiction.
I used to live in a motorhome as a kid.
I was a college dropout.
Here’s how I overcame it all and hit $50,000 a month by writing tweets:
— Dakota Robertson (@WrongsToWrite)
1:06 PM • Jun 9, 2023
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The Dangers Of Toxic Money Thoughts - Myron Golden
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