Hell Yeah or No

by Derek Sivers

Your actions show you what you actually want.

Holding on to an old title gives you satisfaction without action. But success comes from doing, not declaring.

Whatever you decide, you need to optimize for that goal, and be willing to let go of the others.

But when you go against the stereotype, people get confused. The entrepreneur who’s not into money The musician who avoids crowds The ambitious conservationist The artist who’s into discipline

Old opinions shouldn’t define who we are in the future.

Public comments are just feedback on something you made.

How you do anything is how you do everything. It all matters.

Your first reaction is usually outdated. Either it’s an answer you came up with long ago and now use instead of thinking, or it’s a knee-jerk emotional response to something in your past.

Before you start something, think of the ways it could end. Sometimes the smart choice is to say no to the whole game.

If you’re more driven than most people, you can do way more than anyone expects.

You get no competitive edge from consuming the same stuff everyone else is consuming. It’s rare, now, to focus. And it gives such better rewards.

Instead of comparing up to the next-higher situation, compare down to the next-lower one.

You destroy that paralysis when you think of yourself as just a student, and your current actions as just practice.

We’re clearly bad judges of our own creations. We should just put them out there and let the world decide.

When life or a plan feels ultimately unsatisfying, I find it’s because I’ve forgotten to find the intersection of all three: What makes me happy What’s smart What’s useful to others

Don’t try to make your job your whole life. Don’t try to make your art your sole income.

What makes you feel depressed, annoyed, or like your life has gone astray if you don’t do it enough?

So when should you make decisions? When you have the most information, when you’re at your smartest: as late as possible.

Alvin Toffler said, “The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

The most successful people I know have a narrow focus, protect themselves against time-wasters, say no to almost everything, and have let go of old limiting beliefs.

So to get smarter, you need to get surprised, think in new ways, and deeply understand different perspectives.

Judge a goal by how well it changes your actions in the present moment.

Because nothing is truly inspiring unless you apply it to your work. (“work” meaning your life’s output, whether creative, business, or personal).

Abraham Maslow said it well: “Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth). Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.”