Here are my notes from Hell Yeah or No by Derek Sivers.
You make connections based on who you are now, not where you’ve been.
You can’t diffuse your energy, trying to do a little bit of everything, or you’ll always be in conflict with yourself.
People have different preferences in different parts of their lives. Famous online, but anonymous in their neighborhood. Generous with time, but stingy with money. Introvert when working, but extrovert when not.
You have to know your preferences well because no matter what you do, someone will tell you you’re wrong.
Look around at those existing ideas in the world. You can imitate them and still be offering something valuable and unique.
All people know is what you’ve chosen to show them.
Say no to almost everything. This starts to free your time and mind.
Saying no makes your yes more powerful.
But most of the time, you need to be more grateful for what you’ve got, for how much worse it could have been, and how nice it is to have anything at all. Ambition versus gratitude. Comparing up versus comparing down.
Amazingly rare things happen to people every day.
Everybody’s ideas seem obvious to them.
We’re clearly bad judges of our own creations. We should just put them out there and let the world decide.
Don’t expect your job to fulfill all your emotional needs. Don’t taint something you love with the need to make money from it. Don’t try to make your job your whole life. Don’t try to make your art your sole income. Let each be what it is, and put in the extra effort to balance the two, for a great life.
Resist the urge to figure it all out in advance. Realize that now, in the beginning, is when you know the least.
John Cage said, “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.”
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.”
It’s easy to think I need something else. It’s hard to look instead of what to remove.
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.
To get smarter, you need to get surprised, think in new ways, and deeply understand different perspectives.
Don’t focus on the example itself. Use it as a metaphor, and apply the lesson to my situation.
David Byrne, the main songwriter of Talking Heads, later said that most of their lyrics were just random. He would write little phrases on pieces of paper, throw them into a bowl, and shuffle them. Then he’d randomly pull some out of the bowl and put them into a song.