Fuck Yes! or No
Decision Paralysis
Almost every decision comes down to 2 scenarios. Either you say:
- Yes, I would love to go on a date with you.
- Yeah! This is the company I wanna work with.
- Yessss! I want to move to this other planet that is not Mars.
Or simply,
- No, thanks.
Basically, it’s either ‘Fuck Yes! or No, thanks.
With every opportunity that’s thrown our way, we are supposed to answer with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
But we are human and we have a genius prefrontal cortex & hippocampus that creates a huge list of pros & cons and makes it difficult for us to decide between yes or no.
So I have this one rule I follow to decide what goes in my ‘Yes’ pile and ‘No’ pile.
If it’s not 100% Yes, it’s No.
Let’s say you are 95% sure about something and the rest 5% is covered in fears, doubts and uncertainties.
Which is quite normal. So ideally you should say yes right?
But if you say yes in that situation, that 5% will compound with every unpleasant outcome & instead of taking action, you will end up wasting energy in second guessing your decisions.
There will always be some leaking, some loss of energy, some doubt creeping in and affecting the entire process.
So when I make a decision and go for a 100% yes. It doesn’t mean that I looked at all the potential pitfalls, and I took into account all that can go wrong, and I assessed everything.
Nope. Far from it.
It simply means that I made peace with everything that can go wrong, and I am moving forward and choosing this from a place of balance and trust.
This makes sure that I don’t have a shred of doubt in me before I commit to something and I am all in. And I trust myself that I will figure it out.
Choosing things that you will 100% commit to has a profound impact on your relationships as well. People trust you when you say yes.
They know that you are fully committed and don’t have one foot out for safety purposes.
The clarity of thought this rule brings you is marvelling. It helps you ignore 1000 distractions that can keep you away from your highest 3–5 goals.
As Steve Jobs said,
People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.
Saying No is just as important as saying Yes.
Thanks for reading:)
