Anecdotal support: I once dated a girl who really wanted to learn to partner dance. She dragged me to ballroom lessons, and then swing, and then lindy hop. I was mildly enthusiastic at best, but I got pretty good at it. At some point -- after we had broken up, ironically -- something clicked, and I got really into it, eventually competing and teaching dance classes for several years.
This is the moral I also take away from "Stumbling on Happiness:" we're really bad at predicting what will make us happy.
Like any pattern, its value comes from knowing when to apply it.
Yes, a new thing (experience, hire, book, bauble, etc.) might turn out to be better than you had anticipated, but how valuable is that speculation? What is a good ratio of anticipated enjoyment to anticipated indifference? I think a lot of people are unhappy because they've filled their lives with things that they are mostly indifferent to, but still cling to them on the off chance that they'll be valuable later.
It's like the old pickle jar theory. You want to fill your life up with the best stuff available (big rocks), and leave the speculative stuff to fill in the gaps (sand), not the other way around.
I would disagree with that. This doesn't apply just to vacation itineraries but more so to projects you are either thinking of starting yourself or are being invited to join. This being Hacker News, many of us here get ample opportunities to join software projects that seem interesting. From open-source utilities to apps built on the latest frameworks, we have more than enough ways to keep us busy if we so choose. Many of the founders working on their primary startups have second or third pet ideas that they always want to work on but can never find the time to. That is what this "hell yeah!" is about.
From personal experience, I can say that in 2007 and 2008, I got into the habit of saying "ok yes" to every project that came across my way. A couple of those projects got me ample fame (Wired.com front page, TC, newspaper articles) and some even got me pretty good income. However, having too many things that needed to be done at the same time left me feeling unaccomplished, unhealthy, and frankly miserable, despite the fact that I was building some pretty neat things.
I decided to change things earlier this year and now I've stopped working on any side projects other than my main job. As side projects, I've started training for ultramarathons. It has absolutely nothing to do with computers but I find it a lot more satisfying personally than "yet another website idea." When I asked myself if I want to run one hundred miles in 36 hours non-stop, I immediately said "HELL YEAH!" So I started training.
A few months into the training, I got a bit jealous of all these startups getting funding and fame, so I thought about working on a startup again. I had a few ideas, some old and some new but none of them screamed "HELL YEAH!" Nevertheless, I bought a domain or two, built a logo/theme, and thought if I just crossed over the initial hurdle of disinterest, I'd find the excitement to continue. It never happened. I still think that one of my ideas is solid and it could work quite well. However, it just doesn't scream "HELL YEAH!" to me right now so for the moment, it is on the sidelines.
On the other hand, I'm getting more and more excited by the day because my 100-mile race ( http://chir.ag/20090621 ) is coming up soon - Sept 5-6. It has been exciting throughout the duration, though I felt miserable, overworked, and weak many times. The take-home lesson for me is that the passion doesn't dwindle though the motivation, strength, and energy might waver frequently. Once the passion is gone, so is the project. "HELL YEAH!" is passion and if you don't have that for something, don't dive head-first into it at the risk of rest of your life.
When Warren lectures at business schools, he says, "I could improve your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it so that you had 20 punches—representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime. And once you'd punched through the card, you couldn't make any more investments at all."
He says, "Under those rules, you'd really think carefully about what you did and you'd be forced to load up on what you'd really thought about. So you'd do so much better."
Again, this is a concept that seems perfectly obvious to me. And to Warren it seems perfectly obvious. But this is one of the very few business classes in the U.S. where anybody will be saying so. It just isn't the conventional wisdom.
To me, it's obvious that the winner has to bet very selectively. It's been obvious to me since very early in life. I don't know why it's not obvious to very many other people.
She makes a good point: When I have too much going on, the last thing I want to think about is adding more things to do (more physical workouts, more time to make better meals, more books on my "to read" pile, etc.). Instead, she recommends starting out by removing things. This then frees up time for the eventual adding of appropriate things (dictated by your personal priorities).
Kind of like the feeling of a sparsely furnished room versus a crowded one: Room to breathe.
Though I think he understands the trade-offs better than the OP. And, conspicuously, the decisions described mostly rest with and affect the decision maker. This is no way to make decisions for a group.
The problem with me is even if start with a 'hell yeah', I usually fade to a 'yeah' by the end of the day and when I wake up the next day it's more like a 'ehh'. My 'hell yeah' reliably always hops to the next thing and follows the same fade-out pattern.
It's actually pretty depressing now that I step back and look at it. Thanks, Derek.
HN should setup a weekly contest for the best "n worst startup mistakes", "n ways to motivation" and "n ways to hire the perfect $whatever" post. And filter out the entrants please, only post the winners...
Totally Depends...
That's the real quality of us startup guys (entrepreneurs as they call us), to make changes to our mindset, to keep judging things constantly, basically no absolutley solid rules...it all depends...I believe no two situations are alike...
In fact, I think at some level, that's the reason we all love doing this so much....that creates the excitement.
I would just say this: Life is not Black and white....there are degrees of gray in there.....now it's each individual's call at any given point.
So, this philosophy might work for some people in some scenarios, but will you back down from a difficult project because it involves much more work than you can see ROI. In most cases, I would rather go with it for a few days and then see, if that HELL YEAH feeling comes...
Sounds like manic depression to me.
The example of refining the search for a good candidate is wise though - but it can be explained less dramatically. No candidate was remarkable, though some were good, and he re-advertised the position.
The only problem with this is that some say no to everything. Sivers isn't addressing them at all, but we wouldn't want to go evangelize this point of view to everyone. Some people need to say yes a lot more. Also, there are categories of the types of things that should default toward hell yeah or no. The boundaries there would be person specific.
I agree. The "Hell" in "Hell yeah." emits the passion the person has for what they are say yes to. Whether pitching an idea or asking for a girl's phone number we all want to hear some level of passion in the yes. A simple "Yes." is very close to a "Maybe" but "Hell yeah" says "I agree and I'm am just as paaionate as you are about it."
I think this would be a good philosophy to apply on features (i.e. add only a feature if it's a "hell yeah", otherwise don't add it). The problem with this philosophy is that it can be hard to know what features users are interested in, so one might only add features that one thinks are "hell yeah" features :)
This works better in some ways than others. This thinking works great when shopping. If you do not absolutely love something you should not buy it (unless it is a necessity like insurance or food). Also works great with hobbys, movies, books, etc.
Unfortunately, it is not as easily applied with careers.
He should have gone to Florianopolis. The girls alone are worth it. 'sides, they have a great public transportation system (since it is a kinda small island, also, I don't own a car) and the people there are great. One of the best cities to live in Brazil, for sure.
Browsing and other exploratory learning is different from choosing; it's a prerequisite, if you don't browse, you won't have many options to choose from, and are less likely to find a hell yeah.
[+] [-] philh|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] msluyter|16 years ago|reply
This is the moral I also take away from "Stumbling on Happiness:" we're really bad at predicting what will make us happy.
[+] [-] GHFigs|16 years ago|reply
Yes, a new thing (experience, hire, book, bauble, etc.) might turn out to be better than you had anticipated, but how valuable is that speculation? What is a good ratio of anticipated enjoyment to anticipated indifference? I think a lot of people are unhappy because they've filled their lives with things that they are mostly indifferent to, but still cling to them on the off chance that they'll be valuable later.
It's like the old pickle jar theory. You want to fill your life up with the best stuff available (big rocks), and leave the speculative stuff to fill in the gaps (sand), not the other way around.
[+] [-] moe|16 years ago|reply
"Hell yeah" would be spending the remainder of my days in my villa on hawaii-beach, throwing pool-parties.
Oh wait, I don't have a villa on hawaii-beach.
[+] [-] chime|16 years ago|reply
From personal experience, I can say that in 2007 and 2008, I got into the habit of saying "ok yes" to every project that came across my way. A couple of those projects got me ample fame (Wired.com front page, TC, newspaper articles) and some even got me pretty good income. However, having too many things that needed to be done at the same time left me feeling unaccomplished, unhealthy, and frankly miserable, despite the fact that I was building some pretty neat things.
I decided to change things earlier this year and now I've stopped working on any side projects other than my main job. As side projects, I've started training for ultramarathons. It has absolutely nothing to do with computers but I find it a lot more satisfying personally than "yet another website idea." When I asked myself if I want to run one hundred miles in 36 hours non-stop, I immediately said "HELL YEAH!" So I started training.
A few months into the training, I got a bit jealous of all these startups getting funding and fame, so I thought about working on a startup again. I had a few ideas, some old and some new but none of them screamed "HELL YEAH!" Nevertheless, I bought a domain or two, built a logo/theme, and thought if I just crossed over the initial hurdle of disinterest, I'd find the excitement to continue. It never happened. I still think that one of my ideas is solid and it could work quite well. However, it just doesn't scream "HELL YEAH!" to me right now so for the moment, it is on the sidelines.
On the other hand, I'm getting more and more excited by the day because my 100-mile race ( http://chir.ag/20090621 ) is coming up soon - Sept 5-6. It has been exciting throughout the duration, though I felt miserable, overworked, and weak many times. The take-home lesson for me is that the passion doesn't dwindle though the motivation, strength, and energy might waver frequently. Once the passion is gone, so is the project. "HELL YEAH!" is passion and if you don't have that for something, don't dive head-first into it at the risk of rest of your life.
[+] [-] diiq|16 years ago|reply
I need to eat; I can go grab a burger, or I can walk up to that red-headed girl and find out where she's eating.
And if nothing in your future is a '10' then adjust your scale.
[+] [-] colinplamondon|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|16 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] sho|16 years ago|reply
And never will, with that attitude.
[+] [-] notaddicted|16 years ago|reply
Should you be selective about what you do? Of course. I am reminded of this page which is what brought me to HN originally:
http://ycombinator.com/munger.html
When Warren lectures at business schools, he says, "I could improve your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it so that you had 20 punches—representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime. And once you'd punched through the card, you couldn't make any more investments at all."
He says, "Under those rules, you'd really think carefully about what you did and you'd be forced to load up on what you'd really thought about. So you'd do so much better."
Again, this is a concept that seems perfectly obvious to me. And to Warren it seems perfectly obvious. But this is one of the very few business classes in the U.S. where anybody will be saying so. It just isn't the conventional wisdom.
To me, it's obvious that the winner has to bet very selectively. It's been obvious to me since very early in life. I don't know why it's not obvious to very many other people.
[+] [-] raintrees|16 years ago|reply
She makes a good point: When I have too much going on, the last thing I want to think about is adding more things to do (more physical workouts, more time to make better meals, more books on my "to read" pile, etc.). Instead, she recommends starting out by removing things. This then frees up time for the eventual adding of appropriate things (dictated by your personal priorities).
Kind of like the feeling of a sparsely furnished room versus a crowded one: Room to breathe.
[+] [-] mgreenbe|16 years ago|reply
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/C/CavafyConsta/GreatYes.htm
Though I think he understands the trade-offs better than the OP. And, conspicuously, the decisions described mostly rest with and affect the decision maker. This is no way to make decisions for a group.
And while I'm tossing links around:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_problem
[+] [-] Eliezer|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rogerthat|16 years ago|reply
It's actually pretty depressing now that I step back and look at it. Thanks, Derek.
[+] [-] TrevorJ|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] talvisota|16 years ago|reply
You don't have to do it like the "Yes Man".
[+] [-] ptn|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] moe|16 years ago|reply
HN should setup a weekly contest for the best "n worst startup mistakes", "n ways to motivation" and "n ways to hire the perfect $whatever" post. And filter out the entrants please, only post the winners...
[+] [-] keyist|16 years ago|reply
Unfortunately the process of coining a unique soundbite was a little clumsy and resulted in a false dichotomy.
That said, the link in this post to Derek's notes on the personal development book was very useful. http://sivers.org/book/PersonalDevelopmentForSmartPeople
[+] [-] atiw|16 years ago|reply
I would just say this: Life is not Black and white....there are degrees of gray in there.....now it's each individual's call at any given point. So, this philosophy might work for some people in some scenarios, but will you back down from a difficult project because it involves much more work than you can see ROI. In most cases, I would rather go with it for a few days and then see, if that HELL YEAH feeling comes...
[+] [-] sharpn|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _pius|16 years ago|reply
Huh?
[+] [-] Radix|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Engine-uity|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amix|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GHFigs|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hristov|16 years ago|reply
Unfortunately, it is not as easily applied with careers.
[+] [-] Novash|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zck|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rogerthat|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shalmanese|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] billswift|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PieSquared|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] edw519|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rogerthat|16 years ago|reply
"Do, or do not. All is Being."
The line between Zen Buddhism and Nihilism is a fine one.