

No more yes. It's either hell yeah or no. - nreece
http://sivers.org/hellyeah

======
philh
On the other hand, a lot of new experiences might be "ehh, I guess" until you
try them and discover a hell yeah.

~~~
msluyter
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.

~~~
rogerthat
When you're single the incentives for being good at partner dancing are
considerably higher than when you're securely in a relationship.

I went the opposite direction - from being a fanatical swing dancer while I
was single to being completely uninterested in it after I met my wife. It was
purely instrumental, in other words. And I saw the same pattern repeated with
the majority of swing dancers both male and female. As soon as they were
hooked up, it was see-ya.

~~~
msluyter
Perhaps that's true in general, but all I can say is that wasn't true in my
case. I had several relationships after becoming fanatical about it, and never
stopped dancing.

~~~
andymism
That's not true in my experience. I've been partner dancing for about 6 years
and that's where I met my girlfriend of the past 5 years. We still dance every
chance we get (we have a portable dance floor in our apartment). It's
absolutely wonderful that we have something that we can learn and excel at
together.

I have seen some people meet while learning to partner dance and quit,
however. Not because they "bagged a good one" per se, but because some couples
think that they're only allowed to dance together (which can get boring no
matter how you slice it) and have a difficult time accommodating each other in
the learning process.

~~~
rogerthat
Very good point. Rings true for me and my wife, I'm sad to say.

------
moe
That's great when you have the luxury to make that choice. Most of us don't.

"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
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.

~~~
moe
Yeah, nice motivational speech.

It bores me. It bores me like the 50 near identical articles that hit HN
before it.

"Hell yeah" is completely great when it happens. But most projects, even the
"Hell yeah"-projects take much longer than that feeling can possibly last.
Everybody who has built a startup knows that it inevitably becomes very
tedious at a point. A few months into the gruntwork the "Hell yeah" turns more
into a "God damn".

In my opinion the "God damn"-part is much more relevant than the "Hell
yeah"-part. Many people start "Hell yeah"-projects. Few survive through the
"God damn"-phase.

~~~
chime
I don't think you read the last paragraph I wrote. I said it clearly that even
on projects that I am passionate about, there is a lot of miserable grunt-
work, just like any startup. I think we just have different meanings for what
"hell yeah" here means.

------
notaddicted
I prefer not to factor excitement into my decisions, it is hard enough to make
a good decision without throwing feelings into the mix.

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
Cheryl Richardson calls it a "definite yes." If it is not a definite yes, then
it is a no. [http://www.cherylrichardson.com/store/take-time-for-your-
lif...](http://www.cherylrichardson.com/store/take-time-for-your-life-
introduction.htm)

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
Reminds me of Cavafy:

<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
Well, this is a good idea... but not a _great_ idea, so I'm not going to adopt
it.

------
rogerthat
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.

~~~
TrevorJ
I think part of that comes form being so darn _interested_ in he world.
There's always a new thing to discover and explore.

------
talvisota
And instead of nitpicking, try to see the gist of it. When you have the
choice, choose. When you're not obliged, choose.

You don't have to do it like the "Yes Man".

------
ptn
It's 37signals' Getting Real all over again. It's even got some of their "like
me or go to hell" writing style to it.

~~~
moe
Hell yeah!

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
This is essentially in the same class of aphorisms as "do one thing and do it
well" and other variants of "be selective".

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
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...

------
sharpn
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.

~~~
_pius
_Sounds like manic depression to me._

Huh?

~~~
sharpn
Seeing everything as 'no' or an enthusiastic yes. It's like always being
either really down or hyperactively enthusiastic. As others have commented,
there are times when something is just 'ok' and still worth doing - or things
you just aquiesce to doing that turn out to be really great. I wouldn't want
to miss out on such things by only ever (or even mostly) being 'no' or 'hell
yeah!'.

~~~
GHFigs
The point is that it is worse to miss out on "hell yeah" because you're doing
"ok" than it is to miss out on "ok" by doing "hell yeah", and all else being
equal your feelings of anticipation are the best indicator that you have of
whether something will turn out to be great or not.

~~~
sharpn
Ok that does make sense. But surely the best path is to have a more nuanced
evaluation of the options than a binary 'Yay!' or 'no'. Anyhoo - if someone
finds the OP useful then all is well, and maybe someone will.

------
Radix
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.

------
Engine-uity
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."

------
amix
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 :)

~~~
GHFigs
When users want a pony, give them a unicorn.

------
hristov
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.

------
Novash
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.

------
zck
Scott Adams (the Dilbert guy) wrote a blog entry about how, whenever someone
asks him how he is, answers "fantastic".
<http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/self_talk/>

~~~
rogerthat
I don't think I could get away with this without people suspecting I was being
sarcastic.

~~~
billswift
What's wrong with being sarcastic?

------
shalmanese
I'm curious to whether any of you rate reading Hacker News as a 10? If not,
what the heck are y'all doing on here?

~~~
billswift
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.

------
edw519
I prefer how Yoda said it, "Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'"

~~~
rogerthat
Makes it sound like Yoda should have been writing ad copy for Nike. I think a
Zen Master might be more likely to put it as:

 _"Do, or do not. All is Being."_

The line between Zen Buddhism and Nihilism is a fine one.

------
peterwwillis
What is this post about? Somebody who finally is able to prioritize his life?
Having standards is great but this is a stupid philosophy for life...
Alternatives and compromise are important in many decisions, and your maximum
level of interest may not always be the best factor to weigh your options.

~~~
PieSquared
I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss it as a 'stupid philosophy for life'.

It's one thing when you have people depending on you, a family to feed, a
house to upkeep, etc. But if you're just in college or grad school, or for any
other reason aren't being depended on, then this might be a good way to decide
what you want in your life.

I certainly found that since I recently started thinking about this, it's
improved my life.

For instance, I was recently trying to pick a martial art to start learning,
and after seeing a few Wushu schools, I saw my Capoeira school. While the
Wushu schools seemed, 'ehhh, pretty good I guess', the Capoeira school was an
instant 'Hell yeah!' - so now I'm doing Capoeira and having a beyond great
time. I had the same experience with finding a job last summer, and,
similarly, greatly enjoyed it when I found one.

In summary: sure, this might not be the best way to live if you have
significant responsibilities to others, but if you are trying to enjoy your
life and are living freely this may be a great philosophy to adopt.

~~~
peterwwillis
I guess I just can't get past the fact that you can easily make an unwise
decision this way by overlooking practicality. You see a couple options you're
not very interested in, and then one you are very interested in, and you pick
it without hesitation?

I know i'd like to learn Tae-Kwon Do, but I also know my primary motivation
for learning a martial art (beside the art itself) is to get in shape
physically. From what I understand Muay Thai is a much better cardio workout.
Tae-Kwon Do might be more fun but it wouldn't benefit me as much as the Muay
Thai (not to mention kickboxing is probably more useful in a real fight).

So to reiterate my original statement: I think you can end up making the wrong
decision if it's based purely upon excitement in an idea and not practical
information which may be less exciting. I acknowledge your point that it may
make your life more fun, but as i've learned growing up, doing things that
aren't fun are often more important.

~~~
PieSquared
I definitely agree with a lot of the things you're pointing out, so I'm
guessing the real truth (if there can be one) is the usual: everything is good
in moderation.

Doing things that aren't fun is often important (well, how else would we deal
with things like taxes, or marketing for tech startups, or etc etc); equally,
if you live based only on what is important (rather than letting yourself do
what sounds fun), you might not have a very pleasant or rewarding lifestyle.

It's really too bad we can't come up with a lifestyle philosophy in under 144
characters, since we have to compromise all the time. (Although I guess that
could be one: "Everything in moderation" is only 24 characters.)

------
balding_n_tired
Umm. Nope.

