5 Takeaways from Derek Siver’s ‘Hell Yeah or No, what’s worth doing’
I read Derek Silver’s Hell Yeah or No, what’s worth doing today.
It’s a short read where the author introduces very powerful ideas that could expand into books on their own.
Here are my 5 key takeaways from the book:
- Actions, not words, reveal our real values
Derek says that we often lie to ourselves. Some of us keep saying to ourselves that we are entrepreneurs, creators, developers etc., but if we were truly any of that, we would have acted towards it. As the old saying goes, ‘Actions speak louder than words’. Want to become someone or achieve something? Start working towards it.
2. Art is useless and so am I
Derek says by definition, art is useless. He says he was obsessed to be useful and didn’t consider art as a good use of his time. But then he realised, making art for it’s own sake is good too. Taking out some me-time has helped him. I think of this in the context of playing sport and keeping oneself fit. You might not be very useful to the world while doing it, but it is necessary for a good life!
3. There’s no speed limit
Derek shares a story in which one teacher changed his life. He taught him music at an accelerated pace and helped him graduate in 2 years! He says, if you’re more driven than most people, then you can do way more than anyone expects. I’ve found this to be true in the people I see around me as well. Your drive to learn something will shorten the time it takes to learn that topic.
4. Beware of advice
Taking advice from someone might do you more harm than good. Because they can’t know everything about your unique situation, they might give advice that is a reflection of their own situation. The way to solve this is to take advice from multiple people and then synthesize it to fit to your situation. Ultimately, you have to make your decision and face the consequences of your decision.
5. Happy, Smart and Useful
This is a great framework to refer to while make big decisions. Derek says that there are three things to consider before you make a life changing decision — What makes you happy, What’s smart in the long term and What’s useful to others. The problem here is that we tend to forget one of these while making a decision which leads to an unsatisfying feeling. To be satisfied with your decision, you need to find the intersection of all the 3 above.
These were the 5 chapters that I thought were relevant to how I think today. You can read the book to see if there are chapters that might be relevant to your life. It’s a good book if you’re looking for frameworks on making decisions in your life, introspecting about your identity and improving your thinking in general.
Do give it a read if these situations apply to you!
