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Things That Make You Go Hell Yeah

Things That Make You Go Hell Yeah

Apr 24, 2022 | 2 comments

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Have you ever gone shoe shopping because your old ones are getting worn out and you need new ones asap?

You go to the store and the shopkeeper shows you pairs after pairs. They’re all okay but nothing too special. 

You decide to quit the hunt and almost go with the average shoes.

As you’re about to leave, something catches your eye. You walk back and it’s the most beautiful pair you’ve ever seen. It feels like they’re calling your name. They’re the shoes of your dreams. It’s love at first sight 😍😍

It’s a no-brainer they belong to you and you leave the store satisfied.

These shoes represent what we should be aiming for in life. We should go for the things that make our heart skip a beat. The things that make us say “hell yeah!”

When you’re trying to decide whether you should do something or not, just take a moment to determine if it’s a ‘Hell yeah’.

If it’s not a hell yeah, it’s a no.

This concept was given by Derek Sivers and explains the importance of saying no to the average and going for what excites you.

While we understand that sometimes we need to say no to opportunities, this helps us in determining which opportunities to go for and which ones don’t need our attention. 

There are too many things in today’s world that scream for our attention but that doesn’t mean every one of them deserves it.

This simple phrase can be your guide in making decisions is almost all aspects of life – things, people, opportunities, relationships.

Don’t get things that make you say hell yeah, that spark joy in you.

Don’t hangout with people that make you excited to be with them, that’ll only drain you.

Don’t do things that are just a ‘meh’, that don’t bring a smile on your face. (Not speaking for the things we have to do)

Life is too short to settle for the average and not go for the things you absolutely love.

What are the things in your life that make you say ‘Hell Yeah’?

P. S. This article by Mark Manson is another perspective on the Hell Yeah rule.

P. P. S. The shoe shopping example was inspired by my own experience with getting new shoes last week 😅

    Things That Make You Frustrated

    Things That Make You Frustrated

    Apr 17, 2022 | 0 comments

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    Here’s a fact no one asked for: I’m typing (or typed out because you’d be reading it later on) this blog post from a bluetooth keyboard connected to my laptop.

    How’d I ended up here? Unfortunately, some of the alphabet keys on my laptop keyboard won’t work. And it’s not even one or two keys, it’s SIX WHOLE KEYS.

    I tried working with the on-screen keyboard, but it sucked too much of my blood for me to concentrate on my tasks.

    What is even more fascinating (or frustrating, depending on how you look at it) is the fact that I thought I’d never have to face this problem again. Yeah, I’ve had this issue before (except with different and less keys) and I got it fixed. I thought this blog post would be in past form. But here we are again.

    I’ll now be moving to my point because I feel like I’m being a little too whiny right now, which ironically also proves what I’m gonna say.

    We might not realise it but little things like these affect our productivity in a big way. They take up more mental space than we expect them to, which in turn spills over to other tasks and causes us a lot of frustration.

    Until I had a working keyboard, I never realised how the keyboard not working could affect me. When it actually broke down, that’s when I realised how much it added to the list of things that were already on my mind. It’s one of those days where you’re already stressed, and tiny things like these become your tipping point.

    This is why it’s important to get these soul-sucking things fixed ASAP (working on getting mine fixed too). Be it your car AC, your messy room, leaky tap, or your creaky door, GET IT FIXED. Your future self will thank you for it. It’ll be off your mind and would help you focus more on what actually matters.

    That’s all from an exhausted high school senior (or a 12th grader for those who find the whole sophomore junior thing confusing) this week.

    Quality People, Quality Life

    Quality People, Quality Life

    Apr 10, 2022 | 2 comments

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    After not going to school for practically two years, the last month was filled with trips to school. And with offline, in-person school (so glad we’re not calling regular school that anymore) comes social interaction and mingling with others.

    I know for a fact that we students spent less time studying, and more time making up for the conversations that didn’t happen in the last two years. We were literally lurking after school for as much time as we actually spent in the school 😆 (I don’t know if that made sense but anyway)

    Upon retrospection – which is something I do quite a lot if you couldn’t make that out already by the fact that I write this blog – I realised something that had popped up in my mind earlier too.

    The more time I spent with my friends, the more I could see them in myself. It’s like I became their reflection. 

    I can feel myself talking like them, standing and behaving like them. If one of my friends is determined in what he believes and stands up for himself, and even if I’m not necessarily that strong-willed, I caught myself sticking up for myself and what I believe in.

    Just to confirm my hypothesis, I went to my trusty group chat with two of my best friends, and asked, “Do you ever see traces of someone else in me?”

    To no one’s surprise, the answer came back affirmative.

    They told me they could occasionally see each others’ traits in me here and there. After answering the question for me, they got curious and wanted to know if that was the case with them too. And well, turns out I’m not the only one who absorbs traits of people around them. (Funny realisation – I might as well have traits of my friends’ friends :D) 

    The conclusion here is that you become the people you spend time with. And it’s not only people who you are within real life, people who influence you online – on YouTube, on insta, on Pinterest – also count.

    One picks up habits, catchphrases, and ways to do certain things from those around him. 

    This is why it’s very important to be selective about who you surround yourself with – both physically and virtually. Their overall character will determine yours.

    And whenever you feel like you need to grow, all you need to do is expose yourself to new people. That will not only give you insights into how others handle things but also tell you what all kinds of people are there in this world, what all you have signed up for by agreeing to live on this planet.

     

    Recap for memory:

    1. The quality of the people around you determines your quality. 
    2. You have the ability to absorb people’s traits, habits, energies and approaches toward life.
    3. Whenever you’re looking for a change, meeting new people is an excellent idea.

    How to Get Your Priorities Straight

    How to Get Your Priorities Straight

    Apr 3, 2022 | 0 comments

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    ‘Does your bottomless to-do list scare you? Well, understandably it is pretty intimidating. There are whole lotta tasks that you gotta do, with no clue where to start from. And if that’s not bad enough, the looming deadline is just making everything worse.

    But don’t worry, the Eisenhower Matrix has got your back.

    It’s a decision-making tool (also time management and prioritising tool at the same time) by Dwight Eisenhower.

    He was the 34th president of the United States and was said to be one of the most productive guys ever. It makes sense for him to have a trick up his sleeve.

     

    What is the Eisenhower Matrix?

    Make a square and divide it into 4 following sections (aka quadrants):

    1. Important & Urgent

    This section includes things that are both urgent and important to you. It could be things like studying for a test that you have tomorrow, putting up a band-aid on a bleeding finger.

    These tasks are time-sensitive and hold value for you.

    2. Important & Not Urgent

    This section holds all those things you know you should be doing. Things that are important for you, but not exactly urgent. It could be working out, reading books, getting some downtime for yourself if you overwork yourself, or spending time with your friends and family.

    3. Unimportant & Urgent

    These are the tasks that need to be done (within a definite period of time) but you don’t particularly care about them. Tasks from your boss (or teacher) that need to be done ASAP, and the laundry and dishes are counted here.

    4. Unimportant & Not Urgent

    Deep down in your heart, even you know what these tasks are. Scrolling insta, oversleeping, or just killing time when you’ve got stuff to do are neither important nor urgent.

     

    Now that we have all the tasks, what do we do with them? Instinctively, doing the first quadrant tasks seems like the right thing to do, and it is. But what do we do with the other three sections?

     

    Important & Urgent – Do it. Do these tasks right away, they’re important and require your attention now. 

    Important & Not Urgent – Schedule it. You might not have to do these tasks immediately, but you do wanna do them. The best way to make sure you do them is by assigning them their own time slot, so when the time comes, you can’t say ‘oh I don’t have the time for it’. As a wise guy once said, “we should do important things before they become urgent”.

    Unimportant & Urgent – Delegate it. These tasks sure need to be done, but who said you’re the one who has to do it? They don’t require your expertise, or any expertise for that matter and anyone can do it. Must say, teachers are pretty darn good at this quadrant. They delegate things like making lists or taking attendance to the students. 

    Unimportant & Not Urgent – Delete it. This is pretty self-explanatory. Just don’t do the things that fall under this quadrant. It is simple, but not easy, and I do recognise that this is easier said than done. 

     

    Note: 

    1. Mark things as important if they are important to you. If you consider something important because others think of it as important, and you give that task priority, you’re still gonna feel like you’re not getting things done. This would be true because you’d not be doing things that are important to you and then this whole exercise would just be a waste of time. Others’ standards of importance might not be the same as yours. Hope that makes sense.
    2. Things like Netflix and social media aren’t always in the 4th quadrant. Times when you’re tired or have done enough work that you can watch them guilt-free, they can shift into the 2nd quadrant. It depends on the context and what you have on your plate at the moment. (Hence note 1).

    The Happiness You Get From Doing Something Nice

    The Happiness You Get From Doing Something Nice

    Mar 27, 2022 | 1 comment

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    The happiness you get from doing something for someone else >>> any other kind of happiness
    This happiness is probably the best kind of happiness. It’s just so pure and almost selfless. 

    But why isn’t entirely selfless, though? You decide to make your sister’s bed and I say that’s not selfless?

    Well, yes and no.

    As thoughtful of an act it is to do something for someone – like making their bed, getting them a snack, watering their plants or waiting for them while they’re tying their shoelace – it’s not entirely for them.

    You get something out of it too. You see them happy and it fills you up with warmth and happiness too. What you get is the happiness from anticipating their happiness. 

    It’s kind of selfish (but in a good way) because you want to do something nice, not only because they’d be happy, but because it makes you happy too. Unconsciously, you’re looking out for yourself too. 

    As special as it is to be happy in doing something for someone, it’s a feeling you need to start getting for yourself too.

    If we can get happy by doing something nice for someone else, imagine the contentment and peace you’d get if you did it for yourself.

    There’s just one thing that you need to do to get the same feeling for yourself.

    You need to see yourself as two different individuals – your past self and your future self. It’s really that simple. 

    Now just treat those two individuals differently. 

    Live in the moment in a way that you are spoiling your future self with all the love and pampering them by doing everything right for them, on time. 

    Spoiling your future self (FS) can look like:

    • Making your bed so that FS has a nice bed laid out to sleep on
    • Cleaning your room
    • Preparing and planning in advance so that FS does not have to run around at the end moment
    • Studying during the entire year so FS does not have multiple breakdowns.
    • Doing the things you hate, but you should be doing, so that your FS can reap its benefits

    Similarly, treating your past self (PS) can look like being grateful to it. Sit in your neatly bed, grab a book from the bookshelf your PS arranged and sink in its gratitude. Be thankful to yourself for whatever your PS did earlier and how it’s making your life easier now.

    Imagining yourself as these two individuals may not make doing hard things easier, but it’ll increase the motivation to do it. There’s someone on the other side that you want to see happy and relaxed. 

    You’re doing it for them, even when you’re doing it for yourself; you’re doing it for yourself, even when you’re doing it for someone else. 

    Hope this gave some new perspective of self-love. 

    Hat tip to Muchelleb for inspiring this post.

    Recap for memory:

    1. Nothing can beat the happiness that you get from doing something nice for someone else.
    2. Spoil your future self
    3. Thank your past self