TITLE: Saying "Hell Yeah! or No" to "Hell Yeah! or No"
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: April 04, 2011  7:26 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<P ALIGN="right">
<EM>Sometimes I find it hard to tell someone 'no',
<BR/>but I rarely regret it</EM>.
</P>

I have been thinking a lot lately about the
<A HREF="http://sivers.org/hellyeah">
   Hell Yeah! or No</A>
mindset.  This has been the sort of year that makes
me want to live this way more readily.  It would be
helpful when confronting requests that come in day
to day, the small stuff that so quickly clutters a
day.  It would also be useful when facing big choices,
such as "Would you like another term as department
head?"

Of course, like most maxims that wrap up the entire
universe in a few words, living this philosophy is
not as simple as we might like it to be.

The most salient example of this challenge for me
right now has to do with granularity.  Some "Hell
Yeah!"s commit me to other yesses later, whether
I feel passionate about them or not.  If I accept
another term as head, I implicitly accept certain
obligations to serve the department, of course,
and also the dean.  As a department head, I am a
player on the dean's team, which includes serving
on certain committees across the college and
participating in college-level discussions of
strategy and tactics.  The 'yes' to being head is,
in fact, a <EM>bundle</EM> of yesses, more like a
project in Getting Things Done than a next action.

Another thought came to mind while ruminating on
this philosophy, having to do with opportunities.
If I do not find myself with the chance to say
"Hell Yeah!" very often, then I need to make a
change.  Perhaps I need to change my
<EM>attitude</EM> about life, to accept the
reality of where and who I am.  More likely,
though, I need to change my <EM>environment</EM>.
I need to put myself in more challenging and
interesting situations, and hang out with people
who are more likely to ask the questions that
provoke me to say "Hell Yeah!"
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