Szymon's Zettelkasten

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PN: Saying YES to almost everything


It's rarely the case that you know exactly what you want to do in life. In most circumstances, you must do work to discover it. One method to achieve that is by examining your past. The other is by experimenting as much as you can until you discover the thing that makes you tick.

Humans are powerful creatures. As said here (link to Sapiens), we have conquered the whole world in a couple of thousands of years. We have dominated all environments: deserts, mountains, plains, jungles, savannas, and many others. One of the reasons for this power was our immense adaptability. We could always figure out how to survive and then dominate a particular niche.

That said, it's wise to use this power for self-development through experimentation. You must say 'yes' to almost all things because you have the ability to adapt everywhere.

When you explore different niches you will build up a solid foundation of things you like and the ones you don't (you increase the size of your opportunity net P: Use randomness to improve yourself and your P: Luck surface area). You will see that for example fishing is not that interesting as it seemed at first and catching a fish isn't as pleasurable as you thought. Maybe you'll discover that running is your thing because you love to feel the wind blowing against your face as you speed along the coast. The point is, you must use this beautiful adaptation ability we all humans possess and find a niche that suits you.

To find it you must explore many different environments and activities to have a wide range to pick from. Unless you try something, you won't know if you'd like it.

But how do you know that the thing is the one you should pursue? A good sign of that is that the activity is energizing you. If the thing charges you up whenever you perform it, then it means that you have found it (or at least you're close to it). Why? More here: tk P: Things that energize you

Because only the things that energize us are sustainable in the long-run. You see, we all are enthusiastic in the beginning. But, when the aura of novelty fades, we tend to lose motivation and drop the activity. However, when that pursuit energizes you then you'll have a higher chance of performing it in the long-term because you'll persevere.

What are the characteristics of energizing things? They give you a little boost whenever you do them and right after it. They interest you – you tend to think about them in your spare time. You love to talk about them with other people. You know about them more than anyone from your group.


Relevant notes:

P: Death is the best bullshit remover: To motivate yourself, memento mori.

TK P: Barbell Strategy: Say YES to everything that widens your options or opens you up for unexpected opportunities (unless it can kill you) and see how it's going to turn out.