Derek Sivers is one of those authors who I feel must have my brain under a microscope when it comes to me listening to his views.
His ‘hell yeah or no’ concept is often naively judged because people take the title as literally as Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4 Hour Work Week, without actually taking the effort to read it.
My first appreciation for the hell yeah or no concept came during my masters in strength and conditioning.
I flunked my A level mocks and decided that if I failed the *Evander Holyfield, I would throw everything into making a career from boxing.
Giving up my **4am sprint sessions that had previously jet lagged my body meant I had enough mental capacity to pass my A levels. Fast forward 5 years, I had to use 5 summers worth of lifeguarding to fund a masters in an area that I hadn’t even heard of during my A levels, but that I now hoped would allow me to achieve my dream of working with the GB Boxing Olympic team: strength and conditioning.
When I was offered the chance to undertake an unpaid internship with the GB Boxing strength and conditioning team it meant I needed to find thousands to relocate to their Sheffield base.
Robert Kiyosaki (author of a Rich Dad, Poor Dad) advises, “I can’t afford that” switches your brain off, asking “how can I afford that?” forces your brain to start kicking out ideas.
My unfair advantage was being able to live rent free in London (thanks Dad)…and then charging London PT rates to coach my second ever paying client. Since I was lifeguarding at a leisure centre with a gym at the time, I also managed to dodge paying rent to the gym as well.
By training this second ever paying client at 5am twice a week, when I was offered the chance to join GB Boxing’s strength and conditioning team…I said hell yes.
Despite needing to find another few thousand to relocate to the English Institute of Sport’s Sheffield base, I was never going to turn down the chance to work with now Olympic medalists Joe Joyce, Joshua Buatsi and Frazer Clarke…but in order to get this chance I had to say yes to any potential opportunity that I got a sniff of:
· Athletic testing of youth netballers in Bradford…I’m there
· Middlesex Cricket club need someone to do their warm ups for their under 11s…I’m there
· Relocating to Durham for another year’s internship when I could’ve spent another year in Nottingham with my missus …I’m there
If you are early in your career, and you see your career as a calling, rather than a job, you need to see every yes is
The more lottery tickets you buy, the greater chance you have of winning.
In part 2 I’ll be explaining the no side of hell yeah or no, and how to tactically oust yourself from situations you’d rather not be in…all whilst preserving those ever important relationships.
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*If you’re not a boxing fan, Evander Holyfield’s nickname was Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield)
**You can find out more about those mistakes, and what I would do differently since becoming an accredited strength and conditioning coach by listening to episode 1 of the Platform to Perform Podcast.
***In episode 3 of Show Your Work I explained the concept of unfair advantages, which are a set of circumstances or experiences that are difficult to replicate, but can provide exponential leverage to your success.
If you were wondering, the ‘swan’ in @project50_swancottage is a nod to my Nana’s maiden name, the @project50 Instagram handle was taken, and the cottage part is a reference to eventually renovating a property.
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