The Hell Yeah way to decide what to do!

Sometimes I find it hard to decide just which of the million things I could be working on, to actually do!  You TOO?! Well, here’s an idea!

 

This idea comes from a guy called Derek Sivers. Sivers was the founder of CD Baby, the largest seller of independent music online (pre iTunes). He sold his business for $22 million and gave the proceeds to charity. What a NICE guy! Anyhoo Sivers has this very unscientific but fabulous way of choosing what to work on! And it goes like this:

Just do the things that make you say Hell Yeah! 

And that’s it!

Oh my! Isn’t that just the easiest way to make a decision?!

Work on the stuff that makes you excited and gets you energised. Ignore the rest. Easy!

Really?!

OK, so maybe you’re feeling the teensiest bit anxious about this strategy. It’s not very business-y, is it?! And what of all that  stuff we’re told we should be doing? Can we really just decide not to do some of it?!

Well, I think so, yes!

I’m probably not as brave about this as I should be, but I’ve stopped doing projects that aren’t very Hell Yeah for me, and I’ve replaced them with stuff that feels a bit more exciting.

For instance, I used to write a ton of articles for big online business publications. I did it because it was good for my profile and I actually got a decent amount of customers through it,  but gawd I found it draining. So one day I just stopped. Really! Just stopped! And y’know what? Customers still found me,  just via a different way!

So how do you do it?!

If you fancy having a go at Hell Yeah, try this:

1. List all your opportunities or projects – the things you could do (if your not sure what type of stuff I mean here, I started a list below!)

2. Give each project a score out of 10 where 10/10 is a Hell Yeah and 1/10 is a total no-no.

3. Pop the 10/10 stuff on your to-do list. They’re the Hell Yeahs and you’re certainly going to do those!

4. Scratch everything off the list that gets a score of 5/10 or below. They are just a no-nos.

5. Now the tricky part. What do you do with the projects that get a 6, 7, 8, or 9/10? Well if you follow the Hell Yeah philosophy you cross those things off TOO! Everything is a Hell Yeah or a no-no! Bye bye 6,7,8’s and 9’s!

Seriously?!

Oh my! Saying ‘no’ to all those projects and opportunities feels a bit wrong, yes? But truly, this works! It’s about making a wise investment of your time and energy. It’s about picking things that are right for YOU!

When you’re a solo-ish business, you simply can’t do all the things you could do. So then, why not just pick the things to do that you enjoy?! That way you will be more energised, have more fun and do a better job! Hurrah!

So, let me get this straight.  What type of projects are you talking about?

Oh, y’know, the overwhelming number of things you could be doing, like:

• starting a new product range
• making Pinterest your big marketing thing
• putting more effort into your Facebook page
• getting your head around Twitter
• teaching courses to go with your product
• finding a business partner
• buying that new piece of equipment that would make your work more speedy
• sending a weekly newsletter
• starting a PR campaign
• hiring an assistant
• writing a blog
• redesigning your logo
• getting some new leaflets printed
• redesigning your website
• starting to sell on Etsy
• attending that event

…… I think you get the idea!

The ones that won’t go away!

And finally there is this. When you go through the list and cross off the projects that you assigned a 6,7,8, or 9 some of them just won’t go away! Really! They hang around in your head and feel more and more important and exciting and eventually you decide that despite giving them a 6, 7, 8 or 9, you totally want to do them!

I think that’s GOOD thing! It means they’re probably super-useful projects and the very act of saying NO to them gives you the Hell Yeah to do them anyway!

But, but, but what about things I should do?

OK, yes. There is a ton of business-y stuff you have-to-do. Like bookkeeping. And you can’t just decide to not to do it at all, but you can decide to get someone to do it for you! Pay to get it done so you can do the Hell Yeah stuff. OK!

♡ Hell Yeah! YAY or NAY?! ♡

What do you think of the Hell Yeah idea? D’you like it? Could you do it? Or do you think it’s a bit fickle?!

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