The Incredible Power of ‘Yes’

~ I started reading Yes Man, by Danny Wallace, yesterday.

I haven’t seen the movie with Jim Carrey in the lead role (not one of my favourite actors), but I may just take a look once I finish the book.

I love the premise of Yes Man, although as a general philosophy of life, it has its limitations.

Essentially, Wallace decides to implement major changes to his life by adopting the philosophy to ‘Say Yes More.’ That’s it, but what a philosophy it turns out to be, getting Wallace into all sorts of odd situations that could at any moment be incredibly positive, or downright dangerous.

The key to the success of this philosophy is to keep it as much as possible to yourself, at least in the first stages of implementation. Clearly, if everyone knew you were going to say ‘Yes’ to everything, some would be happy to take advantage of you, if only just to test your resolve.

“Do you have ten bucks on you?”

“Yes.”

“Can I have it?”

“Yes...”

Or how about…
“Is that your car?”

“Yes.”

“Can I take it for a drive?”

“…umm..,”

Well, it’s not hard to see what sort of difficulties one could very quickly get oneself into here. However, the general principals of the concept are good.

If you feel you are stuck in a rut, and need motivation to get out of it, adopting the ‘Say Yes More’ approach to life could be just what you are looking for. Far too often we are afraid to get outside our comfort zones because we are afraid of what my happen to us.

What Danny Wallace discovered is that more often than not, the situations he found himself in turned out to be positive rather than dangerous or unpleasant ones. He began to meet people from all walks of life who he would normally not meet, talk to or associate with. Some were weird, some wonderful, and others truly bizarre, but the experience did not leave him bitter, scarred or triple-locking his front door.

The book is insightful, constantly funny, and a very good read.
Visit Danny’s website here…

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