If it’s not a hell yes, its a no

A mantra for life

I first came across the idea in 2016, reading Anything You Want by Derek Sivers — a book that says more in 88 pages than most do in 400.

His core message was simple:

“If you’re not saying ‘HELL YES!’ about something, say no.”

Me, at a bar in the south of France somewhere.

At the time, I was early in building ContentCal.

Saying yes to every meeting, every introduction, every maybe. That’s how you’re told to build. Open doors, keep options alive.

But I kept coming back to that line.

And eventually, I started using it as a filter.