Shane Parrish

And so I just say my rule is, and it's really important to use those words, my rule is, and that allows the other person to say, oh, okay, he's going to get back to me tomorrow perfectly.

And so he's like, now I say yes to 10% of the things.

I don't end up doing things that I don't want to do.

And nobody's pushing back at me, making it awkward in these social moments.

So, that situation is a great example of a social default where the situation tends to think for you.

For most of us, we say yes.

We say yes to things we don't want to do.

We say yes to things we don't have time to do.

Why do we say yes?

Because we want other people to like us.

Why do we want other people to like us?

Because we're self-preserving.

Why are we self-preserving?

We need to fit in the tribe.

We can't be on the outside of the tribe.

This is 10,000 years of human evolution right here.

And so I was like, what other rules do you have?

This is the most powerful thing you've done.

And he said, I don't have any.

And I was like, oh gosh, how can we use this in practical everyday life?