 |
YES! |
I just saw the movie ‘Yes Man’ starring Jim Carrey and besides the fact that it was a really enjoyable movie, I think it contained an important message.
For those of you who have not seen it, ‘Yes man’ is about the life of a man called Carl. (Jim Carrey).
Carl is a man who leads a miserable life.
His wife left him 3 years ago, he works in the same bank for the last 5 years, hates his job and has made no progress promotion wise.
Carl always makes up excuses when people ask him to come out or ask him to help out, and he even misses his best friend’s engagement party because he couldn’t be bothered.
This is the point where his best friend tells him that he needs to get his act together or he is going to lose everything and end up alone.
Through an old friend, Carl gets introduced to a ‘YES’ seminar, and the host and creator of the seminar and program uses Carl as an example in front of the whole audience, getting him to take the ‘YES’ oath, meaning that he has to say YES to everything.
From that moment, Carl’s life starts to change.
His first act starts when a homeless guy asks him for a ride to a park. Unwillingly he says YES. The homeless guy asks to use Carl’s cell phone, and at the end of the ride asks him for all the money in his wallet. Carl complies (albeit not totally voluntarily) since he is now a ‘YES’ man.
Amazingly, good things start to happen to him. He meets an amazing girl, his friends start to like him, he gets a promotion in his work. All these things are as a result of him saying YES to things he normally would make excuses for or bluntly say NO to without even thinking.
Taking flying lessons,guitar lessons, learning Korean, taking the first plane out of the airport and taking his girlfriend on a super spontaneous vacation.
The only problem is…Carl says YES to everything. This causes trouble, and almost causes everything to fall away from him.He loses his girlfriend, people take advantage of him and his life starts to suck.
The lesson is that you can’t say YES to everything, because some things just have to be said NO to.
In the end, when Carl realises that you can say no, and you should say YES to things because you WANT TO and not because you HAVE TO, everything falls back into place, and he and his girlfriend make up and live happily ever after.
It really is an enjoyable movie, I hope I didn’t ruin it for those of you who haven’t watched it yet. 
Carl made me realise that so many of us are like the old Carl…
Making excuses, saying no to things, being selfish, living an unhappy life of mediocrity where we hate our jobs or our situations.
How often has someone invited you to go out, join them, or try something new, and you just made up an excuse, not really because you can’t go, but because you are prejudiced against it? You would rather sit at home watching a rerun of an old TV show.
Have you ever had a predjudice opinion against something, before you even knew what it was really about or what it was like? And then one day, through chance, you decided to try it out, and WOW…did you love it?!
The message that I got from the movie ‘Yes Man’ is that we should not always be so narrow-minded.
Be open to new things and new ideas. Before you say NO to something, think about it for a second.
Could you say YES instead and give it a try?
At least if you have tried it and know what it is about, then you know what you will be saying NO to.
Doing something new does not even always have to be for your benefit, help someone else out. Be selfless and do something really nice for someone when they ask, or even when they don’t, and do not ask for anything in return.
I know the Law of Attraction is a topic of big debate and whether it is true or not is for you to decide, but from experience, I have found that what you send out is what you get back.
You can’t start out by expecting to get things without getting anything in return.
First…start giving.
Give what you can when you can.
Not because you must, but because you want to.
It can be a smile, a helping hand, friendship,money, food or anything else in this world.
Chances are, good things will start to happen to you, and you will notice the same kind of things that you are doing for others, will start being done to you.
Say YES to life, not because you have to, but because you want to!
Have a Rockin’ day
Diggy
Hey Diggy,
While I wasn’t a big fan of the movie, the real-life book the movie is based off changed my life. (Ugh, I know it’s lame to say “but the book is better!”…in this case, it’s true. hehe)
I used to be one of those people who said no to almost everything. When I started saying yes it made a hard-to-explain profound impact.
It’s incredible how much power is in one simple word.
Karol
Hey Karol!
Welcome:)
I’ve actually never read the book. As with most movies based off books, the loyal book readers always say the book is better, and mostly I tend to agree
Thank you for stopping by.
Until next time!
I really loved Yes Man and I actually wrote a post about the same topic a few months ago. I didn’t like the movie thanks to its actor, but rather thanks to the message you are talking about.
I’ve come up with excuses a lot of times simply because I felt “tired” and spent the time with work instead.
It reminds me of another quote: “This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time”. When we are 60 years and look back at our life. Will we regret what we did or what we did not?
Heya Stefan!
Yes it’s cool how movies often inspire to write a post, because they often contain an important message.
I am also guilty of the excuse thing and saying no too often, that is especially the reason why I like the movie so much
Fight Club!…yeah, love that quote too!
That is the reason why we have to live, we only have one life!
Thanks for stopping by!
It sounds like a great Jim Carrey movie. My favorite of his movies so far is Liar, Liar. I haven’t seen Yes Man yet. Your life should be in balance. Saying yes all the time creates resentment in the yes person because they become a door mat. Saying no all the time makes others not like you and makes for a dull life. The answer is usually somewhere in the middle. Saying yes because you want to definitely makes life more interesting.
Ola Patricia!
Exactly! It’s about being open to new ideas and not rejecting everything before you’ve even tried it. That way, life becomes a whole lot more interesting!
Thank you for stopping by!
Thanks for the video recommendation. I heard about the book and I wanted to read it someday, but now I’ll look for the video because I think it’ll be more fun.
Oscar buddy!
You’re welcome!
Yeah take it out on DVD some time, it’s really worth watching!
100 days to go until Amsterdam
!!!
Yeah, count me in for 2-3 days. I think I’ll come with my girlfriend because she doesn’t want me to come alone
I finally watched the movie! Awesome, really liked it!
Hey Diggy!
I haven’t seen that yet, so will put it on my to watch list. I think the power of yes and no’s in balance is huge…being a ‘yes’ to life is as you say about giving, but also I used to hate to say no, but I’ve started getting better at that too, which is empowering as well
Hey Jenny Jen!
Oh yes, you are right, you have to be able to say NO too.
Otherwise you find people taking advantage of you all the time.
Saying NO, means that you know what you want and have a strong personality. Just be careful to say NO only to things that you know you don’t want, and not say NO as an excuse
Thanks for stopping by
That was a cool movie. I saw it on a plane a while back. Sometimes it is necessary to say no, to protect our time. However, I think most of us need a little encouragement to say yes to the things that matter in life. How about saying,
YES to life!
Heya John!
Amen to that:)
Thanks for dropping in!
[...] Upgrade Reality – View Latest Post [...]
yeah, Yes Man was good fun. i like the part in the card store where he starts talking to the Korean girl…i was the weird guy on the plane laughing at 3:45am (redeye).
i’m the 2nd Carl (i say yes to everything), so i’m trying to be a little bit more discerning.
Yes, I will not go wood chopping with you!
Hah, I need to email you! I have a funny Amsterdam story to tell you!
Heeey Brian!!
Haha, yeah I used to hate flights, now I watch like 4 movies in a row and before I know it I’m in another continent!
Cool, mail me!
I’m curious about the story!
Shoot, I forgot, I need to grab a gravatar.
YES, to gravatars!
“Diggay!” Sweet post. I somehow missed this one in my reader. Okay, so shoot me
It’s so hard to reach a balance of yes sometimes, no sometimes. I find that there is a lot of social pressure to stay at an extreme. I have a friend who has a hard time saying no. Many of her friends expect her to say yes, so when she tries to say no, she feels pressure. It’s a vicious cycle.
Conversely, if you always say no, people expect you to say no and don’t bother with you. Then you become anti-social because you come to the conclusion that no one likes you… you see where I’m going with this.
I’m going to have to check out Yes Man. I wanted to see it when it came out. But since I’m not much of a movie theater person, I forgot to. Thanks for the reco!
Heya Valerie!!!
I’ve never gotten the hang of readers, too complicated, I prefer to subscribe via email
Yep, the balance is hard to find, It has to be YES to new ideas and NO to people taking advantage or things you really really do not like.
Thanks for stopping by
Until next time!
This reminds me so much of that part in fight club the limo is gonna crash and those guys have all those things they wanted to do.
It’s very important to live your life without regrets
Hey Faramaz!
Welcome to Upgradereality!
Thank you for stopping by!
Yeah I loved Fight Club, still one of my favourite movies till date
Fantastic post Diggy! I agree with you on so many levels in this post. I used to be a person that would say “Yes” to everything or anyone, basically an all-out people-pleaser. Wow, that got exhausting!
But as time passed, I realized what it did to me and other ways I could kindly so no, etc.
You said it perfectly with this…
First…start giving.
Give what you can when you can.
Not because you must, but because you want to.
Perfect!
Dayne
Heeeey Dayne!
It’s always nice to hear from you!
Thanks for the kind words
It’s hard to find that balance between being a pushover and people taking advantage of you, and being a jerk and saying no.
Have an awesome day!!
[...] Don’t be too quick to say no to new experiences. Usually you have nothing to lose and everything to gain (even if you [...]
“How often has someone invited you to go out, join them, or try something new, and you just made up an excuse, not really because you can’t go, but because you are prejudiced against it? You would rather sit at home watching a rerun of an old TV show.”
That’s exactly what I would do! I would be so narrow minded and not even try. SO in return when I did say yes and I did go out and try it, I actually had an amazing time. Great post Diggy!
Great post, really.
I’ve been to Amsterdam last week and despite not being able to ride bycicle (I’ve actually haven’t done it in quite a while) and being frightened to death I thought I shouldn’t miss the opportunity of having a lift by a friend when he offered it to me.
) and it could happen only because I said yes when I thought of saying no.
I think sitting on the rear part of the bycicle was the greatest experience I made in Amsterdam (don’t miss the Free Adam Coffeeshop though
The question I asked myself before deciding was simple: What’s the worst thing that can happen if I say yes?”
Best regards,
Andrés
Hey Andres!
Welcome to UpgradeReality
Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a cool comment!
Man, I’m jealous, you still get the decent weather when you were in Amsterdam, I’m going in the middle of the cold! Great that you took the plunge and just went for it, that is what makes life fun and adventurous!
I remember once I had a head on collision with another bicycle in Amsterdam, was crazy, this fat guy on a bicycle rode straight into me. Luckily we were both fine!
Cheers!
Hi Diggy:)
I think that my life it’s called “Yes”, I can hardly say “no”. I love to give many gifts – from my heart – heeey, btw,it’s almost Christmas time, Santa will come:)
How’s life in Amsterdam? Btw – my manager’s name from Philip Morris is Willem De Bruin! Voila:)
All the best Diggy!
sabina
I enjoyed to the movie also. It does a good job of examining – somewhat comically – the effects of our excuses and what fun we can have if we don’t think why we shouldn’t do something and just do it. Of course it is good to use some judgment.
Hey Brannon!
Thanks for stopping by! I really enjoyed the movie too, that inspired me to write the post