I’m the kinda person who thinks a lot. About everything. I’m spending a lot of time thinking. It annoys me. Why? Because I’m not spontaneous and I cannot make decisions fast.
Why Not?
My favorite German author Lars Amend wrote a book called “Why Not?” and it changed my perspective.
I’m a person who likes control and who is really cautious about everything. And I plan ahead a lot and I don’t like it if I don’t know what I’m doing in the next weeks.
So in this book, he always asks the question Why Not? if an opportunity arises and it helped him come out of a depressed phase.
His friend Rudolf Schenker (guitarist of The Scorpions) invited him spontaneously to a concert in Switzerland. At first, Lars didn’t want to go because he was in his comfort zone in his sweater and chilling. But he said why not and flew there. Rudolf had a surprise for him and introduced him to Paulo Coelho. That’s crazy!
If he would have stayed in his comfort zone, he would have never met him.
My Why Nots
So I’m an introverted person and I don’t like huge discussions or loud people. But last year I decided to become president of my student organization. I thought a lot about it, I analyzed it because it will also interfere with my studies and work. But then I thought why not?
A lot of times I take opportunities because I know I can learn a lot from them. They will be time-consuming and hard, a challenge, but in the end, I know it helps me to develop and to get better.
In this last year as president, I learned a lot. I learned how to talk with a team, how to make efficient meetings, and how to network with companies and universities and it also improved my time management skills (soon more about that).
Of course, it was hard for a few months, juggling a project for university, and ruling an empire 😉 and being useful at work. But with a lot of help and my improvement I made it, I even made it through really well (got an A on my semester project, which is not so easy to get at an Austrian university in Architecture studies).
Another Why not moment for me was quitting a well-paid programming job to start studying again full-time and a completely different field: Architecture. You can read the story here and here.
Don’t ask ‘Why’, ask instead, ‘Why Not’. — John F. Kennedy
What Can You Learn From That?
You still should analyze important projects or decisions to prevent a mistake. But most of the time don’t worry and think too much about it and just do it!
Why not? — Lars Amend
Did you see the Netflix series “Never Have I Ever…” about a teenage girl? She is worried about everything: what people think, how she looks like, what her family would say, how her future looks like,…
It’s crazy how many problems teenagers have. Did we also have those “huge” problems? Instead of worrying about everything, she should use her time as a teenager to enjoy the freedom, energy, and first times.
So spoiler: in the end she got that should enjoy the present instead of thinking about the future, spend time with her family, and maybe has “finally” sex with a boy. OMG!!!
Let’s get out of our comfort zones and risk a little to live! By going outside and by risking something we will collect those precious full lived moments. We will not get them sitting on the couch watching Netflix. So don’t watch that series 😉 Kidding, I can totally recommend that one because it reminds you of how hard teenage life was *facepalm* That’s why watching that kind of series is my guilty pleasure 😉
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Why Not by Lars Amend
and more books by him are in my reading list here.
