# Unrelated engineer This is collect of thoughts after I travel around the Internet. Not engineering related though. ## [Give it five minutes](https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3124-give-it-five-minutes) > There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other > people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea. > > Dismissing an idea is so easy because it doesn’t involve any work. You can > scoff at it. You can ignore it. You can puff some smoke at it. That’s easy. > The hard thing to do is protect it, think about it, let it marinate, explore > it, riff on it, and try it. The right idea could start out life as the wrong > idea. > > So next time you hear something, or someone, talk about an idea, pitch an > idea, or suggest an idea, give it five minutes. Think about it a little bit > before pushing back, before saying it’s too hard or it’s too much work. Those > things may be true, but there may be another truth in there too: It may be > worth it. ## [Never say “no,” but rarely say “yes.”](https://longform.asmartbear.com/say-yes/) > So the principle is straightforward: Set the conditions of “yes” such that: > > - If they say “yes,” you’re happy because the terms or money are so good, it > more than compensates for the distraction, perhaps funding the thing you > really want to do. > - If they say “no,” you’re happy because it wasn’t a great fit anyway; it’s > not a worthwhile return on your time and effort.