Jay Shetty & Yes Theory ON How To Stop Putting Things Off

Yes Theory is a creative, inspirational group of friends who travel the world, conquering everyday fears with the community’s help. They pioneered the video series called Project 30, where they document the process of doing thirty different things in thirty days. Driven by the motto, “Seek discomfort,” Yes Theory’s mission is to empower and unify a community of people to pursue and reach their full potential.

Jay Shetty recently sat down with Matt Dajer and Thomas Brag of Yes Theory and walked through some of the experiences that led them to have a massively popular YouTube Channel. They discussed how to achieve freedom, learn from your failures, believe the impossible and reach your full potential by seeking discomfort.

Fear

Fear is an unpleasant emotion that is caused by the impending anticipation of danger. Does fear place limitations on how you live your life?

“A lot of people will dismiss fears that they have, thinking that it's either too dangerous or unnecessary,” Matt Dajer told Jay Shetty. “In our opinion, whatever constructs that you built for yourself, whatever fears that may seem small, are the most important, because those small fears that you overcome allow you to overcome the bigger fears, and that is the goal.”

Facing your fears does not always mean you will be successful in overcoming them. Dajer shared with Jay Shetty that there have been many YouTube episodes where they have attempted things and failed.

“There have been many episodes where we've completely failed,” Dajer explained to Shetty. “We had given it our all, and it felt like we had won! For us, that was the key. That's how we approach everything we have done. We go into it when things seem impossible, knowing that it likely won’t happen, but it was worth a shot. The beauty is in the attempt.”

Breaking Through Your Fears

Thomas Brag gave Jay Shetty an example of an event in which they had to break through their fears. Their journey in Poland with Wim Hof, the “Iceman”, was challenging for Brag.“Probably the most difficult experience that I have done the past five years was when we went on with Wim Hof, the ‘Iceman,’” Brag explained to Shetty. “We thought we were going to do the Wim Hof Method and learn the basics. As soon as we got there, he saw us all wearing our Seek Discomfort sweaters and realized that we're comfortable being uncomfortable. Wim Hof decides that his method is going to be too easy for us.”

Brag and Dajer had to get into the mindset to submerge their bodies into below freezing ice water for ten minutes with just thirty minutes of preparation time - without the training course they had expected to take. All they had were the skills they possessed and their ability to push past the limitations they had set for themselves in their minds.

“I've never been in so much physical pain and my whole life, and I do not recommend anyone try this at home,” Brag told Jay Shetty. “I think that having these guys around to push and encourage me when I was struggling is what allowed me to break that ten-minute mark.”

So many things can be achieved by saying, “yes,” and surrounding yourself with a community of supportive people.

Believe the Impossible

When you do something in life that you think is unattainable, and you find success in that venture, suddenly the impossible becomes possible! The excitement from doing that thing you didn’t know you could do now breeds excitement to try more significant challenges.

Brag tells Jay Shetty about a moment where they realized they needed to dream bigger. After knowing each other for just nineteen days, they pulled off a video they never dreamed possible.

“We find out that the Chelsea FC soccer team were staying in this hotel and we thought it would be hilarious to rip up a fake contract, then ask them, ‘Do you want to join our little soccer team?’” Dager explained to Shetty. “We thought it'd be amazing if they would just sign this, so we went after it. We snuck into the hotel and got them to sign it. We proceeded to put it up on LADbible and all these soccer and football pages. It blew our minds. The video got 100,000 views.”

Before the Chelsea video, the members of Yes Theory were living in a one-bedroom apartment producing videos that were getting five hundred views a day, mostly from friends and family members. As they watched the views grow from one thousand to three thousand to ten thousand, the realization that they had made it overcame them.

“To see so many people experience our creation was such a fulfilling experience,”Brag told Jay Shetty. “It gave us so much motivation, and we truly believed that we could bring our content to the world.”

Three friends decided to take the challenge of turning the impossible into the possible. Now, Yes Theory is consistently pulling in over twenty million views per month with their wildly popular YouTube channel.

Ask For the Things You Want

Do you struggle to ask for the things you want or think you deserve in your life? Do you want a raise, or need help with a project? Do you need something from your spouse or significant other? How about alone time or a day off? Ask for it! You will never know the answer until you simply ask. Don’t let the fear of asking hold you back from obtaining the things you want and deserve.

“I think people are afraid of asking because they think it shows their flaws or weaknesses,” Jay Shetty shared. “People feel if they ask someone for something, it makes it look like they are weak or in need, that they’re not worth anything or have lost value.”

Asking for things can cause discomfort, but you realize that the outcome is positive once you overcome that discomfort.

“All of a sudden, not only do you ask for help when you need it, but you're so much more empathetic and much more willing to help other people,” Brag told Shetty. “It becomes this cycle of you helping others and others helping you, that's how growth in general happens.”

The Intention That Motivates Your Actions

How do peer pressure and a discomfort challenge differ from one another? When a person feels forced to do something they aren’t comfortable with rather than encouraged and supported while they challenge themselves, the difference in the two becomes evident.

“I think the intention behind what you’re doing is the most important thing,” Dajer shared with Jay Shetty.

“Why are you challenging this person to do it?” Dajer asked Jay Shetty. “If it comes from a place of humiliation or the intent to put that person in a shameful position, that's terrible.”

When you pressure someone to do something for your self-gratification or gain, that is peer pressure. When the spirit of growth or education is evident in action, and the person can benefit from the experience, it becomes a discomfort challenge.

“There are times when I shy away from a challenge when I feel it's coming from a competitive comparison place as opposed to when I feel it's coming from a compassionate, loving space,” Jay Shetty shared with Brag and Dajer.

When you remove the limitations that fear places on your life, you give yourself the power to attain the unimaginable, achieve bigger goals, and dream bigger dreams. Ask for the things that you want in life, and be intentional with your actions. Take back your power to do the things that you should be doing in your life!

More From Jay Shetty

Listen to the entire On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast episode ON “How To Stop Putting Off What You Should Be Doing” now in the iTunes store or on Spotify. For more inspirational stories and messages like this, check out Jay’s website at jayshetty.me.

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