Change Your Life for the Better by Rewriting Your Own Rules

F*ck the rules, and who made them up anyway?

You know, this is a really good action to take (F*ck the rules) and a question to ask (Who Made Them Up Anyway?).

I got to thinking about what “rules” I am following in my life.

· What rules are working for me?

· What rules aren’t working for me?

· What rules make sense?

· What rules don’t?

· What rules should I say “F*ck that!” to?

Oh…and then there’s “Who made them up, anyway?”.

Knowing that can be critical to knowing what and why I need to say (or not say) F*ck the rule.

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. -Robert A. Heinlein

Some rules come from traditions that date from ancient times.

Some of them remain good rules to live by, yet a lot are outdated.

Some came from our recent past. The so-called modern age.

As humankind advanced, we started making up new rules but often we didn’t get them right or they became outdated overnight.

In our current technology/media age, new rules are being written daily. These are hard to track because they’re so new and a lot of them really aren’t good for you and me especially considering who is making these rules and why.

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. -Henry David Thoreau

Whomever they are they’re telling us how to live, be, spend and act.

They’re telling us to do what they want us to do, not for our sake but for theirs.

They’re telling us how we should be, what we should want and how we should live.

They’re marketers, politicians, bosses, friends and family.

Even with the best of intentions, it’s still their agenda, their opinions, their beliefs and standards.

None of this means any given rule is right for you, although some might be ideal for you.

That’s the point of this article. To offer you the chance to:

· Challenge and question the rules

· Embrace those that work for you

· Trash those that don’t

· Come up with your own rules where needed.

If you can’t solve a problem, it’s because you’re playing by the rules -Paul Arden

It’s your right to pick and choose and come up with your own

My life has been undermined when I automatically followed the rules. I did it without thinking and just assumed I was supposed to.

But I was wrong.

In these cases, it was an outdated rule or one that didn’t apply to me or one that is promoted by those who have strong reasons to make people like you and me follow their rules.

Just briefly, pause and wonder when and how you followed a rule that wasn’t a good rule to follow for you.

A rule that’s B.S.

A rule that led you astray.

A rule that’s good for others but not for you.

A rule that stood in your way from a positive outcome.

Now think of the rules you’re following at this time in your life.

You know there are some good ones and some bad ones.

When you identify the bad ones, you can rewrite or throw out that rule if it’s not right for you and your life.

I am blessed by the happenstance that years ago I was determined to live more by the rules that help me and create new rules where needed and gleefully say “F*ck that!” to the others.

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. -Pablo Picasso

Inspired by my f*ck the rules great-grandfather

I am inspired to say f*ck the rules from my great-grandfather, Clifton J. Long.

Back in the early 20th century, his family ordained him to be a lawyer. He got his degree and was quickly climbing the ladder and became an assistant prosecuting attorney at a young age.

Then he said, “F*ck this!, I am meant to be an artist”.

He pursued his art and had a very successful career in a time when artists could make a great living doing portraits and unique projects like designing cigar boxes, painting theater curtains and even painted a presidential client on the side of a four-story building along with his fine art.

It fit his fly-fishing passion because he would go up into the mountains, set camp and build a covered scaffold so he could paint and fish.

All of this in the first quarter of the twentieth century. People never said f*ck the rules back then.

Yeah. Quite an inspiration and I needed it when I faced finding a new way forward in life for my “olderhood” phase of life which I in no way shape or form wanted to be like the way people were aging poorly around me.

I knew I had to say, “F*ck that!” to the rules people were following getting “older” and being very “old” doing it.

Breaking rules isn’t bad when what you’re doing is more important than the rule itself. -Kim Harrison

F*ck That! rule

For oh so many of us, playing by the assumed and presumed rules of life is self-defeating and I realized the rules (aka assumptions, presumptions of stereotypes) about getting older we total B.S. “rules”.

I believe a lot of people get “old” because they think, assume and/or believe they’re supposed to.

They assume based on the outdated “rule” about aging that you are supposed to decline, retire, get sick, lose cognition and mobility, step aside, etc. etc. etc.

Some of the most ageist statements I’ve ever heard came from those who are the targets of ageism.

They’re following the rules and perpetuating them to their own demise.

If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere. -Marilyn Monroe

I realized this was a rule that didn’t apply to:

· Me

· My situation

· My life

· My pursuit

· My needs and desires

· My potential

· My purpose and passion

· My ability to make an impact

· My opportunity to die young at a very old age

· My chance to have the most fulfilling and meaningful time of my life.

Once you start breaking one rule, it gets easier to break others.

I am now constantly breaking the rules that are B.S. or don’t work/apply to me and…wow…it works, it makes sense and I realize this is how it should be.

Even if I break a rule and then make up a new one that fails, I still come out ahead and move on to a better rule.

To have the life you want and need you need to make up your own set of rules.

You can borrow from the ancients, your parents and modern-day society but only if these rules apply to your life and your way of being.

Then you can make up your own rules. Rules that are true to who you are and rules that enable you to be who you want to be and achieve what you need to achieve.

This turns, “F*ck the rules — Who Made Them Up Anyway?”, into “These are my f*cking rules, and I am the author of them and therefore my life”.

Yeah. F*cking right, dude.

Life is good, life is great. Always love and never hate. Break the rules, stand apart. Ignore your head and follow your heart. -Ashley Purdy

Looking for a New Way Forward in your life? You can get my free “Launch Yourself Get Started Guide” by going to www.NewWayFWD.com.