All Rules Are Made Up

A concept I share with clients regularly is this idea that all rules are made up right up to our laws and policies. I don’t share this to start anarchy but to free people up from their limitations, because most of us will see a rule as there for a reason and follow it blindly and what I invite is you question why that rule is there, does it work for you (keep you safe) or hinder you (keep you stuck)

A great example of this is a story I heard a long time ago: A couple buy their first house and as tradition they do a Sunday roast, they’re having roast lamb, the wife wife gets the leg of lamb out of the fridge and cuts the end of the meat off. The husband ask why she did that. She responds that’s how you do it; that’s the rule her mum taught her. He’s confused because it doesn’t make sense to him, he’s never done that when cooking lamb. After a while they decide to call the wife’s mum to get answers. The mum says that’s how she’s always done it, that’s how her mum did it. So, the wife calls her grandmother. The grandmother said when their mum was younger, they had a small oven, and the leg of lamb wouldn’t fit so they needed to cut the end off to make it fit in. The couple changed the rule for cooking roast lamb.

The moral of the story, question why you follow the rules you follow.

Some rules are useful to follow and keep us safe from harm, others need to be challenged. Almost all the rules we follow we do on default, and we’ve never had reason to challenge them unless prompted. So, here’s you prompt. Where are rules holding you back in your life? Examples might include: • I have to complete the all my work or not bother.

• I need to see improvement every day.

• I need to be exhausted otherwise I've not tried.

• I need to be pushed to my limits all the time.

This week look out for where rules are clearly made up and clearly don’t serve you. Challenge your default self and carve your own path. Happy Exploring