These are the Rules

The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 51 Degrees

Today I released the latest issue of the Incomparable Expert Field Report. If you don’t yet subscribe, you can purchase the back issue here at the bottom of the page. If you are a subscriber, the issue is on its way! This issue is about an expert in the industrial plant commissioning industry. Before I met him, I had no idea this industry even existed.

The commissioning industry is pretty travel intensive. Often times you travel half way across the world to work on commissioning an industrial plant for weeks or even months at a time.

That’s what Thomas, the subject of the latest issue, used to do. Until he made up some new rules for himself and figured out a way to put his expertise to work WITHOUT leaving home.

When people in your industry say “these are the rules,” what they’re actually saying is “these are the rules for me.” And often times, they’re implying that their rules should also be your rules.

But that’s kind of silly if you think about it for more than a minute.

In fact, short of the most obvious rule of not hurting others directly or indirectly, I can’t really think of an example in life where the “rules” that some people are supposed to follow weren’t just made up by… other people. Now that’s weird. It’s kind of funny actually. And when enough people realize this, well… the world’s going to change pretty quickly. (Sorry system!)

In the meantime, think about all the “rules” in your industry. Are those really the best things to follow? Or are you simply in the habit of following them?

How could you rewrite those rules so that they actually serve you instead of you serving them?