Some rules are there for (probably) good reason. Stop at the red light. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t be rude. Get a good education. Buy health insurance. Make sure you get everything in writing.
Other rules are more or less arbitrary. Do what the boss says. Work from 9 to 5. Buy a bigger house and a faster car. Follow the majority. Keep your silly ideas to yourself.
But no matter what kind of rule (useful or arbitrary) you break, you run the risk of getting hurt.
If you tell your boss that he’s doing it wrong and stand up for something better, you might get laughed at, yelled at, or fired. Even if you happen to be right.
If you don’t buy the bigger house and the faster car, your neighbors might look down on you. Your parents might be disappointed.
If you don’t go to college, you might have trouble landing a real job and getting real health insurance. You might be The Guy Without a Degree. You might make less money than your friends.
If you question “common knowledge” and don’t respect the status quo, you might get laughed at. You might get criticized and lambasted and ranted at. And it might cost you your job or your reputation.
Breaking the rules can be a quick road to disaster. But at the same time, it’s often the long road to immortality. You could get fired, or you could be the manager who revitalizes the company; you could be laughed at, or you could be the girl with a laser focus on amazing work; you could “miss out” on a real job, or you could be the guy who creates his dream job from scratch.
The world is full of people who break the rules and win because of it, people who live life the way they want to. But it’s also full of people who don’t break the rules, follow the crowd, and don’t exactly lose because of it. You don’t have to break all the rules, and you can make it through life either way.
So the questions you have to ask yourself: Is the payoff worth the risk? Which rules will I accept and which will I reject? And: Do my actions match up with my answer?
8 Comments on “Immortality and the Risk of Breaking Rules”
says:
Great points. I would add that the same questions should be asked of following the rules though. It’s easy to feel like following the rules has less risk, but often the risks are just different.
says:
It’s always good to remember that all rules arose for a reason, even if that reason is no longer relevant or true. Assessing the risks and pay-out is a grown-up way of deciding which rules to break…
says:
Nice post Jeffrey. We all have decisions. We can choose to follow what everyone says or we can choose to do our own thing. The most important message I think I got from this is listening to ourselves or to that voice inside ourselves. If you think that you can get more out of the risk by breaking the conventional rules that people tell you, then go for it. Thanks man.
says:
Wow. The last line really hit me. Almost like time stood still for a second or two.
I need to look into that gut reaction … Thanks, as always, for a thought-provoking post.
says:
I agree with Melissa, Jeffrey. Very thought-provoking. But I don’t think there’s an answer to the question, “Is the payoff worth the risk?” because we’ll never know what the payoff is until we take the risk. In my experience the payoff/risk question is the one that keeps people stuck, going in circles. I prefer to ask, “If I take this risk, am I willing to believe the outcome will be positive, no matter how it turns out, even if it’s vastly different from what I want to happen?” If I can’t say yes to that, then there’s no point in considering the risk anymore.
says:
Jeffrey,
I for one have always been labeled as somebody who has “issues with authority” and a troublemaker by the bosses who wanted to fit in and do things their way. Challenging things got me in trouble and even fired in some cases. But, today those same qualities are enabling me to fuel my entrepreneurial spirit. So, I would say maybe some rules are necessary. But, when you break the rules, the payoff is worth anything you have to go through.
says:
Jeffrey, This is interesting on several levels. One is that some of the rules are really more like expectations. For example, your parents may expect you to go to college, but you have a talent for fine carpentry. If you become a carpenter, you are not breaking the rules in my opinion.
You are, definitely, taking a risk, but I’d argue that going to college is also taking a risk. And who knows? Maybe you’ll end up a lot happier (and even richer) than those who blindly followed the so-called rules.
says:
I totally agree with Melissa…that last line was poignant. We really do need to examine our actions and make certain that they are in line with what we have defined to be our path and our vision. It is so easy to fall into the trap of just doing things because we have accepted the status quo and think we are supposed to do things just like everyone else. However, sometimes we have to be willing to step out of the box and do those things that are more consistent with who we know we are and what we want to achieve. Thanks for always making me think. Great post.