Make up your own rules

On May 16, 1965 Anthony Newley opened The Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd on Broadway. Although it is described as a musical comedy it was, in fact, about a very serious subject. The play is about two men who are playing a game. The game is called Life. One of the men always wins the game, so the other always loses. At one point the dweeb looser asks why the other guy always wins. The Winner replies that when playing the game of life, "The secret that few people know is to make up the rules as you go."

That is one of the most profound statements you will ever hear, and it is one of the main secrets to my success.

From the time we are little kids until they put us in a box we are bombarded with rules. They come from our churches, our families, our governments, our cultures, and worst of all from ourselves. Humans have an amazing ability to take something they hear and twist it into the most perverse, self-imposed rule imaginable. I know, because I’ve done it numerous times and paid dearly each time.

I’m here to tell you those rules are all bull. The only rules that really matter are the ones that tell us we should be decent people and not intentionally hurt anyone. All others were created by someone who wants control over your very life: someone who wants to make you lose at the game of life so they can win. "You should do this, you should do that" soon becomes "I should do this, I should not do that, I should, I should, I should…." ad infinitum, ad nauseam until you are a very unhappy, unhealthy person.

Well guys, it’s time to stop shoulding on yourselves. Emerson said, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Don’t let other people define integrity for you. Take the time and effort to figure out what that means for you, for your life, for this point in history. Then make up your own rules that reflect your definition of integrity and live by them. Because life constantly changes you need to constantly re-evaluate and change your standards of integrity and rules accordingly. Do that and you too can be a winner at the game of Life.