I’m writing about moving from harmful to helpful behaviour this week.
Monday: Honesty with trajectory
Tuesday: Have-to vs get-to
Today: Rules
Rules work for me. At least rules I make for myself to help me do things I want to do work for me.
For instance, when I was weaning myself off social media, I made this rule: no phone in the bathroom. It’s a simple rule that easily cut several minutes of social media out of my life.
I have a rule that I exercise for at least 10 minutes every day. Same for practicing BSL and doing creative writing.
I have a rule about breakfast. I’m thinking about a new rule for weekend snacking.
I have a rule about caffeine: I don’t have it except on long drives.
I have a rule about personal Google searches at work: I don’t do them.
All my rules are easy to remember and follow. They are for regulating small parts of my life that support larger goals.
If I had a rule like ‘I will always eat healthy’, it wouldn’t work. Because
I won’t
healthy is too broad a word open to interpretation and therefore cheating, thus rendering the rule useless
My rules can be changed. I’m reconsidering ‘no phone in the bathroom’ now that I don’t care about social media and usually have a book on the go on my phone. My question is whether or not I would loose good thinking time.
How and why I do rules makes sense, but I still find it weird how willingly I follow rules almost all the time just because I put them there. It’s not like there’s any punishment if I break them. (I try not to think about this too much in case it spoils the good results I’m getting.)
Tomorrow: you have time
Grow slowly
Jeff
Rules are good for many but I like suggestions. It gets my juices streaming creatively. I am always engineering my life. I don’t answer to others but am responsible to my tribe. I do my best but have few bad habits anymore as a 70 year old woman. I rarely drink or gamble and the obvious distractions of life. I have deleted negative programs. I am fine tuning these days. I do breathwork for inner strength, Pilates for body agility, ecstatic dance for joy. Life’s a beach⛱️