📋 TREE 745: Rules are meant to be

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

1. I won’t

2. 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