What Rules do You Play By?

Silent Reading Time: 1 minute and 25 seconds

I stumbled across this line in a book:

“How can you win a game you can’t even play?”

But the ‘game’ feels like a metaphor for the arenas of our lives including business.

When I think business, I not just thinking profit or market strategies. I’m thinking rules, players, and how you play.

When you look around, everyone seems to be in the business building game. But I thought we were all following the same rules. I was wrong.

• Some break things and move fast while others build slow and steady.

• You have some who build a brand before the business and others who wait to be profitable before creating a personal brand.

• Some people work all day fueled by dedication and passion and some tackle a few tasks and life their lives.

• And some people follow a passion, or obsession’ and some learn a skill.

And each side has there spokesperson shouting, ‘this is the way!’. But what they are really selling is control. It doesn’t help that each rule has success stories.

Each rule shapes your entire game in how you play.

But are you playing by the rules you want or are you squeezing into someone else’s rulebook?

Personally. I want a small profitable business that lets me work part-time and choose my projects.

But instead I was ‘powering through’ rules that didn’t work and pulling myself down for even wanting new rules.

Ever had those moments where you doubt what you're doing, but you power through because, well, #dedicated?

But look:

• These 'rules' are our beliefs.

• Other players* manipulate the rules you play with,

*especially when you haven't mastered listening to your opinions and rejecting others.

• Your behavior, based on the set of 'rules' you decide to play by, reflects how you play.

All the while, our minds control the ‘game,’ but sometimes we forfeit control.

So I have a couple questions:

In business, what rules do you play by? Are they working for your benefit, or are you forcing yourself to fit into specific rules that work against you?