The game has its rules and the game of life is no different. The 10 More Rules to Live By-for Work, Play and Profit. To win the game you’ll have to learn the rules.
I did not invent them nor can they be attributed to any one man or woman. They belong to the collective wisdom of humanity. They are on stage, available to everyone, to see and use. There are certainly more than ten, but these are some of the many that I try to incorporate in my day to day activities.
You can get started with just a basic knowledge of the game, and get more serious about learning along the way.
A best-selling, modern-day, self-help book, questions the value of wanting to change the world when you cannot keep your room clean. Begin with yourself. Change yourself for the better, and everyone will win as a result.
1. Be Brave
Be Brave. Life is a long and difficult struggle at the best of times. We are at our bravest when we are very young, especially when we enter the “terrible-twos-club”. When I was two, I didn’t live in fear or hesitate before I made a move. I did what I wanted when I wanted to do it. You probably weren’t very different.
At two years of age, I had not met any of the monsters that would later roam through my neighbourhood. My parents, and their army, made sure that I was well fed and well protected. I had a staff. My staff took care of me and made sure that the monsters were kept outside of the castle walls. All of this security begins to fade away as we grow older and leave the family nest. Small accomplishments build into greater ones. Force yourself to walk in the dark. You are braver than you think you are.
2. Look your Best
No one wants to get close to anyone who’s dirty and dishevelled. Your appearance creates the first impression people get from you. You are judged instantly, by your appearance, and whether you like it or not, this is a fact of life.
Walk around in ragged, dirty clothes, with dirty hands and face, and then try to get directions from someone, on the street, on how to get to city hall, or the local bank. Pleasant and clean does not mean Gucci shoes and a Louis Vuitton bag.
People will avoid you, like the plague. They will cross the road, look up or look down, or speed up to get away from you.
Check out what people are wearing on their feet, and this will give you a quick assessment of how important, appearance is to them.
3. Start at the Bottom
This is where we all begin, but for some reason, many people want to skip the training and start at the top.
Life doesn’t work this way. We all learn to crawl, then walk, and later we get to run. It doesn’t work the other way around.
Take the time to understand the process.
4. Focus on Learning More
The ability to learn new concepts and expand upon them is what separates us from the animals.
Only humans can record knowledge, to pass it on to future generations. We all have access to the libraries of books and learning that humanity has accumulated over the centuries.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel every generation. Begin from the invented wheel, and later, if this is your choice, perhaps you can improve it. In this way, each generation passes its knowledge to the next. You will never know too much, so don’t be afraid of knowledge. The tree of knowledge belongs to everyone.
5. Do your Best
Who can argue with this battle-tested concept?
Doing your best is giving the best effort you are capable of giving. Are you doing your best? Perhaps not? I for one, rarely do as well as I can, all the time, so why should I complain when I do not achieve the best results that I am capable of.
Looking back, I now understand the value of my closest circle of friends. How can I achieve anything of value, to anyone, and especially to myself, if I hang around with envious, entitled, complainers? People who have nothing good to say about anything, and anyone.
6. Who do you spend time with?
The people you spend the most time with, says a lot about the type of person you are, and the type of person you will become. These people are the kind of people you’re going to end up as. Do not underestimate the value of hanging out with the right people. The right people are often the people that share similar interests to yours. They are the people that will have your back when you need them. No one has 600 friends, and the reason for this is simple, there is not enough time in a day. Focus on a handful of friends, and work to maintain solid relationships.
If you hang around with drug dealers and drug addicts, you won’t become a concert pianist or a medical doctor. Should we all become concert pianists or medical doctors? Of course not!
Realize that the people you hang out with have a tremendous influence on your education, your achievements in life, and what your future will look like.
7. A Healthy Body
A healthy body is the frame that carries you through life, so take care of it.
A healthy body makes life easier to bear. Eating nutritious food and exercising regularly are not exclusive to the rich. In fact, processed food is usually more expensive than unprocessed foods at the lower ends of the scale.
I’m not referring to “Kobe beef” or truffles, but to the basics that are affordable to all. Good food is usually less expensive than foods that are harmful to you.
Walking is one of the easiest and best exercises known to man. It is free to all and can be practised anywhere. People who walk regularly are usually in better health than people who don’t.
8. Be Grateful
Be grateful for all you have. You were born the way you are, and there are always people much worse off than you are.
Appreciate what others have accomplished to help you get to where you are today.
Stay away from haters, the envious, the entitled. Run away from them as if they have the plague.
Remember #6 above, and the people you hang around with. This alone can cure a large percentage of your problems.
9. Be Responsible
Accept responsibility for your actions.
Stop blaming others for your weaknesses and mistakes.
10. It’s all about Results
It’s all about what you achieve. The happiest people are achievers. Some focus their existence on it, but others appear unaware. Achievers walk around with the comfortable satisfaction that it brings.
Hard work is fine, but smart work is better.
Plan your moves. If you cannot plan your day, why should we let you “change” the world?
Begin at the beginning. Start small. No one wants to take financial advice from someone who’s out of work and needs financial assistance.
Again, this is not about berating the truly poor, it’s about waking up the self-righteous.
People who spend their days “saving the world”, but have no respect for the ones who build it, and maintain it, should perhaps spend more time banishing “their” demons before they make things better for others.
Some thoughts to Improve your Game
There is a long list of rules that make up the game of life. 10 More Rules to Live By-for Work, Play and Profit, are intended to clarify some of the rules that would be to your advantage to follow.
Keep it Simple, Sam or Sally. Learn to control your life and make it more tolerable for you.
Today we are engaged in a protracted war, where the individual is at the mercy of the state. This is because too many people expect “others” to come along and help them. If you are not sick and defective in some manner, begin by helping yourself, and then, if you are in want of helping others, the world is there for you to begin.
Too many talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
I love to hear positive stories from my readers. You can comment in the space below, with the rules you follow to help you on your personal journey,