I went to brunch at some friends house a few days ago and after we ate, a couple of us were discussing some work at our church and the topic turned to \u201crules.\u201d Everyone agreed that maybe there are too many rules and half the time no one really knows why the rule came into existence in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, the fact is the world is full of rules and seems like there are more being created every day. And if you think about it, we all grew up with a fair amount of pressure to \u201cfollow the rules.\u201d We were told such things as \u201cno orange elephants,\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t color outside the lines.\u201d The educational system encourages rule-following. Students are usually better rewarded for regurgitating information than for coming up with new ideas and thinking originally. So we\u2019ve just become more comfortable following the rules than challenging them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess in practical everyday living, that makes sense. In order to function in our society you have to follow all kinds of rules. You can\u2019t shout in a library, or cry out \u201cfire\u201d in a theater or cheat on your income tax.\u00a0
The problem with all that is if you\u2019re trying to generate new ideas, then \u201cfollow the rules\u201d can be a mental block because it means basically, \u201cthink about things only as they are.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Playing the revolutionary is easier said than done. I was never accused of being a \u201cyes man,\u201d and often questioned ideas presented at meetings or the way certain things were done. Over the years, I was mostly criticized for my attitude. But after I\u2019d been working for a number of years, I was called in to by boss\u2019s office one day and I figured I was in some kind of trouble. But he was very nice and he told me that one of his most difficult tasks was getting his people to challenge the rules. We had a nice talk and he complimented me for questioning a lot of the \u201crules.\u201d He told me one of his favorite quotes was \u2014 \u201cIf you don\u2019t ask \u201cwhy this?\u201d often enough, somebody will ask \u201cwhy you?\u201d
That meeting made an impression on me and I never felt bad again about questioning things.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I went to brunch at some friends house a few days ago and after we ate, a couple of us were discussing some work at our church and the topic turned to \u201crules.\u201d Everyone agreed that maybe there are too … Continue reading