ARE YOU PLAYING BY THE RULES?
“Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.”
-Henry David Thoreau
Have you noticed? Society likes to make rules and laws. We like to make rules for everything. We have:
- Traffic rules
- Rules of etiquette and behavior
- Rules for how to wash your hands
- Rules to train your dogs
- Rules of fashion
- Rules at the playground
- Sports have rules
- Copywriting rules
- Internet marketing rules
- Rules of business
- Rules of eating
- Rules for exercising
- Blogging rules
- Environmental rules
- And we certainly have a whole host of rules about wealth and money!
Enough said, right? We have rules for everything and money is certainly no exception.
Step outside and look around and you’ll see rules everywhere you turn. They often look like this:
Do Not Enter
No Not Feed The Animals
No Swimming
No Left Turn
Do Not Pass
Notice how most of the rules/laws we have tell us what not to do? They’re limiting.
That’s not all bad. I mean if we didn’t have some traffic rules imagine the chaos. People can’t really seem to manage a roundabout as it is, take away the rules and the *&% would hit the fan. And if you have children then rules are required to maintain your sanity and teach cause and effect.
Rules provide structure. They help us cope with change. They teach and they keep us safe.
Rules also limit us. They prevent us from doing what’s right for us at that moment. They can also make us feel repressed, stifled and even resentful.
Not all of us handle rules the same way.
Are you a conformist or a rebel?
There are two basic reactions to ‘rules’. There are those people who conform. They say please and thank you. They drive the speed limit. They get eight hours of sleep each night. They exercise. They put subjects in their email subject line and they’re never late for appointments.
They take their vitamins. They save their money. They work hard. They don’t run at the pool and they always wipe down the exercise equipment after they use it. In short, they play by the rules. They conform.
What happens to the conformist?
Nothing.
That’s not so bad really. Unless they’re waiting for some type of reward. A pat on the back or an acknowledgement for all their patience and good deeds. If that reward doesn’t come then they can turn. They can become…
The Rebel. The rebel shuns rules. Forget about saving money, we only live once, right? They take risks, break the rules and laugh at the conformists. They take vacations too often. They leave work early. They start businesses and forget to reply in a timely manner to email messages – in fact they may not reply at all.
The downside…the rebel, unless they’re incredibly charming, can be seen as an outcast. They can be shunned because they don’t follow the rules. They can end up in jail because despite the myth, some rules are not meant to be broken.
Now these are extremes of course but most of us land somewhere closer to one end of the spectrum than the other. Maybe we disobey traffic laws from time to time or we fudge and tell a lie but for the most part we’re conformists. Or perhaps you attend a meeting or two and occasionally say please or thank you but for the most part honestly believe that rules are meant to be broken.
Perhaps there’s a third type of person…
The type of person who makes their own rules. This is particularly interesting when it comes to the rules of wealth.
So what are the rules of wealth?
Depends on who you’re speaking to. Ask your parents and they may say the rules are:
Save 10% of every paycheck
Live within your means
Give 10% to charity annually.
Good rules, right?
Ask your neighbor and they may say:
Money is meant to be spent – you only live once
Money is the root of all evil
You need a scam to get rich
Money doesn’t grow on trees
The rich get richer…
Still others may say:
You need to be lucky to have money
You must save every penny you make and live below your means because you never know…(guess they could then use the present state of the stock market to prove their point)
Money is for the rich
You can attract wealth
And so on…
Most of these “rules” are myths.
What are the REAL rules about wealth?
If you ask anyone who has real wealth, they’re probably say that wealth, real wealth stems from:
Desire
Specialized knowledge
Imagination
Planning
Persistence
And an element of risk taking or faith
Oddly enough, or perhaps not so oddly, these attributes are the foundation for Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich written about 70 years ago.
“Persistence and patience, perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success”
-Napoleon Hill
Funny that in a world of rules the ones that generate true wealth are the rules we make for ourselves. For Desire, Imagination, Planning, Persistence, and our Risk taking ability are all personal characteristics. They’re not strategic investment strategies. They’re not provided by your financial advisor. They’re not given only to those in the ‘know.’
They are however available for anyone and everyone. You have the capability to make your own rules for wealth. When you do, you don’t have to conform to the rules others make and in fact you shouldn’t. You also don’t have to rebel and fear the repercussions. Instead, you make and live by your own rules as they follow and relate directly to:
Your Desire
Your Specialized knowledge
Your Imagination
Your Planning
Your Persistence
Your risk taking and/or faith
The rules of wealth you see, are entirely up to you.
To Your Success!
Jeremy Gislason
SureFireWealth INC
SureFireWealth.com
What are your rules to wealth and business? What did you think of this article? Post your ‘Rules’ or leave your comments below
October 25th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Oh what narrow minded people I seem to be mixing with.
Where do you all get off equating wealth with cash? What are your souls going through as they are deprived of the soul food that enables the most poverty stricken of us to live a full and interesting life as long as we have sufficient energy to do so.
Money is what you use to purchase necessities and luxuries.
Wealth is what your life accrues when you realise that ‘The Secret’ insults your intelligence. You accrue even more wealth when you realise combining the preposterous Law of Attraction with Napolean Hill’s book and try to make them work simply is an acceptance that you are lacking in all sorts of personal attributes because of the ideas of people who don’t know you, will never meet you and only care about your ability to buy their products.
Real wealth is to be able to wake in the morning and do the very best that you can until you go to sleep at night - extreme wealth is having the will and power to do it.
October 26th, 2008 at 1:26 am
What wonderful words of wisdom Mr Webster !
October 26th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Anything in excess is bad, very bad, including Rule and Regulations. Take Anarchy, one extreme, how can any society function properly? One the other hand, the rules are getting to multiply like rabbits, very soon we will not be able to breathe without breaking a rule! please don’t get me started!
October 26th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Well, I’m a bit of both, rebel and conformist. Mainly REBEL. If I can break the rules and it’s to my advantage and I can get away with it, I will! The only restriction I have on that is, I do not hurt people, steal from people or scam. I will try to trick search engines, speed in my car if I think I won’t get caught, get as much back of the cash sucking government in my taxes etc. Wealth is having lots of money, you can have a wealth of information, but that won’t get you money if you don’t do anything with it. You won’t get wealthy if you don’t put your desire, planning and knowledge into action.
P.S Money is meant to be spent…I could be dead tomorrow..
October 26th, 2008 at 2:17 am
“Rule Rs Rules.”
Just as “Pigs Is Pigs.”
Rules are made By Society. Well, that’s what the Rule makers say anyway.
However, society doesn’t always agree with these Rules.
Hence we have the saying “Rules Are There To Be Broken.”
I have found that the Rules we Obey, and the rules we Break, have nothing to do with the fact that they are Rules.
Like-wise Wealth has nothing to do with the Monetary Unit.
However when it come to a Wealth of Knowledge or a Wealth of Experience, how can we say this is not of any monetary value.
It’s that part of society itself. and our part in that society. The part of our society that we live in and look up to. It’s our mentors, that determines the Rules that we abide by.
Whether the be right / left. politically, religiously, or who cares if it doesn’t affect us.
We just say. ” Look at what the world is coming to today.”
October 26th, 2008 at 2:18 am
I would say that there is no true conformist most people only try to conform only after they find
there true wealth what ever it might be and try to make more rules once they are there so not to obey others. Rich law makers have made so many laws and rules that we in the U.S. are losing freedom and countries that had no freedom are becoming more free, they are gaining what we take for granted and we are losing it and we are helping them achieve it. That is Wealth Rules. Then the conformant Player that has not found any kind of wealth and is mad at the world are telling others that they are narrow minded to suggest that you can only be wealthy with cash, so their rules tell you with anger who are you to make that rule. Now you see why Wealth Rules or any other rules are in place. Now think about this the guy in the middle somewhere is mostly quiet trying to find his calling working everyday taking another job to get ahead hoping that no more tax laws and rules at work are not create to slow him from investing the money he has been putting away from that extra job, he gets his break all the while being silent not to be noticed. Now he is wealthy he is getting noticed now he’s interviewed on his secret to wealth,
Well here’s what you have to do, you have to….. More Rules. The article was interesting and not ment to offend, it does make you think. There is some different wealth of feeling maybe like I feel wealthy because I’m healthy and have a roof over my head! That is a bunch of you know what, I have had it and it can come easy, and go even easier and I will tell you it’s easier to make the rules than to follow them.
Ron Verduzco
October 26th, 2008 at 2:54 am
Extremely rich people get their servants to make the rules and are allowed to break them with impunity. Nothing more to be said.
October 26th, 2008 at 3:02 am
I’m definitely a “make your own rules” kind of guy. So much so that I lived in the forest for five years seeking enlightenment and spent all of my life savings in the process.. and I found it.
I have heard a term for people who conform.. it’s “sheeples”. They believe governments tell the truth, and that the AMA, FTC and big Pharma act in our best interest. Most of them follow the crowd and engage in what I call “group think”. They don’t like to make waves or rock the boat, and they’re also usually the ones who “..lead lives of quiet desperation” as Thoreau so aptly put it.
True freedom lies in finding happiness.. and true happiness lies within each of us.. but it takes a rebel to find it.
John Micheal Christian
October 26th, 2008 at 6:05 am
What happened to the Golden Rule? Most people should live by it. The world would be a better place.
Wealth could be defined by happiness. If you are happy where you are at, you are wealthy. Not everything is defined by material things.
Information is POWER! Not really, POWER is what you are able to do with Information. The Internet is full of Information.
October 26th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Rules, what rules? the only rules in our lives are the rules we put on ourselves!
the government and law makers can make all the rules they want but they cannot
make anyone adhere to them , thus the skyrocketing crime rate in our country!
I would like to commend Sir Arthur Webster, I have not heard such wisdom in many
years and it is refreshing to see that I am not the only one that looks at life this way. I have been wealthy with money and had nothing, then I was healthy and wealthy in spirit and friends
and so much I could not control myself! Everyone needs money to pay their bills but
to have extra means very little to me, I have never had an extra dollar, I have managed
to spend every one that has reached my hands so far.
True wealth is in your heart and not in your bank account.
Timothy Millar
“The Leprechaun”
October 26th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Love Napoleon Hill’s book…it’s still an inspiration to me! Thanks for some great ideas. Dorothea
October 26th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Great ideas, thanks. Think and Grow Rich is still one of my favorites! Dorothea
October 26th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Thanks for the great ideas Dorothea….oh sorry de-ja-vu!!!
What I think wealth is, is it is evil at times when no wealth is present, but then when it becomes present it can either go one of two ways, eviler or not evil at all, we decide on which way and the paths we take.
October 26th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
As for as I am concerned, I do obey traffic rules
October 26th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Why can someone live in poverty but feel happier than someone who has everything? Is it the meaning we attach to the events around our lives and our perception of our lives. Is it having an attitude of gratitude? I associate the word wealth with a meaning of measure and perception. And in this meaning ones wealth is truly only defined by that one person.
But in saying all of that I believe the author to be using the word wealth in a context that relates to finances.
And many of the rules can relate to a world of things outside of finances.
But for the purpose of the article, the author makes some very good points and uses some very good quotes. What is it that sets the winners apart from the losers in the game of wealth?(relating to finances) Is it the rules? Or how we interpret them, chew them up, digest them and create something entirely new?
Just to add some more thoughts to ponder.
“Be a Go Giver, Not a Go Getter” -John Templeton.
Peace.
Live with Passion!
Wayne Cavanagh
October 26th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Casual onlookers would deem me to be poverty stricken as they assess my material possessions. I am digging out of the mountain of debt I accumulated as I chased “wealth” playing by the rules.
However, as I sit here in my tiny apartment working on my computer trying to create a business and re-create my life, I feel wealthy. I have a wonderful son who is a genuinely good person and totally supp0ortive of my dreams. At almost 70 my health is still good enough to allow me to sit and work for hours, take long walks to enjoy my corner of the world, string together words into sentences that convey what exists inside my head to reach out to others. I have food and shelter and a lot of well-worn comfortable clothing which could never be considered sheek or fashionable.
I have the external necessities. But, more importantly, I have the internal luxuries that generate what I perceive to be wealth.
October 26th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Just live! By not over expecting, should not be too unhappy, if not ephorious! One thing, need money to live, so need some wealth, otherwise starved to death! By Joe, I think I got it, life is so simple, why do we need rules and regulations, forget them! Just need some wealth to live on and not expecting too much, euphoric! Isn’t life peachy!
October 26th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I am reminded of a story my Mother told me a long time ago regarding Lord and Taylors Department Store. She said that Mr. Taylor opened his store, and put in a lot of blood sweat and tears trying to make a go of it, but he wasn’t able to get out of the red. After reexamining his business plan and talking to the “experts” asking for guidance, he realized that his efforts were very targeted toward making money (not a bad goal).
He wasn’t a very religeous man, but he attended church regularly and prayed. One Sunday, the minister taught on the concept of putting the Lord first in all your works. The proverbial light bulb came on and it was clear that he had been putting money first and the Lord second.
That is when he changed the name of his store to Lord and Taylor. Thereby putting the Lord first in all his dealings. And Mr. Taylor was amazed at the result. He became very prosperous and his stores are still around taday, all over the place.
Now, that’s a great story, but is it practical? You bet!! And I’ve proved in it my own life, time and again. I am just now getting ready to start my own Blog and my first post is to be on this very same subject. Look for “Ain’t Life Grand?”
Love and Light,
PJ Breese
October 26th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
The Rules
Simple. Just do the “right” thing. Sometime the line that devides the good from the bad is hard to define. The right thing is that which leaves you with a good feeling about your interaction with another person. Man’s rules are made by man. They can be changed and may be flexible. You have to determine which applys with each instance. Bottom line always seems to come back to “the Golden Rule”. That has worked well for me for 65 years.
Wealth is that good feeling I have every morning when I look in the mirror and don’t have to hide my face.
October 27th, 2008 at 7:28 am
I think I am one that is a little of both the conformist and a rebel! I do most of the stuff most folks do, such as go to work, do a good days work, go to bed and sleep 4 to 7 hours a night (a little rebel there!), etc. But I do believe that what Napoleon Hill said about the 3 P’s is totally the best advice one can give to help you succeed!! Oh and I do go over the speed limit most the time, so slap my hand and give me my speeding ticket so I can go on and still get there on time and never be late speeding to the next appointment!!
October 27th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I always make my own rules for wealth. And i never conform to the rules of wealth of my neighbors:)
October 27th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Thanks to Jeremy and to Everyone, who commented here.
I like the article.
Rules. In one meaning- do not invent the wheel, again, by yourself. Get the experience, the existing knowledge, and add your value. Add it only to your wealth, or to the society wealth, as a part of this society. It is a personal choice. On my opinion, it must be dynamic and adaptive.
On my opinion, the basic human existence needs must be satisfied. After that, the human can decide if the material, or the non material, or some personal mix of material and non material, wealth will be his lifelong term goal.
Rules depend on location. Local society rules, religion rules, the Country law system, the global economic rules.
The Country law system is the rules of behavior. The political representation choose social values, social relations, and regulate them through the law system. So, in such conditions, please, keep the right behavior. In that way you will not be under the sanctions and punishments. The Country exists upon the taxes and population. It is govern by a monarch, a religion leader, through the political representation : the President, the collective bodies in the governance, a Major, local collective bodies, through the court system, federal and local authorities.
The article put the questions:How to Personalized Myself? How to Find My Place?. Where are my borders? Are they in my imaginations, or in the reality? There is a need of too much dynamic feed backs, and measurements. Not only mine. Am I a leader or I preferred to be leaded? And clear, everyday, sensations what is around me
October 28th, 2008 at 2:27 am
I have reviewed allot of blogs but this one I actually like. You did for go the thought that there are only two ways you either do or you do not for every action has a reaction. even taking an no action is a action of choice. your blog is very well put .
October 28th, 2008 at 7:54 am
I agree with lily. With most sites I see posts from mostly ignorant folks… showing it up front. Everyone here has an opinion, but everyone is courteous and left great comments. Today in the US many look to Wall St. as the home of the wealthy. If this be the case hopefully I will never be one. Wealth in America has become a curse work and needs to be followed by greed, selfishness and corrucpt. True wealth is in the heart and mind. Something I hope we re-gain here? Thanks for all the posts. I will be back here again Jeremy.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:55 am
Ah Yes! The Rule Book. It lays out the guidelines for everything we must do, must be, must follow, must acheive. It says here is how (we the writers) instruct you to live. Some here have mentioned a few books but two Rule Books that have created more destruction, more sadness and more extreme poverty are two allegedly very old books called The Holy Bible and The Koran.
I know, I know, I can hear you all now. “How dare he blaspheme like that” But you know what?
I don’t care about your opinion. I don’t know you but I respect that you can express an opinion.
Is that making my own rules? Maybe, or it could be that I don’t really have any rules.
I follow my heart. I am a 50 something man who sheds tears when I see children suffer. I get very emotional when I see families re-unite. I don’t know how the tyrants can sleep at all.
To create a business that gives me what I need plus helps others (especially families and children) is my dream not my rule. If it works out I know I’ll leave this place just a little better for it. It’s what I’ll do as a person living amongst the despots, religious zealots and ego maniacs to show a path, not create any rules.
Wayne gave it to you to ponder and so will I.
“Be a Go Giver, Not a Go Getter” -John Templeton.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
In reply to the Gorgeous Jeremy Gislayson. You write an intelligent blogg. Thank you.
Rebel or conformist? Possibly I err on the side of rebel but that is by worldly standards. Because from a spiritual standpoint I do try to be conformed to the will of God, His laws and precepts. In so doing I often find I am at variance with accepted opinions and standards. I definitely don’t need to barr like the rest of the sheep, (or sheeple.) I am constantly seeking out the truth of a matter and have a little something that goes off inside me when I hit paydirt.
In areas of money I am ot the fastest off the mark, as I have come to a time in my life when I don’t have much extra to play with at 63.
My definition of wealth is simple. That all my needs are supplied, mentaly, spitually and financially, (often in most ingenious ways that provide delight and reassurance of a loving heavenly Father, who knew before I even asked.) I sleep well, I have a new grand child who is also gorgeous! I have the time for dicoveries and hobbies and a garden and some good friends.
I suppose I should read Napoleon Hill again; there was something about that book that didn’t appeal, but it was a very long time ago, and money has never been my god…… Neverthe less it is high time I earned some! So I am searching. You can take that to the bank!