What Are the Rules You Live By in Your Life, Business or Finance?

In an article I recently read by Craig Ballantyne of Early to Rise, titled: “12 Rules to Live By!” i think you’ll find his comments on rules to live by as very enlightening. Let me know what you think.

He said, “one thing I admire about people who have strong beliefs is their dogmatic behavior. For example, a Paleo eater, under no circumstances, will ever eat Wonder Bread. There is no, “well, everyone else is having a PB&J on Wonder bread, so just this once, I will too.”

That’s not how it works. Not when a Paleo eater has a strong personal philosophy that they never, ever, ever eat processed food from a bag or a box.

And that strong personal philosophy guides them to guilt-free behavior that is congruent with their goals.

I’ve also taught my clients to develop their own personal philosophy – essentially a set of rules that dictate decisions, and I’ve also created my own rules that determine how I live my life so that I reduce guilt, stress, and wasted emotional energy.

The purpose of this message is not to say that our personal philosophies are wrong or right.

Instead, they are simply here to encourage you to adopt your own rules for the sake of living a better, more productive stress free life.

You may have your own rules in your head, but I encourage you to put them in writing. And you can adopt a set of rules for every aspect of your life, from health to financial to family and business.

(NOTE: My rules have changed – slightly – since I first wrote them. Here is my updated approach to life.)

My 12 Rules

1. I go to bed and get up at the same time 7 days per week (10 p.m. and 6 a.m.) I stick to my diet, avoid caffeine after 1 p.m., and avoid alcohol within 3 hours of bedtime.
2. I write for at least 60 minutes first thing every morning.
3. I do not check email before 11 a.m. and I do not talk on the phone unless it is a scheduled interview or conference call.
4. I act polite and courteous, and I do not swear.
5. I create a to-do list at the start & end of every workday and update my daily gratitude & achievement journal.
6. I do not engage in confrontations with anyone, in-person or online. This is a waste of time and energy. If I have caused harm, I apologize and fix the situation. And then I take a deep breath, relax, breathe out, and re-focus my efforts back on my work and goals.
7. I am guided by these two phrases:
   a) “Nothing matters.” – I can only work towards the major, massive goals and my vision of helping others, while the opinions of others do not matter to my goals.
   b) “It will all be over soon.”
8. Everything that happens to me – good and bad – is my personal responsibility. I blame no one but myself. These are the choices I’ve made – this is the life I’m living. I will accept the consequences of my actions.
9. I will help 10 Million men and women transform their lives.
10. I will not be the person I don’t want to be. I will not be petty, jealous, or envious, or give in to any other of those lazy emotions. I will not gossip or speak badly of others, no matter who I am with or what environment that I am in. I will not be negative when it is easier to be positive. I will not hurt others when it is possible to help. I will know the temptations, situations and environments in life that I must avoid, and I will, in fact, avoid them, even if it means loosening relationships with others who “live” in those environments. It’s my life and that matters more than what other people think of me.
11. “I will always keep the child within me alive.” – Ted Nicholas.
12. “I will write with honesty and feeling.” – Ted Nicholas. The opinion of others does not matter. What matters is the number of people that I can help by sharing advice and encouragement in my writing.

These 12 rules allow me to live my life with less guilt, more energy, and more productivity than if I did not have these personal philosophies outlined.

Now I know there will be two types of reactions to this content. First, some will dismiss it – and dismiss me. But to those people, remember the point of the list is not for you to sit there and think, “Oh, what a total weirdo. I never want to hang around with this guy.”

Instead, the point of the list, the idea, the article is to simply stimulate your thinking.

And that’s the 2nd type of reaction you can have to this article.

This is the reaction of the people who I’m interested in – the people who will realize what’s holding them back is not a lack of knowledge (because the knowledge is out there and freely available), but instead, it is decision making.

Listen, I know that every week you make decisions that leave you full of guilt and remorse, but on the other hand you also make decisions that you know are correct – even though they are difficult to make.

Wouldn’t you be better off if you made MORE correct decisions with less effort and stress?

Of course, and that is where you rules to live by, your personal philosophies, come into play.

With this post, I’ve given you a model so that you can create your own personal philosophies that will allow you to make the correct decision and fewer decisions that leave you with remorse.

As a result of making more correct decisions, you’ll move closer to your goals and suffer less frustration. Life will be simpler once you start adhering to your own personal philosophies – and not worrying about what others think.

Tell us your personal philosophies and life rules. Email us at proftbuilders@ymail.com

If you ever need any help please get back to me. Review:www.prosperitybreakthroughs4u.com

Stay strong and get stronger.

Wishing you more prosperity and abundance,

Michael