Rules and Exceptions

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on December 1, 2009
in Newsletters
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Humans are rule-makers.  We make all sorts of rules.  Like “Always put the napkin on the left,” and “Stop at a red light,” and “Never loan money to a relative with a hole in his jeans.”

Rules are useful.  They give us guidelines to decide quickly.  When we have a rule for that, the debating is done.

So you could say that one way we become more expert at handling our lives is by creating rules.  A rule can cover a large number of repetitive circumstances more efficiently — and even more effectively — than not having a rule.

However, when we follow rules without awareness, we can become blind to situations where breaking a rule would create a better result.  So, if learning to create rules is one level of mastery, learning to make exceptions to them can be the next level.  Becoming expert is more a matter of learning many small adjustments to make than of finding one action that works in every case.

For example, when I was learning to fold origami, I first learned to line up edges perfectly.  Later, I learned that there were exceptions to that rule — sometimes leaving a gap or lining up corners instead creates a better finished model.  At that point, I reached a new level of skill.

Think of a skill you are trying to master.  What level do you hold in it?  Are you learning to make rules?  Do you have the rules down, and are now learning the exceptions?

Where could learning a rule or an exception help you handle a situation more skillfully?

Here’s to your growing skill in all areas of your life!

And for many useful guidelines and adjustments, please pick up my new book, Changes of the Heart.  Details below.

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