I’m writing this from a paddleboard.
Oh my God, if my boss knew, they’d kill me.
Oh wait. I am my boss. I GET TO MAKE THE RULES!
And honestly, how is writing this from a paddleboard on a beautiful summer day any different from staring at a screen inside? If anything, the creativity flows better out here where I can move my body, soak up the sunshine, and appreciate the place I’m lucky enough to call home.
Of course, making your own rules takes effort and courage, which is why I think so many of us default to the rules we inherited without questioning whether they actually serve us. For example…
- Work happens at a desk.
- Exercise has to be miserable.
- Busy = productive
- Rest must be earned.
- Emails deserve immediate responses.
- More is better.
- You have to wear pants on a zoom call.
Says who?
Self-awareness gives us the privilege of asking, “What actually works best for me?”
Most of us are unsupervised most of the time. We get to decide.
So as I sit here enjoying the sunshine, watching an osprey soar overhead and keeping one eye on the shark swimming beneath me — it’s probably ok…he’s not a big shark — I’ll leave you with this:
What rules are you following simply because they became the default?
And what might change if you rewrote a few of them?
- Maybe you’d do better work.
- Maybe you’d be more creative or more resilient.
- Maybe you’d get more movement, more sunshine, and more joy.
- Or maybe you’d just be happier.
- And that seems like a pretty good reason to “break” a few rules.
Go get ‘em Tiger!
