Three Rules for Life
We are limited people. An individual person simply cannot accomplish everything there is to do and certainly is not able to survive where everything is urgent, or important. It is a reality of the world in which we live. We all have limitations. Because of these limitations it is vital that we begin to understand and define our personal priorities. Failure to work on these things ourselves will result in our priorities of life being dictated or defined by the world around us. And that is a horrible place to be in life. The life defined by forces and people outside of it will never be stable, or secure. The Bible describes it as a rudderless boat tossed about by every bit of wind and waves around it. That life drifts about without purpose and without direction. How would life be different if you established your own rules for living?
Many years back I defined three distinct rules for life for me. They grew out of time with God and prayer and a lot of reflection. The number three is not a magic number, or a hard and fast rule. There are myriad reasons for three really but a person is free to seek what would be the best number for them. Here are my own three rules for life. In no way are they unique, or even originally defined/written by me. But these three rules guide and direct how I lead, how I interact with people, and how I live.
Be you
God did not make any other you in the world. It is a crying shame to deprive the world of the qualities God uniquely wove into you. You have a personality type with its strengths and weaknesses. You have particular skills, abilities, and experiences that all come together to make who you are. So much of life can be wasted on trying to be someone else. Learning to be comfortable with your own person and limitations is vital to authenticity. Understanding yourself and being comfortable with that helps you identify the things that are priority. In fact, the only way you can learn the most important things in life is to know who you are! Everything else flows from this rule.
Choose to add value
Each and every day of life is filled with various interactions. These interactions vary from small polite ones to long and arduous ones. They can be small talk with the person checking you out at the store, or coffee shop. It can be your supervisor at work. It can be your co-worker. in each of these interactions a sort of emotional transaction takes place. In that transaction you can either decrease the value of that person or increase it. Choose to increase it. Be polite. Encourage. Make eye contact. Smile. Use their name. When you are free to be yourself then you can be free to let others be themselves. Who knows what that person across from you is walking through, or dealing with in life. Choose to engage positively in their life. Choose to add value to them even if it is in the smallest of ways. Choosing to add value reveals a sense of caring and love for other people. It makes you the neighbor instead of trying to make everyone else organize around you.
Leave where you are better
Every place has its junk. It is easy to focus on that junk and complain, which just makes you a part of the junk. Don’t be junk, be better. You might be somewhere 5 minutes, 5 years, or a lifetime. Seek to make things better, not according to your own preference, but based on what is best for that organization, place, or environment. Leaving where you are better is a conscious choice to give your strengths into the organization to help things improve. It is choosing to see the best in things rather than the junk. It is choosing to add value to the people around you rather than tearing them down. Throw your trash away in a trash can. Return the cart to the corral. Don’t contribute to the dysfunction. How can you make where you are a better place? Don’t sit and act like everyone else should do it. Be the person to make it better.
As said above, every person is limited. No one can do everything and do it all well. What are the rules for your own life? What are the rules for life that will guide you and how you act in the world? If you don’t take the time to define them then the world around you will. Letting the things around you have that influence and power will only bring chaos to your life. Why not take the step of seeking the priorities God has for your life?