WHY MUST WE BREAK RULES?
It can help open doors to innovation and change, but before that, it is important to learn the rules to breaking rules
Last night I watched four movies with my son, one
after another till 4 am. I woke up at 10 am today morning, feeling luxuriously
decadent and woolly headed. But, strangely happy and satisfied.
Sometimes you have binge nights, sometimes you
indulge and break the rules – and that is alright in a life that is mostly run
along secure, disciplined lines. It does feel good to break rules at times,
doesn’t it? An occasional break from routine and discipline doesn’t hurt. Most
of us break rules for fun when the stakes aren’t high and the outcome is
something we know can be easily handled. However, how about when we know that
the resultant fallout is unexpected or incalculable?
It is then that it becomes important to have a
strategy for breaking rules, if you must. Breaking rules is often the only way
to explore new ideas and bring about change. If you toe the line all the time,
how can your life be any different than it is – or for that matter, any
different from the lives of many others around you? Learn all the rules,
because you must learn the game and be accepted. And then, break strategic
rules, because you must learn to walk away and create differentiators.
Many successful businesses have been created by
non-conformists. Some of the world’s top leaders and innovators have been those
rebels who gave little hope of success to their parents, teachers or friends.
They were the ones who lived in their heads and found little use for
discipline. Those who dare to break the mould are the ones who from an early
age are curious, question everything, experiment, take challenges and break
free.
Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are icons
today because of the rules they broke on the way to creating path-breaking
ventures. Mark Zuckerberg advocates breaking rules with impunity when he says,
“Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking things, you are not moving
fast enough.”
You have to exit your safe, comfort zones to attract
the new and innovative; you have to ditch the ordinary to attract the
extraordinary. Without testing your limits and pushing at boundaries, you will
never know the elasticity these offer, nor the limits of your true potential
and unique identity.
However, before you set off on a trip to break all
the rules that bind you, there are a few important things to understand.
Breaking rules for the heck of breaking them can at most give you some amount
of fun, but could lead to disaster too. It is only when the breaking follows a
consistent pattern and is backed with a sense of direction — however vague it
may be initially — that it can lead you to some innovative spaces.
Second, so long as breaking a rule doesn’t hurt
others or violate their space, you are fine; your whims must not be at the cost
of others. Third, in order to break rules you must understand the rules well –
there must have been some collective thinking and learning behind the
implementation of that rule. Does it make sense to walk away from that
learning? And by doing so, do you hope to make a big change, perhaps make a
huge difference? If so, go ahead and break the rule, and do not look back.
And fourth is a gem I often quote and apply to life.
When you are experiencing or initiating a huge change in one sector of your
life, try and hold all other aspects firm and steady, so that you are free to
focus all energies and time in that one big area of your choice.
Every breaking of a rule must come with a sense of
responsibility and knowledge. If you break rules for the heck of breaking them
and sounding cool, you are inviting indiscipline and indulgence and heading
towards disaster. If you break rules with awareness and alertness with a target
in mind, you are most likely to succeed and be hailed an innovator.
VinitaDawra.Nangia@timesgroup.com
TL 6JAN18
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