Rules That Don’t Exist

Break The Rules – EA Show #54

We’ve been watching the History Channel series, “America, The Story of Us,” and have learned a few lessons from our founding fathers, especially the rebels who fought for our independence. In this episode, we talk specifically about rules, and why your future depends on you breaking them.

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Share Your Thoughts…
What do you think about this month’s show? Do you have a review of “America, The Story of Us?” What rules do you often find yourself inadvertently abiding by? We’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below or in the video itself by clicking the little plus sign in the player. Got photos or videos? Send ‘em to eashow@kimandjason.com

Linkety Links

Learn more about the History Channel’s America The Story of Us.

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The Danger of Cartwheels and Car Dancing

It wasn’t long after she learned to walk that Lucy started dancing. It began with little head bobs and knee bends. Now, when a fast beat is bursting from our living room stereo, Lucy is the first one to come running. Spinning, twirling, and bouncing, she’s a whirling dervish of dance moves.

I hate it that we lose that free-spiritedness as we get older. Most of us, anyway. Me included. Continue Reading →

A New (Really Old) Way to Create Calm In Your World

The idea of taking one day a week as reprieve from the hectic pace of modern life may seem pretty revolutionary, but it is actually as old as human history. It even has a name, albeit an old-fashioned and highfalutin sounding one: Sabbath.

What Is Your Word for 2010?

When our world officially admits it’s another year older, lots of people come up with resolutions.

“I resolve to lose 90 pounds.”

“I resolve to quit smoking once and for all.”

“I resolve to win the lottery.”

Considering how many resolutions are upended by the consumption of an entire bag of Doritos in one sitting or how many gyms look like ghost towns on March 1st, it’s amazing that we go through the trouble of of making them in the first place.

Indeed, the mandate that we should all come up with some sort of New Year’s Resolution is a rule that doesn’t exist. Continue Reading →

What Business Card Design Has to Do With Making Your Life Better

How many business cards have you collected over the years? A handful? A hundred? Enough to wallpaper the bathrooms of every house on your block? Even if you’re not involved in “Business,” chances are you’ve received a number of business cards over the years, from the auto mechanic to your neighbor who sells Mary Kay.

Most business cards are, frankly, forgettable. Continue Reading →

Are You Living By Rules That Don’t Exist?

Life is filled with countless rules that need to be broken. No, I’m not talking about running red lights or robbing banks. I’m talking about simple assumptions that we live by in order to fit in and stay comfortable. Kids like to break the mold and a great way to stay childlike, leaving Adultitis in the dust, is to follow their lead. Here are a few thoughts about the rules that don’t exist.

How to Experience More by Doing Less

photo by limonada

We live in a culture of more. We are conditioned to want more stuff, sure, but also to be involved in more and more activities. Our schedules are bursting with everything from meetings, extracurriculars, and charitable activities to projects, practices, and parties of all kinds, including birthdays, baptisms, weddings and showers.

And of course, we can’t say no, for fear that we will appear selfish, offend somebody, or cripple our children’s chance of getting into Harvard or the NBA. Sometimes it’s as simple as not wanting to miss out on something fun. Having to say yes to all of these things or be crushed under the weight of our own guilt is a rule that doesn’t exist.

I get caught up in it myself. I’m prone to wonder (and often doubt) if I’m sucking all the marrow out of life, saying yes to enough things, and collecting enough experiences.

Am I living my life to the fullest? Continue Reading →

no_rules I love this picture. The boy’s name is Henry, the son of a blogger named Sabra, who explained the photo like this:

Because some days you should get what you want. That’s my explanation for this picture.

Henry is wearing the PJ bottoms he begged to keep on, the shoes he insisted on (one a rain boot and the other a pair of sandals). He’s eating peanut butter from a spoon and enjoying his binky.

Throughout our lives, starting at the very beginning, we are bombarded with rules.

Many of which don’t exist. Continue Reading →

Jump off the Conveyer Belt

We recently started back on the road for a fall filled with speaking gigs. One thing Jason talks about is to “Stop living by rules that don’t exist.” This is a major way to fight your Adultitis. Living by this philosophy is exactly what gives the typical two-year-old the bad rap as “terrible.” In defense of parents of toddlers everywhere, let me point out that two-year-olds are in the business of testing everything, discovering the world around them and how they fit into it… which doesn’t always look pretty. Jason and I joke that inevitably there’s always a two or three-year-old throwing a major fit on the floor in the airport security line stubbornly objecting to take off his shoes for the TSA staff. We smile because they are the only ones who have the naivety (and guts) to stand up to the TSA, even if it is a losing battle. I secretly cheer the toddler on… how I wish I could refuse and throw a fit one of these days!

There is a lesson to be learned from the stubborn naivety of the terrible twos. You must challenge the status quo. Most of the time the “rules” that you insist on following are either insignificant or they simply do not even exist. As I think about our life, I smile at the opportunities when Jason and I have bucked the system, jumped off the conveyer belt of life, and taken our own path. It’s very childlike and with any lesson taken from our younger years, it creates a life of adventure and spunk.

Here are a few examples of how we’ve demonstrated that childlike grit by living by our own rules…

Rule: Get a job with good solid benefits. We ultimately rejected the safe school district insurance for the high deductible life of self-employment.

Rule: After you get married you should invest in a home. We chose to delay owning a home, and decided instead to invest in our business, ultimately gambling our house fund for a lifestyle that we love. Continue Reading →