Rule #14: Break The Rules

On a blog about rules, I understand the irony of including a rule that says “Break the Rules.”  However, as the common saying goes, “Rules are meant to be broken,” and for the current generation of twentysomethings, the rules of the past are consistently and rapidly being rewritten.  It’s those individuals who are pushing the boundaries and breaking the rules that are moving society forward as well as achieving their own personal goals and dreams.  It is in our Quarterlife years when we should be pushing ourselves to our highest personal standards by testing the limits in front of us.  If you break the rules every once in a while, you’ll find that the bar that you and those around you have set for you isn’t high enough and you’ll help yourself reach higher limits and goals than you ever thought was possible.

For today’s generation of twentysomethings, nothing is the same as it was for former generations.  The world is smaller, everything moves at a quicker pace, and the possibilities in front of us seem more endless than they ever were for former generations.  The struggle that both our young generation and the ones before us face is that the rules, expectations and standards are completely different than they were for our parents and older generations, and sometimes this can lead to tension between twentysomethings and our parents, teachers, bosses and role models.  For Quarterlifers today, the rules of the past- graduate college (if you’re lucky), get a job and stay at it for a long time, maybe get married young and have a family- seem like odd notions that don’t make sense to a generation that has more freedom to explore their lives before “settling down” than any other. 

Our generation was brought up to believe that the future was open to be whatever we wanted it to be.  In a way, we were taught to believe we could make our own rules and standards for our lives and break the ones that others before us had to follow.  In this spirit, take advantage of the freedom and opportunities that you are fortunate to have as a twentysomething in this day and age.  Break the rules of the past and create your own rules to live by that make sense for you as an individual.  In the end, you are your only judge, so the rules you make for yourself are the ones that you know will help lead you to where YOU want to be in your life.  Part of breaking the rules means that you are following your own heart, and if you let your heart and your instincts guide you, then you really can’t go wrong. 

Twentysomethings today are already part of a generation that’s breaking the rules.  If you look at the founding of Facebook and the utilization of technology and social media, you can see our generation changing the way that we communicate, discover and learn.  Take inspiration from this when you make a habit to “break the rules” in your everyday life.  Learn to think outside the box and find new ways to approach challenges.  Take more initiative at your school, in your office and in your free time.  Start new projects, finish uncompleted ones, and begin working towards your long held goals and dreams.  The only way that you’ll see your projects, goals and dreams to fulfillment is if you take risks and chances and break the rules every once in a while.  Every great accomplishment starts with someone questioning the status quo and breaking the rules that everyone else followed before them.  When you take a risk and do things differently every now and then, you create the rules that you want to follow for your own life, and even create the possibility to rewrite the rules for everyone else.  The only way to reach your goals is if you set the path, focus on the destination, and make the rules to follow to help you get there.

As a twentysomething in today’s world, you have the opportunity and the freedom to expand your horizons and push further beyond your boundaries than any other generation before.  While our parents, teachers and bosses have gratefully worked and sacrificed to give us the advantages that we have, it does not mean that you should always follow the rules, expectations and standards that they have set before us.  As you develop your own individuality, you should learn to test your limits often, which includes breaking the rules that your parents and other authority figures have expected you to follow.  Part of exploring and developing your true self involves discovering your own rules to live by, and it’s not always an easy process to break away from those who helped you clear your path.  It takes courage to break the rules, but if you take a chance every now and then, then you will see that you sometimes have to take a risk to make your world what you truly want it to be.