Wise People Have Rules For Themselves

For example: brushing your teeth every day doesn’t require any sort of forcing or obsessing, just dental hygiene standards you consider non-negotiable.

We’ve all experienced the pain of living under unfair or unsympathetic rules, especially the ones imposed on us as children by teachers and grownups.

We fear the prospect of losing any of our freedom, and we tend to think of rules as devices that only constrain.

They’re good decisions made in batches—they’re behavioral boundary markers you get to position yourself, through your own experience and wisdom.

Despite our fear of rules, the feeling of acting in accordance with a well-considered personal rule is actually a palpable feeling of power and independence.