Self Improvement Articles - Breaking all of the Rules


by CEDRIC RICE - Date: 2010-07-26 - Word Count: 722 Share This!

I didn't say breaking all of the laws here I said rules, and there is a big difference. Rules govern our day to day activities and the expectations that we have, but if we can break or bend them we can raise our level of expectation in life. For example, have you ever heard the saying that "What goes up must come down." That may have been true seventy five years ago but it is not totally true today. With the advent of the space age we can propel an object into space which will never return to this earth. Now eventually the rule will kick in and it will land somewhere but can you see how the law was bent? In a sense the rule of gravity can't be broken forever but what about some of the things that have hindered our minds? What about the social mores which have held us captive for so long? What the myth that African Americans were inferior to the white race, or that women were second class citizens? These rules had us limited to the point that our society couldn't benefit from the contributions that African Americans and women had to make. We suffered for so many years and never met our true potential because we would not utilize these people as assets.

Now the point that I am making is this: What is the extent that you are limiting your own mind with beliefs that have hindered you? Many times the parent out of concern will hinder the development of his or her children by placing unnecessary restrictions on them. I remember that as a child whenever we went to visit my mother's mother we couldn't do anything. We had to sit all day and not move or go outside to play. Now think about the worlds that we could have discovered if we had been able to explore as our nature wanted us to. I understand that you have to place some restrictions on children for their own good but excessive restrictions do more harm than good.

We have been molded and beaten into shape since we were children. I want to challenge you today to consider your values and determine whether or not they are realistic. Now if they are and you need them don't throw them out. Let's give ourselves a mental enima. Let's flush those old ideas and habits which hinder our growth and potential.

When I was in the military I used to encourage my followers to be innovative and use their imagination to solve problems. I once had the duty of transporting and storing nuclear ammunition which is a serious responsibility. One rule for guarding nuclear material is the two man rule. According to this rule there must be at least two people present at all times when guarding nuclear materials. They had to maintain eye contact with each other and the nuclear material at the same time. This prevented one of them from tampering with the material without the knowledge of the other. The traditional way of guarding nuclear ammunition was to have a ring of guards around it all facing outward. One of my Sergeants came up with an idea which was so clever that it defied description. He had his guards to face inward instead of outward. This was so beautiful because it allowed the guards to be able to see every other guard at the same time rather than only the person next to him. It also allowed every guard to see the nuclear material at all times. This took two man rule to a whole new level. The guards were also able to see past the perimeter at the same time so that if any threat came close at least half of them would be able to see it.

You can't help but see the ingenuity in this idea but believe it or not many people fought against it because it wasn't the way that they were used to doing it. We won our fight because when they took us to the operating manuals they could not find anyplace where our method didn't fill the requirements of the regulation. The moral of this story is: Take off your mental blinders and soar to those places where you've never been. Riceland Enterprises


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