Three Life Rules

I came across this poster titled, ‘Three rules of life’ and pondered what they were. They are definitely three great rules but they only form part of the many rules of life. In reality, there are more rules of life than anyone can dare to even summarise in a book much less in three bullet points.

The rules that will matter most to us will differ from season to season and it will be based on the unique experiences that we are having at any point in time. All rules of life are universal and will apply regardless of who we are, where we live or what we believe.

So here are three rules that I want to explore in today’s post.  

1. If you don’t go after what you want, you will never have it
2. If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no
3. If you don’t step forward, you will always be in the same place

-Unknown-

Go after what you want

I have countless of conversations where I try to persuade talented people to leverage their talents and I am surprised by the number of people who roll their eyes, become apologetic or even worse say, ‘maybe someday’ after they admit there is no reason why the ‘someday’ can’t be today.

We often sell ourselves short, believe something is too difficult even before we make an attempt or we think we are not ‘enough’ to give it a go – not good enough, strong enough, smart enough, rich enough and the list goes on.

It is a fact that if you don’t go after what you want, you will never have it. Anyone can dream but only those who are willing to move from dream to reality fulfil their dreams.

Ask; the answer might just be ‘Yes’

There are times when I have wanted to ask someone for something or introduce myself to someone and I let the moment pass by talking myself out of it.

There are many times when I have simply put myself out there by asking for something and every time, the answer has been ‘Yes’ when I thought it would be a ‘No’. We must learn to overcome our fear of getting a ‘No’ by remembering there’s a 50:50 chance of it being a ‘Yes’.

I love the passage from the Bible that says, ‘Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find and knock and it shall be opened.’ Yes I recognise that this may not happen 100% of the time as we might want, but the odds are better if we live by this advise.

Step forward or stay in the same place

I worked for the financial services industry for almost eighteen years and one thing about the bank I worked for was that there wasn’t guaranteed promotion every few years if you stayed in the same job.

Yes, you got an annual pay rise depending on the results and some other requirements, but the guaranteed way to move on to the next stage of your career was for you to be willing to fight for it by applying and interviewing for a job at that new grade.

There are some industries where promotion is available based on certain criteria but in today’s world, your path to a progressive career is dependent on you putting yourself forward for new opportunities in the next job in the same or another company. It is not comfortable or easy but it is a must.

Get your foundation right

I can’t conclude this post without adding one more related rule about your own readiness and attitude as they underpin the other three rules.

There are times when you don’t know what you want until the opportunity arises or the door opens to you. In those instances, what has helped me is my underlying attitude and commitment to walking through any doors that open up to me.

This is what happened when the MasterChefUK 2022 opportunity opened up. It wasn’t something I thought of or considered. It was a ‘bolt out of the blue’ kind of idea and I knew I wasn’t the source of it, but I had a decision to make. I could let it pass as a mere fleeting thought or see it as a divine inspiration with purpose attached to it.

I approached it with the latter in mind and went for something I didn’t even know I wanted until the thought came. This is because I made a decision years before that I would ALWAYS walk through every door that divinely opened up to me.
Months of filming later, I became a semi-finalist and made it to the top 6 of a worldwide show that I never saw myself on. Today I am richer because of that experience with even more doors opening up to me in ways that I could never have imagined.

Thanks for reading and sharing my post with others. Think about these four rules and consider which one you need to apply today and go for it. Have an awesome week.