Call me smart or call me obsessive, I like to create rules for things. If we take a kinder, gentler tone, we can call them standard operating procedures, but they’re rules. Sometimes, they may seem excessive, but they accomplish the mission of bringing order to would-be chaos and making life a little more predictable.
Writing the Rules
In the workplace especially, it makes sense to establish procedures that maximize efficiency and productivity. In the plant or in the office, we have rules to help us conduct business in ways that maximize good outcomes and minimize bad outcomes with the least amount of time and resources expended. Often, the reasoning behind rules is relatively obvious, but there will always be a few we follow even though we’re not sure how they’re the best option.
At home, the situation is a little different. Our mental calculations don’t necessarily involve as many cost/benefit analyses. We don’t necessarily think in terms of expending resources of time and effort. Even so, we all establish rules, big and small, to help us function more efficiently – even when, to outsiders, the rules may seem odd.
As a silly example, I’ll ask this – have you ever had someone put the milk back on the wrong shelf? Sure, there was plenty of space on the top shelf and it looked like the milk could belong there, and yet you had to move it when you saw how wrong it was. Your helpful guest who returned the milk to the fridge didn’t know about the time you put the milk on that shelf and it froze just a little, so it got weird and chunky and you decided that you would keep the milk on the bottom shelf only. It makes sense when you know the entire explanation – and it’s not such a crazy rule after all.
Breaking the Rules
Many people talk about wanting to break the rules, but I maintain – you should at least try to know why a rule exists before you decide to break it. Maybe it is arbitrary, and stupid, and not the best option. But maybe, the rule really is a good attempt at bringing a little bit of order to the looming chaos of our daily lives.