There are three kinds of people:
Those who follow the rules to the letter. Those who ignore the rules because they don’t believe they apply to them. And those who like to follow the rules, but can justify with reason why they need not be followed.
Example: In my previous life as a CPA, I worked for a firm whose senior partner berated me for 20 minutes over a comma.
Yes, you read that right. He simply couldn’t fathom why I failed to put a comma in a sentence. He had a very strict rule and was right, regardless of facts. And while I admitted I had “struggled” with whether to place a comma in the sentence, I relied on my Strunk and White: Elements of Style to make my final decision.
The berating went on, yes, for 20 minutes, until I had had enough and told him to go F himself.
Example: The best example I can think of happened this morning. I was driving to the office and approached an intersection where a NO LEFT TURN sign was clearly marked. Of course, the idiot in front of me decided this rule didn’t apply to him, so he stopped the line of traffic behind him to make the left.
Example: My father was a 6th-grade teacher (besides his side-gig as a musician). He was a master teacher who was well on his way to a Ph.D.
While he was, admittedly, a tough guy, he was a dedicated teacher and worked like a madman for his students’ success. He would create individualized programs for every kid in the class based on their aptitude. He has some kids working at a 3rd-grade level while others were at 8th-grade material.
He was told, in no uncertain terms, to get rid of the materials he’d been using to teach the kids in his class and use materials that would put every child working on the same level. It went so far as the principal coming to his classroom with a janitor to physically remove the books.
He was frustrated and angry because he knew it was to his students’ detriment. After school, he decided to reclaim the books by heisting them from the trash bin while the janitor was off cleaning classrooms. He continued his sub rosa instruction without letting the Administration know.
My father retired from teaching because he was beaten down by the rules imposed by, as he put it, “non-educators” and parents’ complaints about everything. He was no rebel but refused to go along with rules that made no sense.
It’s important to understand how you approach rules. Because in Chapter X, there are very few rules, if any. Going from structure to no structure can be difficult for those who love and flourish in it. Freedom from rules (at least the ones that have guided you since you entered the workforce) can be liberating… or completely unnerving.
Self-awareness is a good starting point.
