The one thing I admire about people who have strong nutrition beliefs is their dogmatic behavior.
For example, a vegetarian, under no circumstances, will ever eat meat. There is no, “well, everyone else is having a burger, so just this once, I will too.”
That’s not how it works.
Not when a vegetarian has a strong personal philosophy that they never, ever, ever eat meat.
And that strong personal philosophy guides them to guilt-free behavior that is congruent with their goals.
I’ve also taught my fat loss clients to develop their own personal philosophy – essentially a set of rules that dictate decisions, and I’ve also created my own rules that determine how I live my life so that I reduce guilt, stress, and wasted emotional energy.
Now the purpose of this email is not to say that my personal philosophies are wrong or right.
Instead, they are simply here to encourage you to adopt your own rules for the sake of living a better, more productive stress free life. You may have your own rules in your head, but I encourage you to put them in writing. And you can adopt a set of rules for every aspect of your life, from health to financial to family and business.
(NOTE: My rules have changed – slightly – since I first wrote them. Here is my updated approach to life.)
My 12 Rules
- I go to bed and get up at the same time 7 days per week (8 p.m. and 4 a.m.) I stick to my diet, avoid caffeine after 1 p.m., and avoid alcohol within 3 hours of bedtime.
- I write for at least 60 minutes first thing every morning.
- I do not check email before 11 a.m. and I do not talk on the phone unless it is a scheduled interview or conference call.
- I act polite and courteous, and I do not swear.
- I create a to-do list at the start & end of every workday and update my daily gratitude & achievement journal.
- I do not engage in confrontations with anyone, in-person or online. This is a waste of time and energy. If I have caused harm, I apologize and fix the situation. And then I take a deep breath, relax, breathe out, and re-focus my efforts back on my work and goals.
- I am guided by these two phrases:
a) “Nothing matters.” – I can only work towards the major, massive goals and my vision of helping others, while the opinions of others do not matter to my goals.
b) “It will all be over soon.” - Everything that happens to me – good and bad – is my personal responsibility. I blame no one but myself. These are the choices I’ve made – this is the life I’m living. I will accept the consequences of my actions.
- I will help 10 Million men and women transform their lives.
- I will not be the person I don’t want to be. I will not be petty, jealous, or envious, or give in to any other of those lazy emotions. I will not gossip or speak badly of others, no matter who I am with or what environment that I am in. I will not be negative when it is easier to be positive. I will not hurt others when it is possible to help. I will know the temptations, situations and environments in life that I must avoid, and I will, in fact, avoid them, even if it means loosening relationships with others who “live” in those environments. It’s my life and that matters more than what other people think of me.
- “I will always keep the child within me alive.” – Ted Nicholas.
- “I will write with honesty and feeling.” – Ted Nicholas. The opinion of others does not matter. What matters is the number of people that I can help by sharing advice and encouragement in my writing.
So that’s it. These 12 rules allow me to live my life with less guilt, more energy, and more productivity than if I did not have these personal philosophies outlined.
Now I know there will be two types of reactions to this content. First, some will dismiss it – and dismiss me.
But to those people, remember the point of the list is not for you to sit there and think, “Oh, what a total weirdo. I never want to hang around with this guy.”
Instead, the point of the list, the idea, the article is to simply stimulate your thinking.
And that’s the 2nd type of reaction you can have to this article.
This is the reaction of the people who I’m interested in – the people who will realize what’s holding them back is not a lack of knowledge (because the knowledge is out there and freely available), but instead, it is decision making.
Listen, I know that every week you make decisions that leave you full of guilt and remorse, but on the other hand you also make decisions that you know are correct – even though they are difficult to make.
Wouldn’t you be better off if you made MORE correct decisions with less effort?
Of course, and that is where you rules to live by, your personal philosophies, come into play.
With this post, I’ve given you a model so that you can create your own personal philosophies that will allow you to make the correct decision and fewer decisions that leave you with remorse.
As a result of making more correct decisions, you’ll move closer to your goals and suffer less frustration. Life will be simpler once you start adhering to your own personal philosophies – and not worrying about what others think.
I’d like to hear your personal philosophies and life rules. Just add your thoughts to the comments section below.
The 12 Rules I Live By (What are yours),TODAY’S FREE OFFER
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this is a very humble and downs Earth post that will definitely leave an impact on anyone’s mind in “food for thought”
I’ve bookmarked this article so I can browse over it every so often. Seeing others lay out their framework for productivity and happiness, even though mine looks different, helps me to re-focus when I’ve gone slightly off-track.
Thanks Craig!
Thanks a lot Craig, for this piece of insightful writting on ’12 Rules For My Life’.
You seem to have gone into the inner recesses of my mind in outlining the above rules, because I have often questioned myself if, I was making the best use of my time and resources, if I was in the best Job or environment that I should be in, amongst many other soul-searching questions at the back of my mind.
I have come to the conclusion that I must live life by my own rules, while helping others at the same time, in other to become fully contended with life.
Thank you so much for opening up my eyes on what ideal living really ought to be like.
Hi there, this has truly inspired me afresh. I always encourage people to take it easy… you are just a fantastic philosopher..
Thank you…
Love this post and there are a lot of same rules I live by as well, especially 5,8,10. Now I want to create my own 1,2,3,4 and start to live by 12! Thanks for sharing and keep going!
If you intended to make your readers do some thinking and reflecting, then you have succeeded with me! I am a little awestruck by how clear and dedicated you are to your “12 rules.” I think the thing I like best is that living these rules puts you completely in control of your life and your decisions. (No getting caught up in any “if this” or “unless this” or “as long as he/she does/doesn’t”) Now, I’m going to start thinking and working on a list of my own rules. Thank you for the post.
This was such a great post. Now I want to set aside some time to come up with my own framework of rules to live by. Thank you so much for this thought provoking post.
Great inspiration and a disciplined plan for life.
Very timely advise and will definitely start adopting this. Spent too many years dealing with the negativity of Corp America that does not care about their people or their customers. Then got the big C which is a wake up call to change my life. Scary to venture out on my own but hope this will guide me to success. Thank you for all your wisdom you share with us. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword.
This Article I Very Fine
I came across ’12 Rules’ randomly about 2 months ago and not having time to read and ponder, I thought I would come back another time. But I failed to note down the url….. and all my searches of ‘emails before 9′ (one that caught my eye) came to naught!
Until today – I found it on a search of ‘set of rules for my life’ …. Fantastic! Inspiring! Time to draft my own. Thank You!
Bron
A plan to follow based on people’s values and goals seems to be always at the heart of their success in life. I’ve tried to create a plan to discipline myself and set objectives, but I’ve never done it. I need to find out what I want in life to go get it. Unfortunately life goes by very fast and being in my fifties I better do it soon since time is not on my side. Your 12 rules are inspiring. Thank you for caring.
Craig, amazing. when the student is ready the teacher will appear. i am ready and here you are. thank you
While I was reading your post, I realized that I also live by rules and it made me reflect on visiting them with more specific intention. Thanks for the post as it created lovely insight!
Wonderful. Exactly what I was needing right now.
Absolutely FINE for people who need rules, rules, rules…then there are those who have built-in, natural discipline, which allows them to stay up late (and still function the next day), to check email at 7 am (and maybe not again until 4 pm), to chuck all the plans and regs and rules and take a day to do nothing beyond filling their inner well of being.
Yes, we’re the “other” kind. We inculcate a lot, if not all, of the principles you espouse, we just don’t feel the need to be so r-i-g-i-d about them!
Continued success to you, and remember to allow for other ways to the same goals. Peace out!
Do hard and honest work, live an honest life, share earning with other human beings are three things which will bring happiness in one’s life. To use these in practical life is very difficult but practicing people would the best of all.
I love those rules. I wish I could follow them more closely. Thank you for sharing them with me.
Bravo!!!
Great article.
I love the philosophy and am writing up my own (just slightly modiified from yours) list.
Mahalo nui loa!
Thank a lot for re-encouraging
THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Your article meant more to me than you’ll ever know. You have a gift!
great write up! thank you for sharing and will definitely start to incorporate some of these rules to live by…
Hey Craig,
Great post man! Extremely inspiring! If you had to choose 1 thing/rule which drives your motivation, which enables you to really hit your goals, which 1 thing/rule would you choose?
All the best!
Scott Johnson
Good start, but you didn’t mention anything about being there for you friends. In my world, friends are pretty important.
Thank you for your life skills insight. We work in a very demanding, high performance environment and although we all love what we do, we use a set of guidelines to help keep us focused and grounded. We have found that in the office at least, these guidelines help make us happier, more creative and more realistic.
thank you i will start my own instantly…
Hello, I liked what u had to say in ur 12 Rules I LIVE By. I certainly haven’t reached that level of responsibility, but I can certainly appreciate someone who has. I totally agree with EVERYTHING you said & realize I need to adapt at least some of these actions into my own life. It isn’t as if I didn’t HAVE that data; it’s more like I haven’t bothered to implement them. So I think I need to thank you for the reminder of what I already knew & start DOING it instead of just knowing it. So……….THANK YOU!!!!!
This is great to get a kick start on moving forward… You mentioned daily readings. Question, do you include your daily readings on your day before to do list? Or do you have a set list you always read each evening?
I find that I have a stack of magazines, articles, websie posts that I mark but never have an “organized” way of getting through them. Any suggestions are welcome.
What are your daily readings?
Hi Mackenze, I cover many of them in this video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JSeJU3gL6U
I have to admit that I need to stop being so hard on myself and stop helping out all those people that are not really trying to help themselves. Primarily, I am speaking on a financial level especially when it seems to hold me back from other things that I should be doing. Your philosophy is for the most part something I agree with and although I get tired of people, I merely think its just because its the worng kinds of people who want to just sit and dwell on how bad everything is.
Been there done that but now I need to focus on moving on in life
Thank you for your inspirational words
Steve
Love these. Really thoughtful article. I also make it a point to write first thing in the morning, and it has become my favorite time of day. Coffee, listening to the owls hooting back and forth, the quiet before the dawn… I’ve grown to love it. I accomplish more before daylight than I ever dreamed possible. And it has catapulted my blog into high gear!
I love it! Clarity! Honesty! I don’t think I’d change one thing about what you just wrote. Very powerful stuff. Everything you just articulated I know to be true. It sure makes a difference seeing it in black and white, and I’m sure it makes a huge difference writing your own code of conduct and deciding to live by them daily, not occasionally.
Good Stuff, and I’m hooked!
Thank you for your commitment to my success.
Ron Hartman
Thank you Ron, greatly appreciated.
Craig
Hey Craig, just had to say thanks for all your useful information. I’m attracted to your goal of helping people’s ideas. Personally i’m seeking sponsorship or partnership or merge with others to build the future for W U N.
W U N is described in the “CEREUS” video on my facebook page.
How should we proceed ?
Thanks kindly Craig.
These are powerful tenets to follow daily – thank you for sharing. I don’t know how you manage to get to sleep by 9 pm though! But, maybe you’ve learned to become super effective and efficient and that’s how you do it. I get up very early too.
Many thanks,
Laura V. Rodriguez
Silver Spring, MD 20910
I loved this article. I spent my early years worrying about a lot of what you had said. Needless to say, I was a person with a bad attitude. Now I worry about me and my family and that is it. My life has been less stressful and more enjoyable since I stopped worrying about the things I can’t control.
Great Post!
Your disciplined life has served you well as evidenced by your concise writing and positive mentoring of others. You inspire by being true to yourself. We all want that as our legacy. Thank you for sharing your simple formula.
Craig, you continue to be more & more awesome. Your authenticity (and your Canadianness) keeps me riveted. One of my life rules is to ask, “what would widom & compassion do on this situation?” and another- the self first principle – looking after yourself in an extraordinary way means there is more than enough for others later.
Craig, you are doing a wonderful job of changing lives! The amount of satisfaction that comes from getting peace of so many individuals is incredible! I know what are you chasing for?. I also believe in the fact that only person you can change in thought is yourself. Rest world you can just educate!
Best of luck for your mission.
Craig, u have a great set of philosophy to live by, I love ‘em all, dude!!
I have my own n here r a few:
1. Life is sweeter when you live by your style and your design
2. Live an honest life by first being true to yourself.
3. Eat foods to energize your body
4. Expend your good energy where it is most deserving
5. If someone angers you, look deep within and correct yourself first
6. No one is jumping in my grave, hence I dance to my own drums
7. Live fully . Love openly . Make a difference in this world
8. Everyone has an opinion and everyone has a right to their opinion
9. We’re all here for the experience, not the thing itself
10. God is a way of life, not a religion
11. Stay clear from toxic people, they have a strange way of infiltrating
12. Feed your mind n your body will follow
13. Be, do, have as you desire but dare not hurt another soul
… etc ….
My rule #1, Iwill never say anything bad about anyone at any time for any reason.
Thank you for posting these guidelines. They were truly a “wake-up call” for me this morning and I fully plan on instituting a version of them in my everyday life. Once again, I thank you and keep up the great work!
Craig, your 12 rules I live by are a great inspiration to me. These 12 rules are a good sample for me so I can set up 12 conducive to suit my personality and goals.
Craig- I love your wisdom,”I refuse to let anything or anyone drag me into a negative confrontation!”
My words of wisdom I try and live by is ” do less explaining and more positive
action.”
Be congruent in words and deeds.
always be kind!
on another note, do you have a forum to interact with your readers and us to one another?
Hi Gayle,
Only our Virtual Mastermind members have access to an interactive forum.
Thanks!
Craig
Craig,
Thank you for reposting this article. I found it inspiring and plan to make my own rules to live by. I love what you do, please keep it coming.
Judith
Thanks Judith, really appreciate the feedback.
Craig
Craig,
I have never realized the power of writing out and verbalising my rules. I had rules, but they were vague and as a result some of them were compromised, leaving me guilty and less productive. Thank you for the email, it’s an inspiration. I am writing out my rules immediately after I click the “submit” button. I will have less guilt, more energy, and more productivity. I will bring value to this world. Glad to have you as a role model Craig!
Jake
Thanks Jake, happy to help.
Craig
Hi Craig:
That is awesome wisdom. The title “EARLY TO RISE” reminds me of my dad who was a farmer. He would wake up religiously every morning at 5:00am and will be out of the house by 6:00am. He would wake everyone in the household at the same time and his famous words were “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. So thank you!! It is encouraging to know that someone has embraced such wisdom and is sharing it with the world.
12 great steps Craig….hmm somewhat like AA only different! Lots of good points here and I especially took from it to really help you focus on what’s important and how to help yourself to be much more productive. The internet can be such a cesspool of time wasting and it can be so hard to focus on one thing. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Hey Craig,
This was a great exercise. Thank you for the model and the suggestion. I’ve edited these a couple of times this week. When I read them I realize there is a way that they can sound like aspiration rather than conviction. They also sound a bit like affirmations. The truth is in the behavior then. In any case, the exercise helped give me clarity about my commitments.
Rule #1: Choose life.
It will mean something different in different contexts, but it is a reminder that life is a gift made complete by the choices I make.
In practical terms:
2. I go to bed by 9:30; wake up at 4:30 – except for special occasions. I am a morning person; this is my best time of the day. Healthy nutrition: no caffeine, no wine except special occasions, no fatty/salty snacks, stay hydrated (2 qts or more each day). Start the day right with breakfast. Avoid bread and gluten in general.
3. Commitment to be fit and strong. I exercise 30 min or more 4 or more days a week. I focus on both aerobic fitness and core strength.
4. I meditate and journal daily; I am on a path of spiritual, personal growth.
5. I stay on course. My project list is up to date; I check it several times a week; I create a daily to-do plan. I am disciplined.
6. I live from generosity; be gracious; be curious. Be discerning but judgment-free.
7. I take personal responsibility. Be accountable.
8. I have nothing to prove.
9. Do it now. You’ll be glad you did.
10. Create order. End the day with a little more beauty, love and order than was there at the beginning.
Fantastic, well done Phil.
Thanks for the tips but a quick question…how successful financially are you? Waking at 5pm is brillaint but sleeping at 9pm doesnt even sound practical or profitable. There are going to be times when clients want to take you to dinner or time spent with the kids, loved ones right? I have been wanting to wake early but have trouble reconciling the sleep bit hence i like to know how successful that makes people.
-J
Hi Jason, Please remember that my rules aren’t your rules. I don’t run a business that requires me to attend client dinners.
Before I wrote this list I had one 7-figure business. Since writing this list, I have increased that to two, and things are going well in all of them. So my rules work for me.
The point was that everyone needs their own rules, not that they need my rules.