Ep. 5 – Principles v. Rules
5 Minute Rants by THE a.m.
A podcast predicated on the journey of business and life.
Ep. 5 – Principles v. Rules
Life is fluid.
People are fluid.
We normally operate based on rules or principles.
Both are needed.
Both have different applications.
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Life is fluid. People are fluid. We normally operate based on rules or principles. Both are needed. Both […]
June 18, 2023
Episode Transcript
Michael Abernathy 0:00
Hey what’s up? What’s up? What’s up? What’s up, everybody?! Welcome to The a.m. Welcome to 5 Minute Rants! Hope life is treating you good. I’m doing better than I deserve. Life is great, businesses great. I’ve really been blessed.
So, to jump into today’s episode, Just for our little five minute chat here, we’re going to talk about principles versus rules. Okay? So, principles versus rules. So I’ve got a story. Growing up as a little kid, I wasn’t allowed to touch the stove. All right, stoves are dangerous, they’re hot, they will burn you, and they will hurt you. And so as I grew up, I never touched the stove. But then as I got older, I reached a certain point where that changed, okay. And I was allowed to touch the stove. And even as an adult, now, guess what I need to do touch the stove. Right? And so the point of my story is this principle, or rule?
A rule is something that never should be broken. Something that never should change, and a principle is something that is more fluid that allows me as a human being, who is fluid, who is changing and constantly in flux, to change with it.
And so the rule was, don’t touch the stove. Okay? Well, that’s broken. Because as I start turning 12, 13, 14, I’m touching the stove, right, I’m helping my mom cook, I’m doing different things like that cleaning the kitchen, I’m touching the stove, I’m cleaning the stove. Instead, the principle which was taught alongside it was the stove is hot. And this isn’t the principle, but this is the reasons for the principle, the stove is hot, and it will hurt you.
So the principle is respect and awareness of what you’re doing. Now, the principle is really fluid, hey, this thing could potentially hurt you. So there needs to be respect, not fear about it, you don’t need to be afraid of it. But you need to be respectful of it, respect its boundaries, respect the burners, and the burners boundaries, and then also to be aware of where you’re at in proximity to it. And those are principles.
And that’s really how life works in the majority of scenarios. So we do need rules do not get me wrong, we need rules, okay. And there are certain instances for rules. But my point here is oftentimes we miss the difference between a principle and a rule.
So this was, again, life changing for me, this little nugget of that there’s a difference between a principle, in a rule, it’s especially in business, if you think about business, and how you develop culture within a business culture is often principle based. Okay? Rules are often very process base of how we’re going to do things when we’re going to do them, okay? Often a lot of things in our lives, our principles, okay?
Like my principle growing up was do not touch somebody unless it’s out of love. I was bullied at different points, and there was self defense at several points. But if the rule is, you never touch anybody ever. Well, I’d never be hugging my wife. I never would have acted out self defense and either tried to run away from the situation, or swung a time or two back, you know, in middle school to protect myself, those things would not have happened. Because the rule is don’t touch somebody, right? Don’t hurt somebody, because that’s the rule you’d never hurt anybody. It’s like, well, that’s not true. And so instead, the principle is, don’t touch somebody unless it’s out of love. Well, self defense is love towards myself. So there that is, and that applies that way.
So the point is, is as we go through this, to recognize the difference between rules and principles, recognize how you’re how you implement those things in your house. So kids learn best through principles, the principle of respect, what does that mean? You respect other people, you don’t Just be a jerk to other people, you talk nicely to other people, you be respectful, even if you don’t like them, you can respect them. Right? And both are needed both have different applications. It’s the same in a business, the principles behind what we’re doing, the principles behind how we’re operating. Versus a rule, you only say this, this is when you say it’s broken.
If you look at our legal system, you will see that our legal system is full of bloat because it’s rule based, it’s not principle based. Now, there’s a reason for it a good reason because you can’t judge people off just principles. It doesn’t work. But with rules you can but the point is, is that bloat is there to try and cover all the bases.
So anyways, Just something to think about as you’re going about your life and about your day principles versus rules. Just open up, you know, open up some conversation, free up some thoughts. Well that’s it for today’s episode guys and I will catch y’all on the flip side peace!