I just learned about Brules recently from Vishen Lakhiani. He is a self help expert and CEO of Mindvalley. IF you haven’t heard of mindvalley before I really recommend checking them out. They have so much helpful content on their website. Most of it is free, but there is a lot of good premium content as well. One of the first things you’ll learn about when you start looking into Mindvalley and Vishen Lakhiani are BRULES.
Brules are BullSH*t rules.
What that means is that they are rules the people think they have to follow because society says they have to.
What are some examples of BRULES?
Going to college
Getting a 9-5 job
Getting married and having kids
Buying a big house
Taking vacations to standard places like disneyland
Retirement
That you have to be liked by everyone – enforced by social media liking system
That you have to have a smartphone
Brules are basically anything that society is hinting that you have to do. This really blew my mind away because there aren’t many people that are saying this in today’s society. I think one of the easiest ways to tell if something is a brule is if it’s reflected in a commercial or advertising campaigns.
Large corporations want to make life a standard format because they want to be able to advertise to the most people at once. In order to make advertising more efficient it would be easier if everyone did the same thing.
Why you should assess what brules you follow?
You need to assess what brules you follow because if you just follow brules mindlessly they will make you unhappy. This isn’t to say that all brules are bad. Some brules might make you feel really good and those are the ones that you should keep but if you don’t like a 9-5 job, then you should try to create something else for yourself.
Brules apply to all areas of your life – money, relationships, career, education, family.
Money
You have to make a certain amount of money in order to be considered successful
Money is the root of all evil
Without money you can’t be happy
You don’t need money
Career
You need to get promotions in order to be successful
You have to work for a large corporation
You have to stay at one company for your whole career
You can’t have a successful career without a good resume
Education
You have to go to college
Standard education is important
Relationships
You have to get married
You have to be in a monogamous relationship
You have to have a lot of friends
Family
You have to have a family
You have to be close to family
You have to stay in touch with family
Assessing your personal BRULES is so important. You need to lead the life that you want to live and not the life that other people want you to live. You only have one life. You don’t want to be on your death bed wishing that you had accomplished personal goals that you never even pursued.
