“He who has not learned how to obey cannot be a good commander…”
– Aristotle
Over 2300 years ago, Aristotle made the brilliant observation that there is no way we will ever be great leaders unless we figure out how to discipline ourselves…
At some point in our lives, we all should strive to be “good commanders” so the real question that arises from this is HOW can we learn how to obey?
Just as we had rules when we were kids, we must figure out a way to set rules for ourselves and then continue to work towards consistently adhering to those rules…
“Um… Professor EB… Rules SUCK… I am a Lone Ranger anarchist that shouldn’t ever have to follow rules… Not your rules or the law’s rules and surely I don’t have rules for myself… I do what I want, when I want!”
“Hey Sammy SuperSoft!!! Nice of you to join us today… The reason we have rules and follow rules is to do our part to help foster a relatively productive and safe society…
In any culture, without some form of rules chaos will inevitably ensue… Yes we rely on rules from our government but most importantly, it’s the rules that we set for ourselves in our own lives that will allow us to survive and thrive in the ever changing turbulent world that we live in.
If you don’t like somebody else telling you how to live your life Sammy, that’s fine, but if you want to be anything other than the selfish piece of shit you currently are, you have no choice but to set and then follow your own rules…
Look dude, if you want to do it your way, go ahead but what you actually are doing by disregarding any & all rules is living a self absorbed and self centered life that will do nothing but inevitably alienate you from the rest of civilization… Eventually you will experience a slow, miserable and lonely death because nobody in their right mind would ever want to be associated with the filthy animal you are on course to becoming.”
Ultimately, rules not only give us structure, but they also give us drive which then gives us purpose… Rules are the ethical base for life and when we finally learn how to obey them, we will finally maximize our impact on the world by becoming good commanders.
-EB
P.S. Have you hopped on a Team GoHard Foot Reflexology Board yet?
