The Before Rules: A Simple Guide For Life's Complexities
The Before Rules: A Simple Guide For Life's Complexities
Master Your Why, Structure Your How, Create Your System, And Achieve Your Outcome - With Just Three Words
Questions Before Answers: Many questions will be raised and answered in this essay, including these frequently thought questions:
Just what are the Before Rules?
How can three simple words improve my life?
What are the evidence-based and science-based studies supporting the Before Rules model?
What is the difference between a law and a rule as it applies to the Before Rules?
What are practical, everyday examples of the Before Rules?
What Are The Before Rules?
Just Three Words? The 'Before Rules' are three simple yet transformative words that are your template guiding you towards success. In short, there is an action you must take before your desired outcome can be achieved. The Before Rules defines this process. More Than Three Words: The Before Rules are more than just three-word phrases; they're compact master plans for personal achievement. Envision each Before Rule as a simple yet highly effective three-word strategy, guiding you from an unclear 'before' towards a focused 'after.'
The First Word: The first word is where you now stand. It is a single-word directing action. Simple. Here Before There or Deposit Before Withdrawal. The Second Word - Before: The word 'Before' symbolizes the process as your conduit, connection, and bridge from where you are to where you want to be. The Third Word: The third word is your destination or eventual goal. For example, Cause Before Effect or Through Before To. As Easy As 1, 2, 3: These three words focus your mind, give direction, and provide a clear path. The Before Rules reveals the way from who you are to who you wish to become. Short, clean, and straightforward. As Easy As Driving A Car: If you need to go somewhere, get into your car, turn the key, drive, and arrive at your destination. You don't have to be concerned with elements of the vehicle, such as how is shatterproof windshield glass made, how tires so resilient that they can drive in sub-zero and over 100-degree temperatures, how batteries keep their charge, how your smartphone connects to your car, where is the gas tank located to maximize safety, etc. Like the Before Rules function, get in, start, and end at your destination. Cheat Code? Initially, the Before Rules may appear simply as a life hack, a glib secret, or a hidden backdoor. Some have initially likened it to a cheat code if you will. Beyond Cheat Codes: The Before Rules are not cheat codes, even though they provide easy access, as a cheat code might; the Before Rules accomplish success, but without the cheating part. Here is an image illustrating some of the available Before Rules.
Understanding the Distinction: Rules vs. Laws
Before We Go Further - How Are Before Rules Different Than Laws? While laws are extrinsic, created and agreed upon by norms, and enforced by society, your Before Rules are created intrinsically by you, and your rules are enforced solely by you. "I Fought The Law And The Law Won": Laws are external constructs designed to maintain societal order, promote conformity, control by eliminating variability, and protect us, often from ourselves. Laws are created and enforced by outside entities. When you break the law, you are subject to penalties. The Before Rules: The Before Rules are personal guiding principles created and enforced by us to help us accomplish our desired outcomes. Before Rules are antithetical to laws. The Before Rules are personal frameworks created for self-improvement, freedom, growth, expression, creativity, success, and autonomy. Rule v. Law:Â Rule v. Law isn't a famous Supreme Court case. Rule v. Law is the fundamental distinction between rules and laws. Laws govern our actions from the outside - they are created extrinsically. Rules, specifically our Before Rules, are intrinsically created and empower us from within to shape our paths and allow us to reach our potential.
The Before Rules And Connections Beyond
Is The Word ‘Before’ Really A Powerful Catalyst? At first glance, the insertion of the word 'before' between the first and last words simply appears as a convenience. The word 'before' is more than that; it is also a connector, a bridge, a link, and a conduit. It is purposefully designed and incorporated to act as a catalyst, impacting the synergistic impact of the first and last words on each other. Here Before There: Much like the psychological concept of the future self, each Before Rule was assembled to allow consideration of both where you are and where you desire to be. Here Without There: For Here Before There to work, you need both halves of the Before Rule - here and there. With that in mind, this is an example of what happens here when you don't have a there.
Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to. Alice: I don't much care where. The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The 'Before' Word Connects Present And Future: The input and output are intentionally adjacent, indicating what is 'now' and what will shortly be. What Makes The Before Rules So Effective? Imagine any outcome, such as a goal, a commitment, a purpose, a resolution, an affirmation, etc., as a platform. The Before Rules are the pillars that uphold and support your platform to achieve your desired result.
Simple Complexity, Far-Reaching Implications: Consider these seemingly basic examples that reveal immense depth and complexity. Five illustrative examples of broad and complex topics that can be distilled and concisely labeled:
The Ten Commandments - "Thou Shalt Not..." The Ten Commandments simplify the complex doctrines of the Catholic religion into ten fundamental laws, often with a negative language frame of reference, i.e. 'not.'
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - Five Inputs, Thousands Of Outcomes... Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a five-tier model that effectively condenses the spectrum of human motivations, development, and associated emotional states into a single, understandable structure.
The Periodic Table - Salt and 117 More... The Periodic Table summarizes 118 chemical elements into one chart.
Gray, Because Not Everything Is Black Or White... The three primary colors of red, yellow, and blue can form an endless spectrum of colors simply by mixing red, yellow, and blue together, even to create shades of gray.
Murphy's Law - Oops, Oh Well... Murphy's Law is an observation of, allegedly, an actual situation that morphed into folklore. Murphy's Law was intended to be funny, then it became amusing, and then it became true. This law can explain the hundreds or thousands of things that can go wrong at any time, including anything you find in this essay.
The Before Rules - Two Paths, One Outcome
You Are Here: This page is the basic overview page. It defines the Before Rules. One path, this path, remains simple.
"When you get to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra
All Before Rules lead towards achieving your desired outcome. Simply select the path that aligns best with your goals.
You Can Be There: The second path discusses evidence-based and science-based studies and the psychological principles operating as the foundation for the Before Rules. Additional information is below. Sometimes Shortcuts Are The Long Way: Both paths arrive at the same destination, but the explanation and concepts behind each will differ slightly. And, the lessons, for you, can be different. The First Path - Just Flip The Switch: Decide where you are and where you want to be. What input do you have to initiate to achieve your output or destination? If you are satisfied with only knowing where the switch is located in the room so you can turn on the lights, this page is for you. Simple, Powerful, Effective - Plug And Play: In essence, select a Before Rule, plug it in, turn it on, adhere to its guidance, and begin your progress.
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Robert Frost
The Second Path - The Detail Of Spark: If you are curious not only about the location of the light switch but also how the electricity is generated, how it works, and how you can utilize electricity to benefit you, then this second path is for you. The significant benefit when you understand the origin, principles, concepts, and mechanisms powering any given Before Rule is that you can empower the Before Rule as a tool and instrument to achieve your desired outcome. The Blind Men and the Elephant: We will use this parable to illustrate that a partial experience does not equate to the whole truth. A Recap - The Blind Men and the Elephant: In this story, each blind man touched a different part of the elephant (the elephant is like a wall, a spear, a tree trunk, a rope, etc.), and then each claimed to understand the whole animal when they were only experiencing just a piece of the whole. The Blind Men and the Elephant - Assembly Required: To understand the complete picture, the blind men had to assemble their perspectives to realize that the animal they were touching was an elephant. The Before Rules - No Assembly Required: Each Before Rule can stand and function independently. While there can be advantages to aggregating multiple rules, it is not required.
The Secret Simplicity Hidden In The Before Rules
Examples Of Things Hidden In Plain Sight: There are many things around us that we need or 'just' occur, and we rarely recognize or appreciate them. Plain sight examples include oxygen, gravity, time, electricity, language, seatbelts, and even our finite mortality. The Most Powerful Element Of The Before Rules Also Hides In Plain Sight: The thought model of Structure-System-Outcome makes the Before Rules work. The Secret Simplicity? It's Structure-System-Outcome: Life’s like a building. It has its bones – that's the structure. Inside, the electrical and plumbing function as the veins and arteries – the systems, carrying what's needed. What it does, why it stands – that's the outcome. Simple, yet it's all connected. First Contact - My Introduction To Structure-System-Outcome: An administrative residency was required between my first and second years in graduate school. I briefly interacted with a physician in the hospital's cafeteria, and she introduced me to what was alien to me at the time but now has become a lifelong mantra: Structure-System-Outcome.
It Works For Medicine And Most Everything Else: The doctor shared how medicine works in three words: structure, system, and outcome. She said that this is how you understand and resolve problems. You have a structure, apply a system, and get an outcome. Decide On Your Destination, Then Focus Your Systems On What Gets You There: If actions don't achieve your desired outcome, adjust your structure and/or system. The changes you make for your structure and/or system should be improvements, not capitulations.
The Structure-System-Outcome Thought Model And Examples
Universal Thought Model: This Structure-System-Outcome model is foundational in almost every action, plan, or decision I make. Structure-System-Outcome Is Found Everywhere, Including... Throughout this article - and even in the subtitle. Quick Definition - Why It Is Structure-System-Outcome And Not Structure-Process-Outcome: Note that a system and a process differ. A system consists of things that interact and a plan for doing so. A process is the action of following through. Structure-System-Outcome And M&M's: First, recognize that the environment is a significant structural component. Here is an example. Assume you enjoy M&Ms and always have this candy in a bowl on your work desk. Your desired outcome is to consume fewer M&Ms. As you think about that you reach into the bowl. Disrupt The Structure: Let's change the environment, i.e., the structure, and remove the M&Ms (more on how to do this effectively in additional essays). You change the structure, the system changes, and the outcome changes as well. Instead Of M&Ms Controlling You, You Now Control The M&Ms: If the bowl isn't there to easily tempt you, you don't eat the M&Ms. Progress Before Perfection: One step further is to replace the M&Ms with a healthier alternative such as mixed nuts, apples, or dried fruit. Your first improvement doesn't have to be perfect, just better. Knowing How To Fish And Knowing Where To Fish: The Before Rules are like fishing. You need the right spot, the right time, the right gear. That's your structure. How you fish, how you cast, the waiting, that's the system. And, if you are fishing for dinner, you know why to fish. The catch is what you're after. Many Forms - Same Structure-System-Outcome Model: Each Before Rule encompasses a structure, a system with the outcome resulting in your desired result. Tools: It’s like having a farm. You have your land, your equipment, your effort. You use your tools to plant, water, and harvest. That’s what the Before Rules do. They’re straightforward and in order. Use what you need, when you need to, and leave what you don’t for later. Do you see the underlying model of structure and system? Plant Before Harvest.Lego Blocks: Think of a child's Legos—each piece is simple. Put them together; they make something more, something bigger, something you desire. That's how it works – simple parts making a whole. Even this child's toy can illustrate the way a system comes together to form a structure. Simple Before Complex.A Lever and Fulcrum: Remember how a lever works? Give me a lever and a place to stand (that’s structure), and I’ll move the world. When you learn to leverage your efforts, even small actions and systems can yield significant outcomes. Commitment Before Outcome.Fractals: Life’s complex like a snowflake, a tree branch. It's simple, but there is a system. When you closely examine the structure of a fractal, you realize that beneath what may initially appear to be chaos is an understandable pattern - a system. Chaos Before Order.
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it." Oscar Wilde
Immune Response: It’s like receiving a small dose of a harmful bacteria or virus. The inoculation initiates, warns, and provides immunity for your challenge. This injection of what you don’t want is what makes you stronger. Face a small challenge, determine which of the Before Rules to implement, and you’re ready for future obstacles. Exposure Before Immunity.Eliminating Repeated Chaos: Make one decision (a system), like eating healthy, and eliminate a hundred choices. It’s like deciding to fish only in the best spots or not eating sweets; the perils of choice are removed because you’ve already decided upon what you’re doing or not doing (that’s structure). Decision Before Choice.Road Signs to the Future: The future's unknown, but signs can help guide us. The Before Rules are those signs: warning, guiding, and preparing for what's ahead. Sometimes, signs indicate significant warnings like 'Bridge Out' or 'Merging Traffic.' Other times, the signs enrich us indicating a 'Scenic Lookout' ahead. Road signs nudge, direct, and guide us to our outcome. All the information is there if we pay attention. Forewarned Before Forearmed.The Past – Rumble Strips: The past is a lesson. Like rumble strips on the road, it immediately shakes you back to attention if you stray off-course. Rumble Strips act as a feedback system. You can instantly correct your course when you pay attention to the feedback. Progress Before Perfection.A Holographic System: Think of a hologram. A beam of light splits strikes two objects and then comes back together to make a whole, 3-dimensional image. Your thoughts are your beam of light, and the first and third words in the Before Rules formula are the objects your thoughts illuminate. Then, the light reconsolidates as something new, something better: your desired outcome. A hologram keeps us apprised of the outcome. End Before Begin.Folding Space To Save Time: Assume you have a sheet of paper, and at the top left corner, you write the word 'here.' In the bottom right corner, you write the word 'there.' Your desired outcome is to get from 'here' to 'there,' often as fast as you can. You place your pen on top of the word 'here' and then draw a straight line to the word there; that's a path. The Before Rules can act the same way as theoretical travels in space. Take the piece of paper (space), and simply fold it diagonally, so that now the word 'here' touches the word 'there.' You have eliminated all of the distance that previously separated these two words. Here Before There.
The Before Rules in Action
You Get What You Construct: So, now that you understand the mechanisms and machinations of the Before Rules, how can you put them to good use? Well, that depends on what you need. Sometimes, you need a nice mountain cabin next to a flowing stream (combine just a couple of the Before Rules). Same Building Blocks, Different Outcomes: Other times, you will desire a high-rise skyscraper dominating the heart of a city and centrally located, allowing you to easily reach all of your destinations (combine more of the Before Rules).
Commitment Before Outcome: Same building blocks, different outcomes.
By understanding how the Before Rules work, you can select and combine which Before Rules you will make work for you. The Before Rules are about this journey: understanding where you are, where you want to go, and how to get there. Now Before Later: Let's examine examples of the Before Rules, which you can implement today! Decision Before Choice: What is the difference between decision and choice? Good enough is a choice; greatness is a decision. Constantly evaluating choices detracts from your focus and energy. Like the concept measure twice, cut once, the foundation of your decisions is best served by the concept of deciding before you decide, which becomes our rule of decision before choice. A Decision Is A Solitary Commitment; A Choice Is Just One Of Many Options: Here is an illustrative example of the Decision Before Choice Before Rule. Assume you desire to eat healthier foods. You have evaluated your situation and realize that frequently going out with your friends to explore new and varied restaurants. You know you need to make better decisions on what to order. You recognize poor food selection is inconsistent with your desired outcome. Here is an example:
Choice: Currently, you review, consider, and then hurriedly select an item from a menu you have never seen.
Decision: Upon learning which new restaurant you will be visiting, you go to their website and decide, in advance, which item to enjoy as a healthier alternative to benefit your health.
More On The Secret Key To The Before Rules
The Secret Key To Before Rule - Structure: When you control your environment and create a structure that guides you towards what you desire, you make decisions quickly. The Before Rules are designed to feature structure as your guide, template, and model. Structure Dictate Systems: Part of your decision-making is using a system while grocery shopping. Suppose you need a dozen eggs, and eggs are located at the back of the store. In this case, your system only allows a path that avoids the cereal aisle, the candy aisle, the bakery section, and the ice cream aisle to arrive at the eggs. You don't have to evaluate whether you would be successful 'just walking past your favorite temptation.' You will be successful because you considered that choice long ago and replaced it with constantly eliminating that aisle and, therefore, the potential temptation of grabbing a donut... or two. An Additional Level Of Structure: You can refine your Before Rules further. Whenever you go into a grocery store, you first shop in the produce section. Let's chat about creating structure through specific Before Rules.
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." James Clear
Systems Before Goals: You will find it difficult and challenging to achieve your desired outcomes if you don't have the systems to support them. External motivation can be fleeting but internal discipline is everlasting. Goals Are Where You End; Systems Are How You Get There: Say you're trying to commit to reading self-improvement books for 20 minutes daily. You might be able to accomplish this goal when you have the time to do so, like when you have time off on the weekends, but when things start to get busy, stressful, or hectic, you stop adhering to your goal, and the book sits, collecting dust on the nightstand. However, if you set up a simple system to help you achieve that goal, you'll succeed better. Assume, after dinner, you like to scroll social media or watch a movie. Imagine if you'd set a reminder on your phone that goes off just after dinner, reminding you to pause whatever you're doing and read for 20 minutes. Then, after reading, you can scroll or watch a movie. The reminder would be the system you established to make accomplishing your goals easier.
"What's urgent for others seldom aligns with what's even important to you."
Important Before Urgent: In pursuing a well-lived life and achieving goals, it's crucial to understand the profound wisdom in prioritizing the "important" over the "urgent." The modern world bombards us with a constant stream of ostensibly urgent tasks, notifications, and demands for our attention. These urgent matters often masquerade as important, creating what we might call the "urgency trap." It's easy to fall into the trap of addressing what's urgent without considering whether it genuinely contributes to our long-term goals and values.
"Everything important is important. Not everything urgent is important."
Recognize The Difference Between Important And Urgent: Does stopping your workout to answer a text message about something unimportant help you reach your goals? Do you need to be scrolling Instagram to see those supposedly "urgent" notifications when out for dinner with your significant other? Prioritizing the important before the urgent is a strategy that leads to profound results, if you're willing to do the work to get there. When we focus on what truly matters in the grand scheme of our lives, we make choices aligned with our values and aspirations.
"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen Covey
Action Before Outcome: It is time to go to the next step - implementation.
Evidence-Based and Science-Based Studies Which Support The Before Rules
Are There Evidence-Based and Science-Based Elements Supporting The Before Rules Model? There are many established principles supporting the Before Rules, including:
Operant Conditioning: The Before Rules investigated operant conditioning, as pioneered by B.F. Skinner, Ph.D., by linking actions to positive outcomes. Following the rules leads to rewards, providing reinforcement. This shapes behavior towards desired goals.
Implementation Intentions: Forming "if-then" plans for intended actions is proven to increase goal achievement. The Before Rules' structure parallels 'if-then' statements to support execution. The concept of implementation intentions is closely associated with psychologist Peter M. Gollwitzer, Ph.D.
Goal-Setting Theory: Setting specific, challenging, yet attainable goals motivates higher performance. The Before Rules map a clear path from the present to a defined future goal. Goal-setting theory is often attributed to psychologist Edwin Locke, Ph.D., and his collaborator Gary Latham, Ph.D. They proposed that specific, challenging, and achievable goals can significantly improve motivation and performance.
Future Self-Continuity: Envisioning the future self elicits motivation to reach that state. The Before Rules connect current and future selves for continuity. Researchers, including Hal Hershfield, Ph.D., and Derek Parfit, Ph.D., blazed the early concepts of the future self. Authors like Benjamin Hardy, Ph.D., have romanticized the future self-concept into an achievable model.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: CBT aims to replace negative thoughts with positive ones through structured techniques. The Before Rules similarly reframe thoughts into productive patterns. Aaron Beck, MD and Albert Ellis, Ph.D., created the foundation for CBT while David Burns, MD, has made it accessible, and understandable, to the masses.
Self-Determination Theory: Intrinsic motivation enhances persistence and success by guiding from within, Before Rules boost internal drive. Edward Deci, Ph.D., and Richard Ryan, Ph.D., contributed significantly to this concept.
Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP): Richard Bandler, Ph.D., and John Grinder, Ph.D., developed NLP, which explores the relationship between neurological processes, language, and behavioral patterns learned through experience.
Growth Mindset - Viewing abilities as developed through effort enables growth. Carol Dweck, Ph.D., studied the fixed and growth mindset concepts, which focus on self-development through effort. The Before Rules incorporates this process-focused mindset.
Combining, Coalescing, And Merging The Evidence-Based and Science-Based Elements: The Before Rules combines elements of the above concepts into a simple three-word action plan: Action Before Outcome. How To Implement The Before Rules: You have learned the Before Rules and why to use them. Often, it is said that once you have your 'why,' you can achieve anything. That, conceptually, is true. But the 'how' is often an obstacle. Thoughtercise: Consider this partial list of the Before Rules and determine if you can implement any, today, to improve your actions and achieve a desired outcome. Subscribe to our newsletter and you will receive a link to our "How To Create Custom Before Rules." Many people start with Decision Before Choice:
Decision Before Choice
Purpose Before Everything
Thoughts Before Things
Why Before How
Action Before Execution
Here Before There
Input Before Output
Now Before Then
Systems Before Goals
Important Before Urgent
Through Befre To
Deposit Before Withdrawal
Question Before Answer
Obstacle Before Opportunity
Commitment Before Outcome
Effective Before Efficient
Ask Before Receive
More On The Before Rules...
Not Only Tell But Show Too: I have also created an evidence-based and science-based simple model for designing implementing and tracking your Before Rules. It is called... 5 Commitments 5 Rules 5 Minutes: Learn how to create control and implement the Before Rules using the 5 Commitments 5 Rules 5 Minutes model. Your Thoughts May Vary:Â Thought Improvement welcomes your constructive appreciation comments and invites you to share your perspectives ideas and suggestions. Together we can all improve our thoughts. Disclaimers Disclosures And Declarations: Of course we have these conditions." the-before-rules