Rules? Who Needs Them???

I'm not a huge fan of rules. I know, I know, a Libertarian who doesn't like rules, quelle surprise. Besides political beliefs, my long career in Martial Arts helped to tune this aversion.

I started at a World Tae Kwon Do affiliated academy. We practiced our sparring within the, what I know now, very restrictive Olympic Ruleset. What was good, was that this was before electronic scoring, and we had to score with "trembling shock." Meaning you had to hit with enough power to cause movement in your opponent. This taught me how to kick accurately and with power. Not to just touch, but to follow through and cause damage.

As I progressed, I met a former student who had taken up Muay Thai. As Martial Artists do, we decided to have a friendly sparring match, WITHIN the less restrictive rule set of Muay Thai. While I was able to compete with powerful kicks, he was able to expose the bad habits and problems with my game that came with my much more restrictive ruleset. The biggest ones... He was able to punch me in the face, and kick my legs.

It was an eye opening experience learning that my ruleset actually made me a WORSE fighter. So, I took up Muay Thai. I thrived in an environment that allowed a much more free ruleset.

Then... I met up with another student who had started to do this new thing called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Again, like Martial Artists are wont to do, we had a friendly sparring match. We agreed that it was friendly, but we also agreed that there would be no rules that would restrict us. I hit him a few times, but, he got close, took me down and choked me. Again, I saw that my ruleset put me in a place where, while better than before, there were significant holes in my fight game. Muay Thai has take downs, but they don't do any ground fighting. When meeting someone who could groundfight, as soon as I was taken down, I was at their mercy.

So... I took up BJJ. I trained hard, but now my mind set was not on the BJJ ruleset, but in how it can make me an all around better fighter. Naturally, my style was best suited for the new MMA matches.

That is how I train now. I know the BJJ ruleset, and I see how it makes my students WORSE fighters. So, what I do is always make sure that I have a few classes a month where we put the gloves on and go no rules. It exposes my students to why I religiously practice closed and entrapment guards. Why I work hardest to break posture, and fight like a maniac to stay on TOP. When I can punch you, if I can make posture, YOU are going to get hit. A lot. I don't want students thinking that they can defend themselves, and having a rude awakening in the worst possible situation.

Alright then... If you stayed with me this long, you are looking for a point rather than a walk down my Martial Arts road... The point is this, rules, for the most part, are put to direct behavior to a certain result. Rules also feed other rules. Pretty soon you are doing things within these ruleset frameworks because... well... that is how we see ourselves and what we want to showcase, REGARDLESS if it is oriented to the goal. The goal of the Martial Arts should be to enable the practitioner to defend themselves. However, the rulesets change them in to something that best suites what the collective THINKS they should be about. Most of the time this is in the form of their respective competitive sports.

Is your company experiencing similar issues with its processes and development rules? Often, I see this with the adoption of AI. Developers might say, “I code this way with these rules. I don’t use AI because it doesn’t fit within these established guidelines.” But does that rule truly make sense and guide you towards your ultimate goal, or is it needlessly restrictive and creating vulnerabilities that will be exposed later?

Consider your company’s processes. Do they involve unnecessary steps and hurdles to achieve the final goal? Why do these rules exist? If you removed them, what would change, and could you work more efficiently?

Rules certainly have their place, but are you following them simply because “that’s how things have always been done”? Are you adhering to rules to maintain the “purity” of your methods? Can you question these rules?

What frustrates me most is when rules are not open for review. This is why I transitioned from one martial art to another. In Tae Kwon Do, we don’t punch the face. Why? “Don’t question it.” In Muay Thai, we don’t do ground fighting. Why? “It’s just not Muay Thai.” In Gi BJJ, we don’t do leg locks. Why? “Don’t question that.” In Judo, we restrict ne-waza. Why? “Kano-sensei didn’t like it.”

The same applies to your business. Do you have a culture where processes are challenged? Can you ask questions? Do you follow procedures just because they’ve always been done that way or because a revered founder established them?

If the answer is yes, it’s time for a rule review. Your ruleset might be holding you back. Growth comes from discomfort, and rules often create comfort. Break free