Make the Rules | Rules that you want | Rules that are for you by Sawan Kumar

You can spend your life playing by someone else's playbook, or you can make your own rules and design a life where winning is built into the game from day one. After training 79,000+ students across 74+ courses, I've seen one pattern repeat: the people who win aren't smarter or luckier — they wrote rules that fit their life, then followed them.

Direct Answer: What Does It Mean to Make Your Own Rules?

To make your own rules means consciously designing the personal principles that govern how you act, compete, and think — instead of unconsciously inheriting them from your school, neighbourhood, or family conditioning. The three rules that decide whether you win the game of life are: (1) get doing instead of waiting for perfection, (2) compete only with yourself, and (3) think big without putting boundaries on your potential. Only 5% of people consciously set goals and rules for themselves — and that same 5% holds the bulk of the world's wealth.

Why You Can't Make the Rules of Most Games — But You Can Make These

You can't change the rules of cricket. You can't rewrite the laws of your government. But the most important game you'll ever play — your own life — is one where you have full authoring rights. The problem is that most people never realise this. They keep playing by rules they never agreed to, then wonder why they keep losing.

As a Chartered Accountant turned AI educator based in Dubai, I work with numbers and systems for a living. And the cleanest system I've ever found is this: write three personal rules, follow them daily, watch your life compound.

Rule #1: Get Doing — Stop Waiting for Perfection

Rule number one is simple: get more doing in a day. Stop waiting for things to get perfect. Stop telling yourself you'll start "once the time is right" or "once I'm good enough."

Here's the trap I see students fall into constantly. They want to post on social media, so they tell themselves: "I'll start once I get better at public speaking. I'll start once I learn the necessary skills. I'll start once I look more polished on camera." That single thought is what keeps 90% of people from ever pressing record.

Think about swimming. Will you ever become a good swimmer by sitting on the edge of the pool thinking about it? No. You become a swimmer the moment you jump in and train. The same logic applies to:

• Recording your first YouTube video on the camera you already own
• Writing your first blog post before you feel "qualified"
• Launching the offer before the funnel is perfect
• Sending the cold email before the pitch is polished

Action creates skill. Skill never creates action.

Rule #2: Be Your Own Competitor

Rule number two: make yourself your own competitor. You cannot be successful until you stop measuring yourself against everyone else.

I'll share a personal turning point. I was a failure in school until Class 8. Genuinely. I was constantly being compared to other students — the "good ones," the "bright ones" — and that comparison crushed my confidence. I felt I was bad at studies, bad at games, bad at everything.

Then in Class 9, I changed schools. The new teachers didn't know my history. They didn't compare me to anyone. And the moment external comparison stopped, I stopped doing it to myself too. My life changed completely. I went from being the worst to being my best.

Here's why this rule works mathematically: every other person on this planet started with a different family, different finances, different teachers, different traumas, different opportunities. Comparing your Chapter 2 to someone else's Chapter 20 isn't analysis — it's self-sabotage. The only fair benchmark is the version of you that existed yesterday.

Rule #3: Think Big — And Stop Putting Boundaries on Your Thoughts

Rule number three is the one that changes income brackets: start thinking big.

Most of us were raised inside an invisible cage. As middle-class kids, we were trained to believe certain things weren't "for us" — the five-star hotel, the Mercedes, the luxury holiday, the home with a view. None of these were said out loud as rules. They were absorbed.

Here's the part nobody tells you: God gave you the ability to think without limits. No human being has the right to put boundaries on that. When you put boundaries on your thoughts, you put boundaries on your effort. When you put boundaries on your effort, you put boundaries on your potential.

I use this analogy with my students. A modern car can comfortably touch 200 km/h on a good road. But if your mental ceiling is 100 km/h, your foot will never push the accelerator past that — even on an empty highway with perfect conditions. The car isn't the limit. The mind is.

Most schools, societies, and neighbourhoods train you to drive at 60. Decide today that the speed limit doesn't apply to your thinking.

The 5% Rule: Why Goal-Setters Hold the Wealth

Here is the statistic that should rewire your week: only 5% of people actually set written goals for themselves. And it's no coincidence that the same 5% holds the overwhelming majority of the world's wealth.

The other 95% are not failing because they're untalented. They're failing because they never wrote down the rules of their own game. In football or basketball, if there is no goalpost, you can run for 90 minutes and score nothing. In life, no goal means no direction, no scoreboard, no win.

So today, before this week begins, do this:

• Write down one specific outcome you want by the end of this year
• Write your three personal rules (mine: get doing, beat yesterday's me, think bigger than my conditioning)
• Decide what time you wake up, what time you work out, what time you sleep — these are rules too

How to Customise Your Own Three Rules

The three rules I've shared are mine. They've worked across building 74+ courses, training 79,000+ students, and operating multiple businesses out of Dubai. But your rules can be different. The rules just need to be:

• Written — not vague feelings in your head
• Yours — not borrowed from a podcast you half-listened to
• Followed — daily, even when no one's watching

The summary is this: you make your own rules, or you spend your life losing at someone else's. Pick three rules today, write them on paper, and stick them somewhere you'll see them every morning before you touch your phone.

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Keep Learning

If this was useful, these are worth reading next:

• How to Start an Online Business with AI in 2026 (Step-by-Step)
• AI Tools to Replace Your Virtual Assistant: A Practical Guide for 2026
• Or go further with the AI Mastery Course — used by 79,000+ students across 150+ countries.

Rule-Tracking Method	Best For	Monthly Cost	Sawan's Take
Paper notebook (Moleskine / A5)	Beginners, single-rule focus	AED 0-50 one-time	What I personally use. Friction-free, no notifications, ages with you.
Notion (free plan)	Tech-comfortable, multi-rule dashboards	Free / $10 Plus	Powerful but I've seen 70% of students abandon it within 6 weeks. Tool maintenance becomes the goal.
Streaks app (iOS)	Habit-streak motivated personalities	$4.99 one-time	Great for Rule #1 (daily doing). Limited to 12 habits — which is the right constraint.
Coach.me / Coach hire	Accountability-driven, mid-career	$300-1,500/mo	Worth it only after you've already kept the rules solo for 90 days. Otherwise you're outsourcing the work.
Sunday review (15 min)	Everyone — non-negotiable layer	Free	The single highest-leverage habit. Without review, rules drift in 3-4 weeks guaranteed.

Source: Pricing verified May 2026 from official vendor sites (Notion.so, apps.apple.com Streaks listing). Coaching ranges from ICF 2023 Global Coaching Study.