The Rules Of Your Life
Immutable Laws are the rules of our lives. They define you. They define your business.
Immutable Laws are a blend of ethics, core values and self-assigned law, all wrapped up into one. They are the rules we have defined for ourselves, almost subconsciously, on what is right and what is wrong. What is acceptable and what is not. What makes you happy, and what doesn’t. They are with you for life and they barely ever change.
If they do change, it will be a slow unnoticeable morph. Similar to the speed limit going from 55 MPH to 65 MPH. The roll out goes highway by highway, state by state. Slowly. Barely noticeably. And when you notice the change, it just naturally makes sense.
How They Work For You
Immutable Laws trigger a nagging voice in your head that punishes you when you break them. They also give you the reassuring ‘at-a-boy when you follow their guidance. They cause you to judge yourself. They keep you on track. It is your soul that guides you. It is the soul of your business.
Making Them Conscious
For almost all of us, our Immutable Laws are stuffed away in our subconscious. For you to leverage their power, you need to make them part of your daily conscious thought.
To do this, you need to start paying attention to your emotions. Every time something triggers strong negative emotions (like anger), ignore what triggered it for a moment and think about what rule of yours has been broken. Similarly, when you feel strong positive emotion (like giddiness) think what inside you made you feel good. Those things inside you are your Immutable Laws.
Write down your rules, even if it is a really rough thought. Overtime, as you get to know them better, refine them. Make them concise. Make them conscious.
How To Use Them
Once you have them documented, use your Immutable Laws as the guidance system for all decisions within your company. Considering a new website design? Make sure it adheres to your Immutable Laws. Hiring new employees? Make sure they share your Immutable Laws. Need to identify your Top Clients? Match up your Immutable Laws.
If all facets of a business are consistent with its Immutable Laws, it will grow fluidly, even at times effortlessly.
Consider people driving on the interstate at any speed they want 10 MPH to 150 MPH. . . every thing goes. Nothing is enforced. It would be disastrous. This is the same as having undocumented Immutable Laws.
Now consider how highways actually works. Most people drive around 65 MPH, and considering the huge volume of traffic on the highways there are extremely few auto accidents. That is the power of conscious, enforced Immutable Laws.
A Smorgasbord of Immutable Laws
To get your started, let me share some Immutable Laws with you. Yours may be similar or may be radically different. There is no right or wrong answer when comparing. There are only ones that are right – exactly right – for you.
No Dicks Allowed – Being a jerk is not acceptable. We won’t accept dicks as clients, vendors or employees. We will never be dicks. Life is too short. Dicks not allowed.
Dive Deep Enough To Touch Bottom – When working with a client, we dive the deepest possible into understand the challenges they face. Only once we touch bottom are we in position to fully help them.
Carpe Diem – Live in the moment and live for the day.
Positivity Or Death – A positive or a negative can be taken from every situation. It is a conscious choice. While everything may not go our way all the time, and we won’t always be happy campers, we will consciously always choose to be positive. Our positivity guides us to opportunities.
Turn The Turtles – A struggling customer is like a turtle on its back. It is always our responsibility to put them back on their feet.
Blood Money – We treat money like blood. Without it our business would die. We treat it with the utmost care and respect.
No Dry Humping – Imagine visiting your best friends house, her dog jumps your leg and starts the dry hump. Disgusting! Now imagine our best friends (our clients) visiting our business and we dry hump them with sales. Disgusting! We never dry hump.
Get Rich Right – Wealth is a vehicle for doing more good for ourselves, our community and our world.
Give To Give – “Give to get” implies that you have a hidden agenda. We believe in giving for the joy of giving. Getting is irrelevant.
The Elvis Pelvis – Pushing the limits on the industry norms is a good thing. We shake it up, like Elvis did. We just skip the “Fat Elvis” part.
What are your immutable laws?
I don’t think I can top your IL, Mike, but I will say that this is good advice (as usual, duh). I would only add that in addition to making sure your website (brand, to include employees, etc.) match not only your own IL, but those of your perfect client…so you have to figure out what they need and want in addition to staying true to your own values. Then you have a recipe for attracting the right clients (i.e. no “Roberts”), and keeping them happy (which in turn keeps you happy and them coming back). My two cents. Thanks so much for always making me belly laugh while teaching me and reminding me of the things I need to stay of top on in business! Cheers ~Norma
So well put Norma. If your ILs match that of your Top Client, then communication becomes a no brainer.
I have a little saying that may speak to this… “We like people we are like.”
Yes, true! And it makes sense because we can understand the needs of clients we like if they are similar to our own. BTW, on a side note, you might be interested in the plugin (or script depending on your framework) that lets a commenter know when you’ve responded so we realize it sooner! A good one is for WordPress is Subscribe to Comments (its free). Anywho…have an awesome day! Cheers ~Norma
Thanks for that… I though Disqus was autonotifying you. I ma going to look into the WP plugin. Thanks for that tip!
Great concept those immutable laws, so much better than the phoney mission statements most companies have. I am lunching my own biz Mike and I like so much the ‘No Dicks Allowed’ one that I would like to just borrow it and put it on my future website with your permission? I can’t figure out a way to turn it better or more efficiently… I got my own ones-nothing but the best service, positive impact, insanely helpful (work in progress) but this one is just too good, it fits my values perfectly and it balances my other immutable laws!
I have read your 2 books-both are great with relevant and spot on pieces of advice- areas of innovation (makes more sense than the overused differentiation/middle way/cost leadership), VIPs, to have a prosperity plan (one of my friend has launched a ltd without having a clue of what she wants from her business she is already in trouble, big ones:( And I completely love the concept of the Airline Safety Card Method!
Cheers
Guillaume
I agree with what you are saying. Phony anything doesn’t work (which is true for Immutable Laws too… if they aren’t real, and just words, then they fail to provide any benefit). Ultimately it is our words back by action consistent with those words.
Been thinking about these a while now and wondered if you see any glaring issues.
Leverage – A lever is the simplest of tools. Every skill, idea, process, asset, and client you have is a lever. Use each efficiently.
Better Ideas – We bring creativity and new ideas to each project. This may mean considering changes.
Integrity – We do things the right way. Don’t ask us to install illegal software or cheat on financials.
Growth – Steady and constant personal, professional, and business growth. You and us.
Community Stability – This area of Michigan is facing big challenges. Businesses must focus to provide stable, quality jobs and stabilize local economies.
Poop or get off the pot – Growth isn’t always easy, but let’s not waste each other’s time.
I LOVE these! I often get teams to produce a Team Charter which has a similar effect but I love the idea of getting people to define their Immutable Laws!
Hi,
A couple more
Corners have rights –
We believe that corners are there for a reason. We respect corners and we won’t
cut them.
You got to move it, move it –
Innovation, evolution. Everything in the Universe is in motion and we don’t
intend to go against Universal Laws. Catch us if you can.
Djelomou
Our Immutable Laws are:
No time wasters – so many people just like to talk about doing things or have an idea per minute with no substance. If you engage with them, all of your time will get sucked away.
No vision distracters – these are people that will steal your dreams and take you off course from your vision. Also, it’s attributable to me chasing a new shiny object taking me off my focus.
It can be done – our motto is if you believe in yourself enough and in others, and you can focus, then a solution will manifest itself.
Prosperity through simplicity – we borrowed this one from our LIFEonaire coaches. It’s similar to your Blood Money. Live a debt free life, don’t chase money, live your life as you want to “now” and don’t wait for the “someday” syndrome. Don’t over complicate things. Focus on the one thing you excel at and do it extremely well. Build your business around your life, not the other way around.
Keith French, Can I use your Prosperity through simplicity? I think this will really help me put things into perspective because I am just starting out and sometimes get overwhelmed thinking I should have been rich yesterday. Cheers. DMR
Gracias Mike por exponer y compartir tu experiencia
en EPH este libro es la punta de lanza para cualquier emprendedor .
Soy emprendedor y este libró a venido a revolucionar a lo que me dedico. Lo e tomado como la herramienta para potenciar la empresa ,poniendo por obra las leyes inmutables, plan de prosperidad ,plan trimestral ..gracias Mike por compartirlo..
Simple wins over complex every time.
If you can’t explain it in terms everybody understands then you don’t know it well enough yourself. I had a teacher that said the true test of understanding is teaching it to somebody else. It would seem even the most complex of businesses has simple principals underlying it.
Immutable laws
Integrity without compromise
Have the patience of a saint for those in need
Zero tolerance for feigned ignorance
That means no dicks allowed either
If you’re going to do, do it right
Teach a man to fish even if you’d rather smash the pole over his head and do it for him.
Watch out for kids animals and motorcycles on the road of life
Just getting started pumpkin planning my accounting business.
So far I have listed these immutable laws.
1-Play by the rules. We don’t cheat, lie, steal. And we don’t need clients who want to bend the rules on their tax returns or cheat their customers.
2-Leverage technology. We like to make judicious use of the tools that will make our lives and those of our clients easier and more secure.
5-Be open-minded and teachable.As a 7th grader reading Ben Franklin’s autobiography I read his comment about not being so sure you are right and that has stuck with me for (for real) 60 years. The right attitude is way more valuable that buckets full of brains.
Thanks Mike,
Good post, like it.
One of the biggest rules in our business is:
“The client might think he/she always is right but no client gets away with treating us like slaves!”
We’ve actually fired clients who’ve tried taking us for a ride. The surprise on their face and in their voice is quite something.
Cheers,
Karl
I actually did a customer service employee meeting last month. Found this quote-The customer may not always be right, but they are always the customer. So, let the customer be wrong with dignity and respect! -Shep Hyken
I hated the customer is always right. But I think this is much better, and at the end of the day if they are not the right customer for us, we let them go, graciously.
Hi Mike! Just finished reading your Profit First and Pumpkin Plan. Incredible! Grading existing and old clients was an eye-opener! Thank you so much for all your books and tools you are providing! I am your biggest fan now! My immutable laws so far:
1. Respect yourself and others. No Dicks allowed.
2. Holding yourself to a higher standard: always growing, always improving.
3. Equality: women vs. men, boss vs. employee, client vs. designer…
Hey there, You’ve done an excellent job. I will certainly digg it and in my
opinion suggest to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this site.
How do these sound? I just started working on them
The golden rule- Treat others how you want to be treated, no ifs and or buts.
Positivity- if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it all. Instead of focusing on the problem, focus on how you can fix it.
5 star results daily- We do not do mediocre work, from answering the phone, to the cleaning, the follow etc… We make sure from 1st contact we stand above our competition.
Venture-try something new, in your personal life and at work. You have ideas, let us know, make it happen, get out of your comfort zone. Need help? We are here.
Just give-society sucks sometimes, so smile at the stranger, hold the door open, give that homeless person $5, start a non-profit, make a difference.
I have three ILs that seem pertinent to me:
1. Honesty- all the time, every time
2. Consistency – how you do anything is how you’ll do everything
3. Excellence – exceed expectations by going above and beyond standard practice
Children’s safety comes first always.
Integrity in all that we do
We pay nannies legally
We do not accept clients who do not pay their domestic staff legally
We respect all our domestic staff
We support our staff
Trust is all.
1. Respect all people equally
2. Integrity win/win/win
3. Solution Focused
So it may not come as any surprise that I work in the non-profit sector but just wanted to say I am partway through the Pumpkin Patch and finding it really helpful. My IL are
1) Injustice and inequality is not fair and not right and should always be challenged
2) Everything should work towards making the world a better place and everyone has the ability to change the world.
3) Play by the rules (which I have shamelessly stolen from the poster above)
You are a great thinker Mike, thank you for being so passionate about helping entrepreneurs. You have certainly helped me a stack.
My law is
EXPECT WHAT YOU RESPECT!
I love all these ideas and thanks for posting! Here are mine:
1) Be Kind
2) Be on time
3) Consistent Growth
4) Always give your best