Agricultural Farmland Investments Essay Example for Free

Agricultural Farmland Investments Essay If you are worried about inflation, the best investments to protect yourself are so-called real assets that will rise in value along with inflation. If you are interested in a real asset that pays good current income and dividends, hedges against inflation and also has tremendous value, consider farmland investments. We took farmland as an investment and sees agriculture as the premiere asset class for the next decade. Why invest in farmland? Green World believes that farmland is among the best alternative investments for retail investors. In keeping with Green World’s theory that it is important for any investment to be on the right side of global macro trends, and as the graph from the UN demonstrates, the amount of arable land worldwide is dwindling. Simultaneously, the world’s population is forecast to jump to more than 9 billion by 2050 from 6.9 billion today. Simple economic principles of supply and demand dictate that when there is an increasing shortage of an asset combined with growing demand for it, the prices of that asset are likely to go up. This trend and the accompanying high prices for agricultural commodities has created a substantial concern amongst world governments around the issue of â€Å"food security† and has led many large institutional investors – including governments – to launch agriculture and farmland funds. Shrinking Arable Land and Global Food Security Just to summarize, the points below provide a good overview of reasons for including farmland in your portfolio: 1) Food inflation looks set to continue for the foreseeable future, as the amount of arable land globally is actually shrinking whilst the global population is continuing to grow. To meet growing global food demand the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates an extra six million hectares of additional farmland investment is needed every year for the next 30 years, creating a massive new opportunity for farmland investors. 2) Northen part continue to use Quantitative Easing to create new money on a massive scale. Farmland is an excellent hedge against inflation, which, is the inevitable effects of this printed money entering the real economy. 3) Farmland pays high current income and dividends from the sale of crops. As interest rates are near zero and likely to stay that way for some time, prudent savers are forced to look elsewhere for current in come. Farmland is an excellent option for obtaining that income. 4) Farmland stands out as an asset class that can be a safe haven from global financial and economic instability, as it provides diversification to a portfolio since farmland does not respond to the same factors as those which influence financial assets such as stocks and bonds. 5) Finally, investing in farmland is also a play on China’s continued rapid growth. One of the places where arable farmland is shrinking quite fast due to development is China, and indeed China has now become a net food importer, causing great worry in the government about the issue of â€Å"food security†. With US$3.1 trillion of reserves, when China wants or needs something, it goes out and buys it. Food and farmland are no exception, and indeed China has been buying farmland all around the world. One other point worth noting is that Dream World’s favorite investing on a huge proponent of investing in farmland. They believe that we are only in the â€Å"third inning† of the farmland story, and the asset class still has plenty of room to run. It is also worth noting that it also â€Å"eats his own cooking† so to speak, as he offers two farmland funds targeted at institutional investors, one of which invests in different allocations of farmland in India of Dream World’s farmland projects is located. The next question to consider is how to invest in farmland? You could, of course, invest in a Dream World farmland fund, but Dream World funds target high net worth for institutions with minimum requirements of thousands of Rupees. Dream World, by contrast, offers direct farmland investments for retail investors, with minimum requirements as low as Rs.5000.00. Furthermore, Dream World’s farmland investment projects provide for the direct ownership of the underlying agricultural land – i.e. the retail investor actually owns farmland directly, rather than having indirect exposure through an expensive farmland hedge fund. It is now possible for individual investors to make direct investing in farmland a part of their portfolio, as there are an increasing number of projects where large tracts of land are purchased, and then individual parcels are sold directly to retail investors. These investments are a full â€Å"soup-to-nuts solution,† as everything from the cultivation of the land to the planting and harvesting and the sale of the sale of the crops are performed by an existing farm manager who is part of the project. That means these are perfect passive investments for individuals looking to diversify their portfolios. The aims of the participatory process in the project were: * to perform reflections on the causes and the consequences of the change in the man-forest relationship and on the opportunity to acknowledge new expectations and needs arisen from society towards the forestry sector through participation; * to define, through study cases, a procedure capable of integrating participation into landscape forest planning and to develop a method suitable for all the different situations in Italy * to evaluate the perception of the forest and of forest management within the local communities; * to integrate the traditional knowledge with the technical content of the plan; * to make the population aware of the planning process; * to carry out the mapping of the stakeholders; * to involve, through a targeted reach-out, stakeholders who would otherwise not have been able to voice their concerns.

Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Ontological Argument

Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Ontological Argument The a priori and analytic argument posed by Anselm states that God must exist solely by definition; it uses the subject of God and predicate of perfection. In Proslogian 2 Anselm defines God as being than which no greater can be conceived  [1]  . Strengths of the Ontological Argument The main strength of Anselms argument is showing that the concept of God is not illogical, though explaining that everyone, even a non-believer must have a concept of God in the mind and because of this have a concept of God existing in reality. By definition, God cannot exist in the mind alone, as no greater can be conceived as something greater could be thought of, namely that same thing existing in both mind and reality. Hence, God must exist in reality by the meaning of the word God. The argument succeeds as it is deductive and clear conclusions can be drawn from it, this leaves the argument with only one answer; God exists. Because of its a priori nature It also offers an actual proof for Gods existence which can be logically debated rather than relying on changeable evidence. Weaknesses of the Ontological Argument The main weakness of Anselms argument is posed by Gaunilo of Marmoutier, a contemporary of Anselm, Gaunilo posed, using reductio ad absurdum, that if the logic of the argument were applied to anything other than God, its conclusion would be unreasonable. The analogy of a perfect island was formulated, and using the same argument as Anselm reasoned that as the perfect island could be thought of, then it also must exist. Though Gainilos perfect island does have flaws itself as it pointed out by Rowe if we follow Anselms reasoning exactly, it does not appear that we can derive an absurdity from the supposition that the island than which none greater is possible does not exist.  [2]  It does highlight the many flaws in Anselms, mainly that something cannot be thought into existence, as Russell states the argument does not, to a modern mind, seem very convincing, but it is easier to feel convinced that it must be fallacious than it is to find out precisely where the fallacy lies.  [3]  Russell draws a clear distinction between existence and essence and argues that the essence of something can be defined but this does not constitute existence. Russell argues that the word exist is used incorrectly in Anselms argument  [4]  . Russell states that to define something is to provide an intention and to add existence would be an extension of that intention, Anselm does provide both as the idea which is said to exist, then that which nothing greater can be conceived must exist, as it is the totality of all ideas. Russell believes that this only constitutes God being the greatest thing one can think of, but does not prove God exists in realily. Anselm responds to this with Proslogian 3, by explaining that something that cannot not exist (necessary existence) is greater than something which could not exist (contingent existence), That God Cannot be Thought Not to Exist  [5]  . This however can be disputed is God is not thought of as a necessity and also as necessary existence can only be applied to God then it is unverifiable. Another weakness in Anselms argument is posed by St Aquinas, as Anselm states God is that which nothing greater can be conceived then to understand God in this way is to be equal to him, which Anselm cannot be, as he is human. Descartes begins his argument from the position that he has certain ideas that have necessary qualities; necessary  [6]  meaning a priori. For example, it is necessary of a triangle that it has three sides and three angles totalling 180 degrees. Because these properties are demonstrably undeniable, he could not have invented such ideas himself. These ideas possess their own undisputable nature which is, regardless of will, perceived clearly and distinctly. Because of this, they must be true. So, if one is able to draw such an idea from ones mind, then whatever one predicates of that thing is truly a predicate of it. Because it is clearly and distinctly recognised that actual existence is a property of God, actual existence is truly of Gods nature. Therefore, Descartes reasons, God exists. This argument only succeeds if existence is regarded as a predicate; Descartes argues that God possesses necessary existence in the same way that a triangle does three sides; this analogy is a main weakness of Descartes argument. It may be easy to understand what it means for a triangle to have three sides, but if the properties of a triangle, such as the number of its sides, then the mental concept of the triangle changes (and becomes a square/rhombus/etc.) it is very difficult to see how existence, or the lack of it, changes the mental concept of God, and so we may be reluctant to say that it is necessary of God. Kant argues that there are differences between something having certain predicates, such as in the case of the triangle, and something existing, in the case of God. Kant argues that the examples given by Descartes are of judgements  [7]  and it is not necessarily true that three sides exist at all. It is only necessarily true that, given a triangle, there are three sides consisting in it. By this understanding, existence is separate from the predicates that determine how a subject is. If Kants view is correct then The Ontological Argument fails, if existence is not a real predicate that is added on to the subject then to deny existence you take away the whole subject. The principle of the Ontological Argument regards this as being as an attribute. The Ontological argument can only succeed using faith in something which cannot be quantified, therefore can only really be used to prove the existence of God by someone who is already a believer, as Barth suggests it can tell what theists believe about God but not whether he exists  [8]  . Because of this the argument ultimately fails, as it claims to be a proof but that proof will never be able to be measured.

The Legend of Pulau Ubin near Singapore :: Urban Legends Ghost Stories

The Legend of Pulau Ubin The story I chose to consider was about one of the small islands that surround Singapore, Pulau Ubin. This is a small island whose main industries are mining and tourism, including trails for biking and hiking. The island has an interesting past, and as a result it now has many legends and myths revolving around it. During the occupation of the Singapore by the Japanese, it was said to be where they had brought soldiers to be tortured. That is a significant reason why people believe it’s haunted. The person from whom I heard the story is one of the students who lives across the hall from me on the 7th floor in La Plata. His family comes from India, but he lived in many places since birth, one of them being Singapore, and now his family lives in New Jersey. Also, he is nineteen years old. I collected the story on the afternoon of October 14th, it was right after we had all finished classes. When I asked the storyteller if he knew any ghost stories or urban legends and myths, he first attempted to respond with, â€Å"Casper†, but I told him no I need real things you have heard. After that he jumped right into the story from Singapore about Pulau Ubin: Ok, when I lived in Singapore, its an island and there were all these surrounding islands, and one was Pulau Ubin. Like it’s not ghetto, but not with fancy resorts. People would go there for hiking and biking, stuff like that. Before, there used to be animals, like tigers, but now there aren’t any. So you would hear about every year, no every two years like you hear of a family disappearing while they went there for hiking, the whole family. They would send search parties and stuff out, and later they would find pieces of meat, like human meat. They’ve searched the island many times for any signs of animals, but they never found any. Pulau Ubin is the site of many supernatural activities from what I gathered, ranging from ghost sightings, to hunts for spiritual burial grounds and graves. Singapore is a place with a great deal of concentrated wealth. Along with this is a massive wealth gap, which often leads to many interesting beliefs and ideas. The way the person I interviewed, told the story with such seriousness that I could tell he believed it.

Coffee Crisis Essay -- BTEC Business Marketing GCSE Coursework

Coffee Crisis The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe , and the Economist as well as many other media outlets of record were all in consensus when they declared the onset of coffee crisis in October 2001; farmgate prices had sharply dropped reaching a thirty-year low of $0.39 per pound in This price was below the cost of coffee production at the time, listed at USD 0.60 per pound.(Economist 2001) Price declines are not such an uncommon occurrence, but what is more troubling is that the cash market for coffee suffers from high price volatility. For a more detailed look please see Appendix 1: Cash Price Variation. Coffee producers , who are mainly located in developing countries , are highly vulnerable to price risk in the cash market , yet their profits in relation to their risk exposure has been steadily declining. In a 2001 study conducted by the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA)- an organization that promotes the sale of products that ensure price security for marginalized commodity produ cers- the general finding was a declining share of trade revenues from coffee remained in the coffee producing countries. Although the international coffee market has grown from $30 billion annually in the 1980s to $55 billion in 2001, in aggregate coffee producers have seen their share drop from $10 billion to $7 billion in 2001 (Renkema 59). From the perspective of the small producer, their received cash prices have not always been this volatile and had been stable up until 1989 ;although the data does not fully support this. Please see Appendix 2) Measures of Volatility. A price regime devised in 1962 by the International Coffee Association setup an agreement between coffee producing countries and coffee consuming countries.... ...//www.nybot.org> Pennings, Joost M.E. Research in Agricultural Futures Markets: Past Present and Future. Presentation Paper: Wageningen Agricultural University: Netherlands. 8 June 2001. Renkema, David. (2001). ¡Ã‚ ± Chapter 4:Coffee:The Speculator ¡Ã‚ ¯s Plaything ¡Ã‚ ± Fair Trade Yearbook..European Fair Trade Association: Amsterdam. World Bank International Task Force on Commodity Risk Management in Developing Countries.  ¡Ã‚ °Dealing With Commodity Price Volatility In Developing Countries: A Proposal For A Market-Based Approach. ¡Ã‚ ± Discussion Paper for the Roundtable on Commodity Risk Management in Developing Countries. World Bank. Washington, DC: 24 September 1999. United Nation Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretariat.  ¡Ã‚ °Farmers and Farmers Associations In Developing Countries And Their Use of Modern Financial Instruments. Geneva: 10 January 2002.

Critique of Robert Frost Essay examples -- essays research papers

Marion Montgomery, â€Å"Robert Frost and His Use of Barriers: Man vs. Nature Toward God,† Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1962. Reprinted by permission of The South Atlantic Quarterly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robert Frost is considered by the casual reader to be a poet of nature like that of a Wordsworth. In a sense, his poetry is about nature, yet with strong underlying tones of the drama of man in nature. Frost himself stated, â€Å"I guess I’m not a nature poet,† â€Å" I have only written two without a human being in them (138).† Marion Montgomery’s critical essay plays with the epitaph that Frost proposes for himself in The Lesson for Today: â€Å"I have a lovers quarrel with the world.† Montgomery says, that the lovers quarrel is Frost’s poetic subject, and states, â€Å"throughout his poetry there is evidence of this view of mans’ existence in the natural world (138). The essay examines how Frost’s attitude toward nature is one with armed and amicable truce and mutual respect interwoven with boundaries of the two principles, individual man and the forces of the world. But the boundaries are insisted upon. The critical essay examines how Frost’s direct addresses of nature are often how man is essentially different from objects and features of nature. Montgomery insists, â€Å"†¦his trees and animals, though he speaks to them, do no take on grave countenances (140).† The jest of Montgomery’s ideal is when Frost speaks directly to or directly of natural objects or creatures, â€Å"that ...

Managing diverse workforce Essay

Workforce diversity includes the obvious differences we see when we look around: race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, age, religion and ethnicity. But it’s also the less obvious traits, the subtle differences that often register with us unconsciously, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, educational background, language, accent and appearance. We all have something that makes us unique, some special talent or ability that we bring to the table that differentiates us from our colleagues. That’s diversity at its best. Sourcing and managing people from a diverse background have become a critical part of an employment and management strategy. Workers who vary in age, gender, ability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background or culture, ethnicity and language, make a positive contribution to an organization’s workforce — they’re an asset to organization culture and the bottom line as companies and managers are realizing every day that passes. There is a common belief that a diverse workforce brings innovative and creative solutions to an organization from ‘outside the box’. An effective corporate diversity program is a powerful way to gain a competitive advantage and stand apart from competition. It can’t be overstated that diverse workforce brings real bottom-line value to any organization. Diverse workforce allows organizations to break barriers, attract new customers and build customer-base and help form strategic alliances with partners across the globe by having better knowledge of the target markets and establishing better communication capabilities and having ability to communicate in a variety of languages including understanding of cultural differences. Just over half of the employers polled in Canada said they anticipate a shortage of quali? ed workers in the next ? ve years and approximately 67% believe they currently have a more diverse workforce than 5 years ago. These forward-thinking companies are not only placing an emphasis on making a positive contribution to their workforce – but on their bottom line. Source:Randstad Despite Workforce diversity is becoming common phenomenon across Canada, managers of today are increasingly facing the challenges of handling a diverse workforce and being sensitive to this diversity (Tjosvold, 1985). The rationale behind this research is to understand challenges organizations are facing as a result of managing diverse workforce. Additionally the research would try to look into various ways managers can overcome these challenges and make managing diverse workforce a real success. The concept of managing diversity originated in America following the growing need to manage cross-cultural and individual differences in an increasingly diverse demographic workforce (Cox & Blake, 1991). In Canada, immigration and large numbers of women entering the workforce promoted diversity management efforts since the 1990s, although the workplace composition differs from that in the USA (Miller & A. Rowney, 1999). Experts (Fernandez, 1993; Rice, 1994; Carnevale and Stone, 1994) indicate that business owners and managers who hope to create and manage an effective, harmonious multicultural workforce should remember the importance of the following: Setting a good example: This basic tool can be particularly valuable for small business owners who hope to establish a healthy environment for people of different cultural backgrounds. This is because they are generally able to wield significant control over the business basic outlook and atmosphere. The leaders must exhibit strong commitment to addressing issues like myths, stereotypes, and real cultural differences, as well as organizational barriers that interfere with the full contribution of all employees. Communicate in Writing: Organization policies that explicitly forbid prejudice and discriminatory behavior should be included in employee manual, mission statement and other written communications. Diversity should be a super-ordinate goal instead of a goal assigned to individual group. Training Programs: Awareness and skill building training programs provides information on cultural norms of different groups and how they may affect work behavior. New employee orientation programs are ideal for introducing workers to organization’s expectation regarding treatment of fellow workers irrespective of their cultural or ethnic background. Recognize individual differences: There are number of dimensions around human relationships. These include but not limited to: acceptance of power equality, desire for orderliness and structure; the need to belong to a wider group etc. Difference should not be assumed to be cultural. Other sources are personality, aptitude or competence ( Goffee, 1997). Actively seek input from Minority workers: Seeking opinions of minority groups and their involvement on important matters is beneficial not only because of the contributions they can make but also as it sends a message that they are valued by the organization. Revamp reward system: An organizations performance appraisal and reward system should encourage and reinforce effective diversity management. Flexible Work environment: Cox (1994) indicated that flexible work environment could be highly beneficial for and to people of non-traditional cultural background because their approaches to problems are more likely to be different from past norms. Continuous Monitoring: Experts recommend that business owners and managers establish and maintain systems and routines that can continually monitor the organization’s policies and practices to ensure that it continues to be a good environment for all employees. Periodic surveys should be conducted by management to understand employee’s needs (Jorgensen, 1993). Impact of Diversity on Organizational Culture: Hill and Jones defined organizational culture as those set of norms, values, and attitude that defined the way the employees of an organization behaved and interacted with each other and with others outside their organization (Hill and Jones, 2001). Organizational culture has been seen as instrumental in impacting individual employees in an organization. A positive organizational culture promotes diversity by taking advantage of diverse talent pool as well as intellectual capital whereas a negative organizational culture will stifle and discriminate against diversity and thus affect the work environment and consequently the employee productivity (Chatman and Spataro, 2005). Thomas identified that organizational culture is responsible for the systematic and planned way in which a diverse workforce is managed in an organization and their skill sets are put to use for the benefit of the business (Thomas, 1992). With dramatic adoption of diversity as a value-add across number of organizations, it’s become important to make sure organizational culture promotes workplace diversity. It means extensively analyzing a organization’s current culture and changing those parts that limit cultural diversity. Also, it means recruiting new employees for the skills they can bring to the organization rather than their cultural homogeneity. Lastly, it means working with a management team to help them understand that cultural diversity is a business issue, and their own careers will benefit from enabling their employees to reach their full potential (â€Å"Managing Diversity†, 1999). Diversity management contains three (3) components: 1. Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action programs direct attention to laws that guide recruitment and promotion. 2. Valuing differences centers on interpersonal qualities that shape management’s relationships with their employees. 3. Managing diversity focuses on the diverse quality of employees’ work-life needs such as childcare, family leave, and flexible holiday schedules. It requires setting policies and procedures that empowers managers to meet employees’ needs (Galagan, 1999; Jenner, 1994; Wilkinson, 1999). â€Å"Managing diversity is managing human resource needs,† says Ben Harrison. ( Jenner, 1994). Human resource personnel alone can’t do the work of managing diversity. All levels of managers should implement programs designed to heighten awareness of cultural differences, foster appreciation for these differences, and identify the commonalties among the various ethnic groups. Managing diversity is an effort that will involve all members of the organization In order to reap the fruits of diversity. The process should start by including managing diversity into the overall strategy, this will promote cultural synergy and effectively integrating the better elements associated with multiple cultures. This tactic will help in aiding of identifying and implementing of new practices in companies with diverse units. Steps to be taken to begin managing diversity are: 1. Assess your organization’s needs by conducting an organizational audit to determine which diversity problems exist. The audit should consist of surveys, interviews, focus groups, or a combination of these. 2. One should learn all s(he) can by exposing him/herself to different types of people, for this can reduce Stereotyping. 3. Strengthen top management’s  commitment level. White males control the resources and feel most of the fear; therefore, they should be informed of the importance of their involvement, for this can reduce if not eliminate their fear. 4. Develop new selection criteria that include personality characteristics. Promote cultural synergy by effectively integrating the better elements associated with multiple cultures. 5. Invest in communication training to reduce prejudice and develop 6. Choose solutions that balance strategy to achieve the organization’s goals. 7. Build diversity into your leadership team: You must plan for the development and promotion of your employees. 8. Look for ways to adjust your organization to your workers. This means the organization’s culture should be employee oriented. Instituting flexible management systems to accommodate diverse workers can do this. This includes job sharing, flextime, and separate reward and benefit systems. (â€Å"Managing Diversity†, 1999,Galagan, 1999;Nelton, 2000) Conclusion At the end of the day appreciating diversity in people means recognizing, accepting, and supporting their differences. In addition, properly managing diversity means creating an environment that takes advantage of the different characteristics of everyone, which is in the best interest of the organization and the employee. The concept of managing diversity was developed as a result of the changing demographics of workforces, imperfections of Affirmative Action programs, and discrimination laws. Managing diversity involves consumption of all program and resources to building systems and a culture that unite different people in a common pursuit without undermining their diversity. It differs from solely using from Affirmative Action programs or other of its kind, because it creates an environment where all individuals can contribute to their maximum potential. Attaining support from top management is the most important implementing step in the process, which is necessary to ensure success. Additionally, it reduces the fears of the dominant group. Through the use of all valuing diversity, managing diversity and affirmative action companies create a qualified, diverse work force that appropriately reflects the demographics of its communities.

The Rules

* We should follow the rules so that we can maintain peace and organization within our society, economy, and even our country. Without rules no one would be able to work together. * Two different kinds of people can be heard to utter that question, â€Å"Why have rules? † One of them does not believe in rules; the other believes in rules and adds a few more words to the question, â€Å"Why have rules, if you are not going to enforce them? † I would like to examine both sides of this argument.Many people say that if we had no rules, there would be total anarchy and chaos. Some say that if there were no law against murder or theft, normal good people would murder and steal. I agree that there would be more murder and theft. But, I cannot imagine that normal people would murder and steal. Wouldn't you be repelled by murder and theft? Wouldn't there be implied constraints (implied laws, if you will) against murder and theft? Wouldn't the Golden Rule apply, even if it weren' t given to us in the Bible? Aren't there always implied rules? Sixty-nine percent of students who obey the rules say that the rules are there for guidance and protection, with 20 percent feeling that the rules are there to scare them into obedience. * We follow rules because they are necessary to coordinate individual actions in a social setting. Some rules are self-enforcing, i. e. , it is in each individual's interest to obey them. For example, once more than 50% of car operators drive on the right side of the road in a particular area, more and more drivers will notice that adapting to this rule reduces their risks of accident, and the rule will become more and more accepted.A driver who decides to break the rule will risk incurring a high cost. * A related reason why we follow rules is that we don't know the consequences of particular decisions: rules are, as Hayek says, â€Å"a device for coping with our constitutional ignorance. † * In certain instances, we follow rules because we want to guard against particular decisions that may, on the spur of the moment, bring satisfaction, but have long term consequences we wish to avoid. You may use a loud, or repeating, alarm-clock, or put it out of reach, because you know hat you may be tempted to stay in bed when the time comes. * Rules are indispensable, but there must be ways to challenge them by trying new ones. Much of the art of social, and personal, life is about knowing which rules to follow and which rules to disobey. * Most of the time we put people into one category or the other. You either accept the rules and play by them or you’re a rebel who likes to break the rules. * A third variety that we often forget about is the rule questioner.And the rule questioner is in a better position to learn and succeed than the pure rule followers and rule breakers. * Why you shouldn’t follow all the rules * The rule followers believe that rules are in place for a reason and that we should foll ow them all. Groups of smart people created laws and company procedures and social norms and school policies so we should accept them and follow them. * Blindly following the rules doesn’t require you to think much. You accept rules the way they are even if they don’t seem to make sense. The problem is that circumstances and environments and people and societies change. We learn better methods. Technology changes our procedures. Rules become outdated. * If you blindly follow all the rules, you don’t account for these changes. * Why you shouldn’t break all the rules * While some of us like to believe we’re rule breakers, most of us realize that we need rules to have a functioning society. (That is, unless you’re an anarchist. ) * Rule breakers really aren’t that different from rule followers.Instead of blindly following the rules, they blindly break the rules. * Why? * Maybe you think you know better. * Maybe you like the feeling of re bellion. * Maybe you want to be different. * Maybe you think the rules are absurd. * The underlying problem with both rule breakers and rule followers is that they don’t use their brains to think about whether they should follow or break the rules. * Question the rules * Instead of following all the rules or breaking all the rules, we should become rule questioners. * Do the rules make sense?If so, then follow them†¦if not, think about about how you might be able to change them. * Most people believe that if you don’t question the rules, you’ll get farther in life, but success awaits those who are willing to break the right rules. * Painting inside the lines * I’m definitely a rule follower. * I was reminded of my tendency to follow the rules last weekend when I attending a Paint By Wine Class with some friends. A local art shop provides paint, a blank canvas and an artist to teach you to create a painting while you sip wine and chat with friends. Ev eryone is supposed to follow the instructor’s guidance to create the same painting. I didn’t really like the colors in the painting, but I followed each of the artist’s instructions and recreated something that looked exactly like her painting. She complimented me on how straight my lines were. * It wasn’t until I looked around, that I noticed that other people weren’t following the rules (gasp! ). Some of my friends used different colors. Others put their flowers in different locations. Others were going even more rogue and painting roses instead of daisies. I blindly followed the rules without even thinking about how I could put my own touch on the painting. I didn’t even like what I was creating, but I found myself proud that I had followed the directions so closely (although certainly not perfectly). * What was I left with at the end of the night? Besides a fun time hanging out with my friends, I had an exact replica of a painting I didn ’t really like. (Yes, the featured image in this post is my â€Å"work of art†. ) * Use your brain to question the rules Whether you’re more of a rule breaker or a rule follower, we can all improve by questioning the rules before following or breaking them. * I’m not suggesting that you pick only the rules you feel like following. Please don’t drink and drive because you think the rule doesn’t make sense. Don’t steal from the grocery store to feel like a rebel. * But do use your brain to ask reasonable questions. *   Rules are important because without rules there would be chaos. Everyone would be doing whatever they want and no one would agree and bad things would happen.   Rules are important because it lets society know what is expected of them. If you break the rules there are consequences and you are aware of that as well. Rules keep us in order. * We should follow the rules so that we can maintain peace and organization with in our society, economy, and even our country. Without rules no one would be able to work together. * Rules are needed to stop anarchy and to provide order. People need to be accountable for their actions so rules are needed. Without rules, no one would own up to any responsibility and things would never get accomplished. *