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This could probably be classified under Tip of the Day, but it’s much broader and general philosophy than an actual tip. Without getting into specifics, the three adjectives above are how I think about “rules” that govern the “game.” The game could be anything from photography in general to lighting or even the specifics of photography as a business.

Whatever your game is, you have to learn, break, and then make the rules.

To figure out the game, you’ll have to learn how it’s played. Learn how others play. And then play it yourself. With enough time and experience, you’ll understand the framework of the game.

Over time, you should be able to start breaking the rules. Knowing which rules to break will help you find loopholes, flaws, and other inherent weaknesses of the game’s structure. You might decide to exploit these weaknesses for short-term returns, but you’ll still be limited by the overall confines of the established rules of the game. Ultimately, you’ll realize that greater gains can be made if you…

Reinvent the rules of the game. Shift the game into something that you completely control, dominate, and govern. Be a change agent. Make the rules up as you go along—or figure them out beforehand and execute them well. It doesn’t matter, but in order to be wildly successful, you have to be the architect of the game itself. You have to be the one manipulating the rules. In other words, don’t be a gambler; be the house. The house always wins because the house dictates the rules by which everyone gambles.

If I were talking about the NBA, it would go something like this:

1. Play by the established rules = Think Luke Walton. He’s an average or above-average basketball player in the NBA. He will probably never appear on the highlight reel because he’s not capable of anything extraordinary. I’m surprised he can even dunk.
2. Break and exploit the rules of the game = Think LeBron James. This guy is athletically gifted and can exploit the current rules of the NBA because they were created for mere mortals. His feats make referees wonder why the regulation height of the basketball rim isn’t 13 feet. With that said, LeBron still needs the league to cut his checks and is therefore ultimately at the mercy of the owners.
3. Make the rules: Think commissioner David Stern. This guy has been commissioner since the Civil War. He’s like a cockroach that can’t be killed. In fact, a nuclear fallout might just make him stronger. Okay, I’m totally exaggerating, but if there’s one person who “owns” the NBA, it’s David Stern. He’s basically God of the NBA, so he controls everything. Need an NBA team in your city? David Stern can make that happen. Not LeBron or Kobe. Not Luke. David Stern.

This applies to EVERYTHING. I’m not here just to “play by the rules.” I want to be wildly successful. But like Neo in The Matrix, I need to

• understand that I am in the Matrix,
• figure out how to bend the rules and codes in the Matrix, and
• ultimately figure out how to destroy the Matrix altogether.

Get it? Now go and change the rules of the game.

You can learn more about this and other photo techniques at one of my group workshops.