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If this is your first time here—welcome!

That’s me there on stage, convincing a room full of leaders that work is more fun when you’re focused on growth.

My name is Rick Lewis.

I’m a professional speaker, author, and the founder of Break a Rule.

The challenges I set for myself many years ago as a street performer led to being discovered by the CEO of a global company, and then a career as a corporate speaker.

I went from collecting five-dollar bills in a floppy hat to cashing 5-figure checks for presentations to Fortune 100 companies.

The Challenge Finder Quiz is the first step in your Break a Rule journey, which is based on a business book I wrote called 7 Rules You Were Born to Break.

My 7 Rule model has been used by corporations from numerous industries to help grow their people.

The results of the quiz you’re about to take will tell you which rule you will most benefit from breaking.

Once you have your results, you’ll be directed to a free first custom challenge that corresponds to your lowest scoring rule.

Results look like this.

You Can Start the Quiz Now

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About the Quiz

The Challenge Finder Quiz is a series of 30 questions that can be answered in about 5 minutes.

It uses a proprietary algorithm to score the user in each of 7 rule categories.

If you score low for any given rule it means you have a tendency to follow that rule. 

As a result, breaking this rule will be of high value for you, accelerating authentic growth and learning in your professional life.

The challenge stacks will guide you to small risk-taking challenges for your category.

Breaking the right rules and taking the right small risks is key to finding your authentic path to professional success.

Ready to find your rules?

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Influence, respect, and admiration isn't earned by playing it safe. You need to challenge old limits, take intelligent risks, & dare to be human.

Today’s successful professionals have a unique vision, they follow their own path, and capitalize on their authentic voice and strengths.

Those who consistently:

• challenge old limits

• take intelligent risks

• and dare to be human

. . . are going to be exponentially rewarded in the midst of ever growing competition and increasingly rapid change.

Following the rules only assures you’ll get lost in the pack.

But breaking rules isn’t about cheating on your taxes or stealing paper clips.

The rules that successful professionals break are the hidden rules in our culture that disable excellence.

Break a Rule is an assessment & training tool that helps professionals rise above the rules of mediocrity by taking intelligent risks so they find their own authentic path and be more human at work.

Break a Rule is designed to help you . . .

• Build a new future beyond the limiting stories of your past.

• Take smarter risks—more often.

• Find your own authentic path, strengths, and purpose.

My name is Rick Lewis

I’m a professional speaker, author, entertainer, and founder of Break a Rule—a development model based on a business book I wrote titled, 7 Rules You Were Born to Break.

I’ve walked the most non-traditional path to professional success of anybody I know, and it’s all come from saying yes and taking risks.

At age 15 I was hired to play Santa Claus at my hometown mall, flown in by helicopter from the local airport to the delight of hundreds of wide-eyed kids. But I only got the opportunity because earlier that year I put up handwritten flyers to hire myself out as a birthday party clown instead of flipping burgers with my friends at the local McDonald’s.

You wouldn’t expect someone who once aspired to be a birthday party clown to become a successful consultant and thought leader—but success doesn’t follow the rules we think it does.

Success follows those who trust and follow their human spirit.

That’s what Break a Rule is all about—developing the confidence to trust yourself on your own path.

What about you?

Do you sense your highest contribution is going to require a little more boldness, innovation, and courage?

Break a Rule is a turnkey professional development system that will support you to succeed by finding your own path, while increasing your joy and satisfaction at work.

And it’s simply about being fully and confidently human.

The World Economic Forum recently identified the top skills professionals are going to need by 2025.

The problem is . . .

7 of the noted skills are cancelled out by hidden rules that are unconsciously promoted in our culture, because we routinely obey them without even knowing we’re following them.

Rising above these 7 hidden rules is the first job of any professional who wants to succeed at work.

My own rule breaking practice and embrace of these skills took me from living off of donations as a clowning street performer—to presenting to hundreds of Fortune 500 companies as a corporate speaker.

Incredibly, I now receive five-figure paychecks for overfilling the water glasses of attendees at corporate events and then talking about how it relates to professional development.

Now I’m on a mission to help others thrive at work.

And I’d love to support you to rise above the traditional, standard, safe and conventional avenues to success—and enjoy the heck out of the adventure along the way.

I’m gathering a community of people who want to join forces and encourage each other to:

• explore

• discover

• try new things

• engage their authenticity

• and be human at work.

How Break a Rule Works

Step 1 - Start with the quiz

Your Break a Rule adventure will start with the Risk Finder quiz.

This proprietary algorithm paired with unique questions will tell you exactly which risks you’ll most benefit from taking.

You’ll discover your professional strengths and gaps as a rule breaker.

(You’ll also learn how to properly pronounce the word “comptroller.” Don’t pretend you haven’t wondered.)

The quiz should take you no more than 5 minutes to complete—unless of course it’s your boss who sent you here to take it—in which case, you can give yourself to the end of the day Tuesday to finish it up.

Step 2 - Engage the challenges

After you receive your results, you’ll be directed to a sample a first challenge that will be custom selected for you based on your results. It might look simple, but once you put it into action don’t be surprised if you start to feel like a superhero and wonder what other simple actions could light you up in the same way.

Luckily there are 3 more sample challenges waiting for you in the Challenge Library.

Step 3 - Enjoy the real you

Breaking the right rules is a process of restoring confidence in your authentic human spirit. One Break a Rule user put it this way,

“I need these challenges. They make me think. They make me more of who I was intended to be. “ — Justin Bentley 

Step 4 - Get full access

Paid subscribers enjoy the kind of growth tools and benefits you’d expect from a $2,000 professional development training.

But for $10/month!

Professional growth comes when an individual takes courageous, real-life steps toward inspired action.

Break a Rule streamlines the process of finding those custom actions that will most benefit you. You don’t need a fancy binder, a hotel room, and time away from your family and existing responsibilities to leap forward in your career. Those are unnecessary costs that Break a Rule eliminates.

What you need is consistent encouragement to take small risks in an authentic direction.

That’s Break a Rule.

But if you want to stay on the free plan, you’ll learn more about:

• small action science

• intelligent risk-taking

• authentic expression

• learning and development

• & the Break a Rule model

. . . through free articles that will show up in your inbox once a week.

Any Questions?

Yes, you there, in the back.

What do you mean, “Is this for real?”

Yes . . . this is how Break a Rule works.

What’s that?

“How can I claim that taking small risks will transform your life?”

Well, look, you haven’t even tried it yet, and while it may look simple, when you actually engage these challenges you’re going to start having incredible days at work.

And look, if you subscribe and don’t get the benefits you were hoping for, just let me know and I’ll refund your payment, in full, no questions asked, other than,

“What the heck is wrong with you?!”

Ha ha, just kidding, of course.

Actually, I’ll only ask what didn’t work for you, and whether you might consider trying Break a Rule again after you leave professional politics and recover your sense of humor.

Ok. That pretty much covers it.

You can sign up right here.

The Break a Rule Vision

I see a world where confident professionals:

• Bring their human spirit to work in the form of play, creativity, experimentation, and intelligent risk.

• Freely express their authenticity through emotional intelligence and use their actual faces to communicate just as much as emoticons.

• Create meaningful connections and conversations with colleagues, customers, and grocery store cashiers.

I’m focused on providing:

• Unique tools and approaches to professional development that may involve alternative uses for staplers, experiments with intelligent failure, and occasional low-brow humor.

• Education and resources for the practice of intelligent misbehavior, fun ways to disrupt useless meetings, and support to those how have pretended to be wallflowers to reveal their badass selves.

• Access to a dedicated community of growth advocates, leaders, and executive play artists.

For a long time I’ve wanted to create a way for individuals with a passion for growth to use the Break a Rule model for ongoing professional development as a follow up to my corporate presentations.

The problem has been, there are too many benefits that come from engaging with the Break a Rule model.

I’ve been guilty of making things too complicated and not being clear enough about what is being offered here.

Here’s my current simplified promise.

The Promise

I’ll help you take one new intelligent risk every week.

Intelligent risks are fundamentally important for professional growth, career success, meaningful work, and a fulfilling life.

And yet, humans are risk-averse by default.

That means, without making an intentional effort, risk-averse behavior will win, and we won’t get to live our best personal and professional lives.

I see Break a Rule as a tool and community where together we can:

• Keep the value of intelligent risk in our attention.

• Train ourselves to see opportunities for intelligent risk in our lives.

• Grow our courage for acting on those opportunities.

• Celebrate our risk-taking wins and progress.

We’ll do it through the simple commitment to take one new intelligent risk every week.

I’d love to hear from you—are you engaged by that vision?

On this page you’ll find links to each of the challenge stacks that correspond to specific rule-breaking categories. You’re welcome to browse any of the stacks, but for best results, start by taking the Risk Finder quiz and then focus on the challenge stack that corresponds to your lowest scoring rule.

Break the Rule BE NORMAL with COMMUNICATION Challenges

Break the Rule AVOID MISTAKES with INNOVATION Challenges

Break the Rule BE INDEPENDENT with TEAMWORK Challenges

Break the Rule STAY COMFORTABLE with PRODUCTIVITY Challenges

Break the Rule PRETEND YOU DON’T MATTER with ACCOUNTABILITY Challenges

Break the Rule STAY IN CONTROL with LEADERSHIP Challenges

Break the Rule BE POPULAR with VISION Challenges

Become a PAID Subscriber to Guarantee Your Confidence Growth

Your paid subscription as a subscriber includes:

• The full text of, 7 Rules You Were Born to Break

• Recurring Use of the Rule Finder Quiz

• Access to Quarterly Community Rule Breaking Sprints

• Unlock the Complete Challenge Library

• Leave Comments and Questions on Challenges

• Unrestricted Access Beyond the Paywall to Weekly Articles

• Participate in Community Chat Threads with the App

• Reduce Your Chances of Becoming Homeless by 94%

Or a lifetime subscription here.

Lifetime Subscription

I wrote 7 Rules You Were Born to Break in 2009 when the economy crashed and I found myself out of work as a corporate presenter and facing the stress of how to support my family as we burned through our savings.

I spent 4 months writing down all the stories of notable interactions I had had in my professional career as an entertainer, street performer, and corporate presenter.

After months of writing a pattern emerged from what I realized was an accidental sociology study I had conducted over several decades in my interactions with people.

The story of writing the book can be found in more detail here.

Listed below is a summary of each of the 7 rules I discovered in the process of writing.

RULE SUMMARIES

Be Normal - 

Following this rule causes us to dampen our authentic expression, especially our feelings and hide the strengths, weaknesses, and characteristics that make us unique.

Be Independent - 

Following this rule cuts us off from the potential for collaboration and teamwork as we attempt to carry our burdens and responsibilities without asking for help.

Avoid Mistakes - 

Following this rule prevents us from engaging creative processes of discovery, exploration, and innovation that require the willingness to try new things without knowing if they will work.

Stay Comfortable - 

Following this rule blocks us from achievements and results that require resilience, stamina, labor, and discipline to reach them.

Pretend You Don't Matter - 

Following this rule stops us from providing value because we believe we can't make a difference and that our actions, words, and feelings have little significance.

Stay in Control - 

Following this rule causes us to put an agenda we have for our experience or our environment ahead of the needs or experience of others. 

Be Popular - 

Following this rule results in our giving priority to popularity and approval over our sense of inner purpose or of any vision we may have for the future.

The Platform

The Break a Rule Challenges arms paid subscribers with tools to assess exactly which rule(s) they will most benefit from breaking, provides simple incremental challenges to help break the rule consistently, and facilitates sharing and dialogue between growth-minded professionals.

Subscribers receive regular updates, training materials, and thought provoking learning and development frameworks they can use for their own benefit or to inspire their teams.

*This offer applies only to those who are resident in the 98230 zip code and have consistently line-dried their laundry for the last 200 days. (Everybody else gets a dubiously funny email.)

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The Break a Rule Professional Development Stack cleverly ducks what used to be the 3 enduring training problems of traditional professional development.

1. It’s expensive.

2. It’s time consuming.

3. It’s often boring or irrelevant.

Whether you’re an individual wanting to invest in your own professional learning, or an organizational team leader looking for a cost effective way to engage your people in training, Break a Rule solves for each of these concerns.

Obstacle 1 - It’s Expensive

Multiple sources estimate that US corporations spend around $1,000 annually on worker L & D, with American Express recommending that organizations budget between 1 - 5 % of employee salaries to training. For the typical leader making around $85,000 annually, that would average out to around $2,500 for L & D annually.

The Break a Rule Professional Development platform comes in at a cost of $120/annually, but the value proposition is more startling than that since typical professional development trainings can last 3 days, while Break a Rule is available 24/7 year round.

There is no limit to the amount of training each employee can engage on this self-paced platform.

Obstacle 2 - It’s Time Consuming

Despite the fact that the amount of time most companies commit to L & D for their employees comes out to less than 1 hour per week, 49% of employees still say that they don’t have time to learn on the job.

It’s no wonder that workers feel they don’t have time. Traditional learning models require the employee to walk away from their work and the continuity of its execution to learn over a block of hours or days.

The answer lies in microlearning.

Forbes magazine states:

Microlearning is built on cognitive science. It uses spaced repetition, a proven retention-boosting method of breaking down learning topics into more manageable pieces and repeating them with adequate spacing between lessons.

Microlearning allows participants to manage their time more effectively, and ultimately to integrate more of that training into their work days.

On top of that, the training is more likely to stick.

Break a Rule is a micro-learning platform that makes small doses of self-directed training readily available and positions that training in the precise environment where positive change is desired.

The Break a Rule solution comes just in time, as the World Economic Forum reports that . . .

The vast majority of business leaders (94%) now expect employees to pick up new skills on the job – a sharp rise from 65% in 2018.

Obstacle 3 - It’s Often Irrelevant

Recent research conducted by Oracle reports that 57% of respondents said that the training provided by their employers is “sometimes irrelevant, boring, or outdated”; 20% said that it “often” was, and 11% said it was irrelevant, boring, or outdated “all the time.”

It’s no surprise that 70% of respondents in the same study said that they should identify their own learning needs, not a boss or manager.

The difficulty lies in the vast amount of learning models, tools, and paradigms that exist and the pathways available inside of each individual system.

The Break a Rule platform gives each participant the ability to narrow the focus of their training immediately and pinpoint the rules they will most benefit from breaking. They can choose these rules independently or with the help of the Rule Finder assessment tool to target competencies they wish to pursue.

Once the overall competency is selected, participants then choose from a wide variety of practices and exercises within that category, ensuring they are motivated to take ownership of their development and feel confident about its relevance and usefulness.

Summary

Studies show that L & D plays a key role in employee satisfaction, with 57% of respondents saying they would leave their role if they had inadequate opportunities for professional development.

Research by the Gallup Organization links at least 7 of their identified 12 elements of great managing to employee learning and growth.

Break a Rule reduces the risk of investing in professional learning by:

• lowering costs

• streamlining implementation

• removing the need for in person facilities

• eliminating the need for coordinated and blocked out learning times

• increasing the rate of skill integration and effectiveness

In light of the magnified upside of professional learning and development, and reduced risk provided by the Break a Rule platform, what are you waiting for?

This is The Break a Rule Professional Development platform.

It’s designed to help any professional in pursuit of excellence to get themselves (or their team) there fast.

The secret is to consistently take the right micro-actions.

Break a Rule uses a unique growth model that immediately helps professionals to focus on the learning they really need instead of getting lost in a sea of training models, data, and theory.

This practical, easy to implement approach is ideal for busy individuals who want to make sure they’re growing without dropping the ball and sacrificing the continuity of their responsibilities.

No one needs to spend a fortune on training consultants, retreats, coaches, facilities, and systems.

After all, it’s you who is doing the work.

No one needs to close up shop and spend days away from their duties to learn new skills that evaporate the moment they return to home or to the workplace.

Break a Rule makes it easy to do the work that matters—and in the places that it matters—so positive changes stick.

My name is Rick Lewis

I’m a speaker, author, professional development consultant and founder of Break a Rule.

The Break a Rule model is based on a business book I wrote after presenting to over 1 million people face-to-face in my capacity as an entertainer, corporate speaker, and professional development consultant to Fortune 500 companies.

The book was endorsed by Professor Neil Guppy, head of sociology at the University of British Columbia, who called it:

An insightful and practical analysis of human potential and the hidden rules in our culture that limit that potential.

As a paying member, you can start by reading the book 7 Rules You Were Born to Break by choosing The Book from the homepage menu.

The book is a quick read.

It’s primarily composed of stories from my several decades as a street performer, corporate entertainer, and professional speaker.

The stories provide examples of the 7 Rules.

They’re designed to help you see how the rules relate to your own everyday life.

Don’t have time for the book?

Then you can jump straight to the Rule Finder Quiz.

This is a completely unique professional competency quiz.

A proprietary algorithm will tell you exactly which rule(s) you’ll most benefit from breaking.

The last and most important resource the challenge library which can be found here on the homepage.

The platform contains over 350 challenges that are currently being released to the community every week throughout 2023.

There are 50 challenges in each of the 7 rule categories.

You can use them to practice rule breaking and train yourself to rise above the influence of any rule you choose to target.

I recommend that:

1. You start with the quiz.

2. Then follow the recommended links to the first sample challenges.

3. Next visit the library sample challenges.

4. And finally, admit what a difference it would make in your life if you were engaging challenges like this consistently!

   Subscribe now

Become a subscriber, participate fully, and I guarantee you won’t recognize yourself in a year.

Using Break a Rule

Say for instance you take the quiz and find out that you score low for breaking the rule Be Normal.

In that case, you can then consult the Communication Challenges and choose a challenge to practice.

It’s recommended that you pick one challenge a week, engage it as thoroughly as you can, and then you can move on to the next challenge.

You can take them in the order they appear, or skip around. Either way is ok.

If you were to take all the challenges in one stack, in order, one each week, you’d have a ready made professional development program at your finger tips for the entire year—custom targeted to the area of professional competency you’ll most benefit from upscaling.

You can comment on the challenges, share what you tried, and what you learned to engage with the community.

You’ll also have access to occasional community zoom calls where you’ll have the chance to share and learn from other growth-focused professionals and fellow rule breakers.

For Team Leaders and Managers

For leaders and managers with teams of their own, you can bring your own community to Break a Rule and use the tools and practices to nurture the professional development competencies of your team.

As each member will have their own Substack account, you can elect to follow each other and—viola—you have an instant professional development platform you can utilize to keep your people growing, challenged, and bonded together in shared progress.

If you’re a leader who wants to explore a group discount for seats on the platform email sales (at) breakarule.com

Join In

Sign up now so you can experience the benefits of Break a Rule yourself.

Subscribe now

Or — purchase a lifetime membership right now, available for a limited time.

Get a Lifetime Membership

I can’t wait to see roaming the halls of the rule breaking community, making friends with intelligent misbehavers from around the world.