One Man's 90 Rules for a Decent Life

This book is a set of 90 rules that I have followed in one way or another throughout my life. It took me years to actually write them down, to realize that I actually was following this set in many of the ways I did things. And to realize that they were "rules" took watching one of my favorite shows over the years and from one of my favorite characters in that show. For this I attribute the famous rules of Leroy Jethro Gibbs©.1 One of the things I had always admired about the show NCIS©1 was the way that Gibbs had a set of rules that the writers integrated into the show over the years.
One here or there, some repeated over and over, these rules were a part of the character and showed how it molded him into the fabric of the show with a backbone and depth that few other characters would ever have. There are lists of the rules all over the internet, showing where some were broken, changed, or explained more in-depth. But through the entire run of the character, they were something that we knew shaped the choices that he made and the way he reacted to things.
I began to realize that I also had my own set of rules, things that I believed and followed in the daily life I led. Some were more important than others; some were ones that I had to actually think about before I wrote them down, and some that came to me later in life as I was thinking of this list. For this reason, there are only a few which are in order of importance to me (Namely the first 5).
The rest are there to inform the reader of things that I have followed and believed over the years. These rules are my rules. They are things I followed. For the reader of this book, it is a way to share the thoughts and guiding policy in my life. It is not meant to be your way of living life; it is not meant to be in an order that you should follow. It is a way for you to look at life, to take those rules which you feel fit your life and to help create your own set of guiding principles to make your life whole.
Each rule has an explanation of what that rule means to me. Some may read the rule and not understand what it means, some may think of a different way to explain the rule. That is fine for each reader to do. But to understand why I felt it was a rule and why it was a guide to me is the reason for the description that is included. Once again, this is an outline for you to develop your own set of rules and path to becoming something more than you are at present.
Lastly, don't be upset if there are times you have to go against your own rules, or that you have done something in your past that was not as righteous or proper in regards to the rules. As you will find under one of those rules I list, we are all human and sometimes we slip, fall, and backtrack on things that we do. We make mistakes in our lives that we may not be proud of, things we regret or dislike, and we all have a past.
Mistakes or past issues are things that help us grow, help us become better. I can say without a doubt there have been times in my past when it happened, and be keeping the forward momentum, I have grown. You can also.