“And you can’t beat someone who’s making the rules. You need to redefine the rules, not just build something slightly better.”
(Rework, pg 148)

The point Fried is making here is that to a large degree it shouldn’t matter what your competition is up to because you shouldn’t be simply trying to replicate what they do better anyway. You should be doing something the world hasn’t already seen. 

I heard somewhere the other day “Rules are made to be rewritten.” It’s about more than breaking the rules, it’s rewriting…redefining them to work for you.

Are you writing the rules or simply breaking them? 

This post is the first in a series of Rework Wisdom. If you haven’t read “Rework” by Jason Fried I suggest you put it on your short list of “books to be read.” It’s phenomenally simple, practical, & profound all at the same time.