How To Follow Instructions

Like it or not, we all have to deal with getting rules and instructions to follow in various aspects of our lives - be they at work, in academia, or in day-to-day social situations. While some of them might be annoying to deal with, the fact of the matter is that society does need at least a few clear set guidelines to function lest people’s conflicting preferences get out of hand.

With that being said, instructions and rules are things that have to be explicitly laid out and understood if they are to be followed. They can’t just be enforced after the fact with communication beforehand.

How does one follow instructions and/or rules, then? This article will go over just that.

Please note that I cannot fully guarantee that you will be safe from suffering the consequences of not doing what you’re told to do after reading this article. However, I hope you find it helpful.

Pay Attention

This should hopefully be obvious if your age is in the double digits or higher, but it does bear mentioning. Paying attention to every major instruction given to you is critical when it comes to actually following them.

If you decide to fall asleep while someone is laying out the components of a task or throw out the handbook that comes with a dangerous product, you will not be able to know what you’re supposed to do at first. This leaves you with only one option: to improvise and hope it works.

Should you get lucky, you’ll have the ability to perform whatever activity you’re being asked to do with a lot of stress due to having to constantly do guesswork and make a ton of mistakes before getting things right. If you don’t…well, let’s just say the consequences might not be pretty.

Do What You’re Told

Once you’ve actually received instructions and/or rules on what to do, the next step is to follow them.

This could entail a variety of different actions, depending on what the aforementioned tasks are. Maybe it’s a work or school project with a clear deadline coming up in the future. Perhaps it is a team sport practice where your team’s practicing techniques to help beat opponents later on.

Regardless of what is going on, basing your actions on what you are explicitly instructed to do when instructions are given is a must to maintain your credibility as long as the rules aren’t going against basic moral sense. What happens if they’re unclear, though?

That’s what the next section of this article will cover.

Ask For Clarification

If you cannot comprehend what you are required to do in spite of listening to or reading the given instructions carefully, your best bet is to ask whoever’s laying out the rules for clarification.

This might not be possible in certain situations, such as when the rule-giver is dead and anyone else who knows how to follow their instructions has been sworn to secrecy. Some toxic and abusive people also may not take kindly to being asked for clarification, perhaps claiming you are a total idiot, despite their own vagueness being at fault for your asking.

When you are able to, though, asking a simple question about what you’re supposed to do can go a long way. You do not have to ask a person to explain everything they’ve said again. However, you can use followup questions regarding the specific details of your assigned task to get a fuller picture of it.

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Rules and instructions can be followed, even if you are a rebel at heart.

Any other thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments.

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