I came across the fantastic Some Rules for Students and Teachers, by Sister Corita Kent. With a little modification, I think they’re quite perfect for museum work, too:

1. Find a place (or story or visitors) you trust and then try trusting it for a while.
2. General duties of a museum visitor: Pull everything out of a visit/exhibit/museum. Pull something out of your fellow visitors.
3. General duties of a museum professional: Pull something out of your visitors. Pull everything out of your fellow colleagues.
4. Consider everything an experiment.
5. Be self disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them.
6. Nothing is a mistake. There is only make.
7. The only rule is work. If you work, it will lead to something.
8. Don’t try to create and analyse at the same time. They’re different processes.
9. Break all the museum rules. Nothing is sacred.
10. Try everything. Read everything. Go to everything. Save everything – it might come in handy later.
11. There should be new rules next week.

The Big “G” Stands for Goodness, by Sister Corita Kent