My personal notes on Peterson’s 12 Rules For Life
The 12 Rules For Life — By Jordan Peterson
My personal notes on each chapter, after reading the book, by Richard C Harris JR.
I’ve been listening to the Audiobook (via Audible) of Jordan Peterson’s 2018 book, “12 Rules For Life”, and became slightly annoyed that it didn’t include a PDF listing the twelve points, the chapter titles, credits. Alas, there was nothing except chapter titles in the Audible app’s tracklisting.
So I wrote them down and included some of my personal thoughts on each segment.
Here are the twelve rules:
1. Stand up straight with your shoulders back.
2. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.
3. Make Friends with people who want the best for you.
4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today.
5. Do not make your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
6. Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.
7. Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).
8. Tell the truth — or, at least, don’t lie.
9. Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.
10. Be precise in your speech.
11. Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.
12. Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.
——————————
My Notes
——————————
Overture
In 2012 he started answering questions on Quora.
- What’s the difference between happiness and content?
- What things get better with age?
- July 2017 (5 years later) 7,200 views, 36 upvotes
- What makes life more meaningful?
- July 2017 (5 years later) 14,000 views, 133 upvotes
- What are the most valuable things everyone should know?
120k views, 23k upvotes- Be grateful in spite of your suffering
- Do not do things you hate
- Do not hide things in the fog
- etc.
For the book, he edited the rules down to 40, then 25, and finally to the 12 in the book.
Our goal could be finding “meaning to justify life and the inevitable suffering.”
“Perhaps, if we can learn to live properly, we could tolerate the weight of our own self-consciousness. Withstand the knowledge of our own fragility and mortality, without the sense of aggrieved victimhood that produces Resentment > Envy > Vengeance and Destruction.”
1. Stand up straight with your shoulders back.
Me: Excellent. Now I really need to do this.
A stable sleeping schedule
“I ask my clinical clients first about sleep”:
-
- Do they wake up in the morning at approx the time the typical person wakes up?
- And at the same time every day?
“If the answer is no, fixing that is the first thing I recommend.”
“It doesn’t matter so much if they go to bed at the same time each evening, but waking up at a consistent hour is a necessity. Anxiety & depression can not be easily treated if the sufferer has unpredictable daily routines.”
A Fat & Protein-Heavy Breakfast
-
- As soon as possible after they awaken.
- No simple carbs, no sugars.
“Without a good breakfast, when engaging in a complex or demanding activity, the excess insulin in their bloodstream will mop up all their blood sugar. hypoglycaemic and psychophysiologically unstable.”
“The system cannot be reset until after more sleep.”
Other Bad Habits
A positive feedback loop requires:
-
- An input detector,
- An amplifier, and
- Some form of output.
2. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.
Notes: I like this approach!
Memorable quotes: “Our brains are deeply Social.”
-
- Know where you are,
- Who you are, and…
- Where you are going.
3. Make Friends with people who want the best for you.
Notes: He mostly gives negative examples here, but we get the point.
Memorable quotes:
4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today.
Notes: Jr.: After this it begins to fall apart. But nothing takes away what terrific advice he gave in these first four chapters.
Memorable quotes:
5. Do not make your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
Notes: This really became a rant that lost me halfway through.
Memorable quotes:
6. Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.
Notes: aka “Always be positive, also work on self-improvement.”
Memorable quotes:
7. Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).
Notes: aka “The Power of Delayed Gratification.”
Memorable quotes:
8. Tell the truth — or, at least, don’t lie.
Notes: aka “Be honest”
Memorable quotes:
9. Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.
Notes: aka “Learn from the wise: Your elders.”
Memorable quotes:
10. Be precise in your speech.
Notes: aka “Master your main language(s).”
Memorable quotes: Why is my laptop obsolete?
11. Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.
Notes: This is the same as Point 5. “Just raise your kids well.”
Memorable quotes:
12. Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.
Notes: WTF Why? Not really explained.
Memorable quotes: “Dogs are also okay.”
