I finished a good Audible Book this summer, 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson[i]. Since writing this best selling book Dr. Peterson has become a worldwide celebrity and YouTube sensation. His lectures, blogs, podcasts, and talk-show appearances, are watched by hundreds of millions throughout the world. He just wrapped up a 160 worldwide city tour in the last year. He has over 2 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. All of which to say is pretty darn good for a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto and a practicing clinical psychologist.
Without further ado, here are his 12 Rules of Life from the book:
- Stand up straight with your shoulders back.
- Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.
- Befriend people who want the best for you.
- Compare yourself to who you were yesterday.
- Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them
- Set your house in order before you criticize the world.
- Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.
- Tell the truth—or at least don’t lie.
- Assume whoever you’re listening to knows something you don’t.
- Be precise in your speech.
- Do not bother children while they are skateboarding.
- Pet a cat when you encounter one in the street.
(I have my favorites—and it’s not the cat—while I will pet a cat when it deigns to let me—I would rather pet a dog. There seem to be more scratching cats than biting dogs.)
Number 4 speaks to me, “Compare yourself to who you were yesterday.” I guess because I preach (when I do preach) “incremental improvement,” so it feels right to me. I consider myself a lifetime learner; after all, it took me 21 years of night classes to finally get my undergrad degree. Each day, if you can find something, anything really, that makes you better than you were yesterday, then you should consider that a win for the day!
The unsaid part of Rule #4, let us call it a sub-rule, is not to compare yourself to others. Even when finding favorable comparisons, it does you no good. Nobody likes Mr. Superior! And of course, negative comparisons do little good either. For example, you might love golf, but at this point, certainly, you must know you’re not going to make the pro-tour. But if golfing is your thing, then to incrementally improve you might consider more practice time and more thought about how exactly to be a better golfer today than you were yesterday. Beating yourself up for failing to be the best golfer on the course just ruins your round of golf.
I will probably not be the most profitable or richest financial advisor in our area (they all seem to be in Easton MD.) But I do want to be a better advisor today than I was yesterday—and looking back at my almost 15 years, I see a lot of improvement. It came incrementally, brick-by-brick until I built a foundation. And it all started with trying to learn something more today than yesterday.
My second favorite is #7, “Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.” I truly believe we all could benefit from this one. If the human species dedicated more time to meaningful work over frivolous endeavors, the world would become a markedly better place.
It is my opinion that we waste so much time worrying about or doing things that mean absolutely nothing. While we all need vacations or time outs, the really serious and important people, the world-changers, the top of their field players, are simply willing to work harder and longer than the rest of the also-rans.
Find out what is meaningful to you and others, and then do it. By doing meaningful acts, every day and incrementally better, you will change your world for the better.
Thanks so much for reading, Marty
Last but not least, I’m a proud Grandfather again. My first daughter Kelly had a new baby girl, Emily Marie.
[i] 12 Rules For Life, Peterson, Jordan January 2018, Publisher: Allen Lane
