Lessons from Jordan Peterson

1. By Thimo January 18, 2018
8 Lessons From Jordan Peterson
thimosblog.com/2018/01/18/8-lessons-from-jordan-peterson/
Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the Universityof
Toronto. He is the author of the books “Maps of
Meaning” and “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to
Chaos”. He has a big following on You Tube and
tries to bring out ideas to people that can change
their lives for the better.
You´re the thing that moves between chaos and order
Jordan Peterson has a thing for stories and archetypes. From his point of view, there are
two things that make up your life: chaos and order. For a good life, you need to have both.
You need to bring order into your life through certain practices. But you also have to
explore things and go into the chaos voluntarily to have some kind of adventure and grow.
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2. Clean your room
I was very messy most of my life and this
is something I can still improve in.
Cleaning your room gives you the ability
organize your stuff. So you´re learning
what things are important for daily use.
Which things can be stocked in a further
away corner because you don´t need them
as regularly.
Your room is (apartment, house, etc.) is your basis of operation. If there are too many
things lying around, it will distract your mind, even if it´s just unconscious.
Clarify your thoughts
To really organize and clarify your
thoughts, you have to work with them.
Write about things you read about. Have
conversations with people to see if your
thoughts are really backed up with facts, if
you got something wrong; right, etc.
You can also start a blog or make videos.
The important thing is to work with them
and have a conversation with yourself.
Stop doing the things you know are wrong
Doing things right is often very hard and difficult. Why? Because often times I don´t know
what the right thing to do is. But, I often know what is the wrong thing to do. In my
experience it has something to do with the following:
Lying: It will often get you into more trouble than you already have. If you lie, you often
have to lie again to back up the first lie until the point comes when someone will see
through you
Being lazy: I tried to avoid things a long time in my life because I wanted to be
comfortable. The problem? Things will stack up if you don´t handle them it will
become much worse than could have been.
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3. Don´t say things that make you weak (don´t lie)
Often times I didn´t say things I wanted to
say, because of fear of rejection and other
consequences. Jordan Peterson says that
you should only say things that make you
feel align.
The problem with this method is, that you
actually get to know how much you don´t
know. I had a short discussion last week
about a topic I saw a lot of videos about,
mainly on You Tube. However, I never
looked up any sources, statistics, etc. to back the information up.
So I talked to the person and at some point a part of me reminded me of that fact. So, I had
the to decide: Do I make something up or actually admit that I never looked deep enough
into the topic? I decided for the latter.
And even though you might say that I could have “lost” the conversation because of it,
inside it made feel more at ease than if I had come up with some fantasy story.
Make a schedule and stick to it
Again, I´m a bad organizer. What helped
me a little bit, though, were routines.
Especially morning routines. SInce I do
them I became much more organized in
my day to day activities. Still, I have to get
used to sitting down at the end of the week
and making a schedule for the next.
For making a schedule, you first need to
know what your goals are. Mine for the
next couple of months are:
writing at least one article a week for this site
becoming fitter, especially in terms of strength and endurance
becoming more flexible
becoming more social
So I have to plan the activities and exercises for these goals and also execute them.
Also, important points: Make a schedule with things that you actually want to do and with
things to reward yourself. Make up the day you would like to have. Treat yourself like
someone you like.
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4. Learn from your errors – become the friend of the thing that
disrupts your plan
This, also, is a difficult one for me. I have
the habit of criticizing myself a lot. And in a
very harsh way, as well. It became a bit
better the older I got, but I still have the
tendency to do it. When I make an error, I
often start thinking that I can´t do it, get
frustrated and stop.
Or, even worse, I get into a negative spiral.
Starting to think things like: ” You´re a piece of shit, you can´t do anything right. You´re an
embarassment for your family…” and so on.
I personally have the experience that meditation can help with this. But what seems to help
me a lot is a little thought exercise you can find in my article about the tools of titans, under
point 8. It shifts my thought pattern away from myself and has a great impact on my mood.
Don´t be harmless
From Jordan Petersons perspective, many
people probably aren´t morally good, they
are just afraid of the consequences when
they´re doing something bad. I agree with
that. I remember that I often didn´t do
things, not because I didn´t want to do them
but because I was afraid of the
consequences or the punishment that
would come out of it.
This, however, is a very weak place to
operate from. You should be able to break
the rules, if necessary, but have a certain
kind of morality not to do it.
If you´re always acting because of your fears, you might not just be considered “fake” from
other people (this might be in an unconscious way from most) but you will also grow more
and more frustrated with yourself.
So, face your fears, grow stronger and aim for the highest good. This way, you probably will
have a positive impact on your life and others.
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5. Sources:
Jordan Peterson You Tube Channel
Evan Carmichael Jordan Peterson Videos
Pictures:
Jordan Peterson – Screenshot from Petersons Facebook Page
room – doudou5520 from pixabay.com
coffee and notebook – Engin_Akyurtfrom pixabay.com
pinocchio – Schwerdhoefer from pixabay.com
calendar – darkmoon 1968 from pixabay.com
sad, failure – DanielReche from pixabay.com
lion teeth – IanZA from pixabay.com
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