Jordan Peterson: How To Become The Person You’ve Always Wanted To Be

Jan 3, 2022 1h 6m 24 insights
This episode features Dr. Jordan Peterson, who discusses the importance of truth, authenticity, and personal responsibility. He shares actionable strategies for self-improvement, career advancement, and navigating relationships, emphasizing the pursuit of meaning over happiness.
Actionable Insights

1. Practice Daily Self-Correction

Each night, honestly ask yourself one thing you’re doing wrong that you know you could and would fix, then meditate on the answer to gain self-awareness and identify necessary changes.

2. Start with Micro-Improvements

Begin improving your life by addressing small, tangible things that are wrong, like organizing your immediate environment, as these micro-improvements lead to rapid overall progress.

3. Aim for Your Ideal Self

Imagine the best version of yourself and then single-mindedly direct your efforts towards becoming that person, providing a clear vision and purpose for your life.

4. Pursue a Transcendent Goal

Seek a goal that you can never fully attain, allowing for continuous uphill striving and personal development, as this ongoing pursuit is where true value and meaning are derived.

5. Commit to Your True Self

Cultivate authenticity by speaking and being your truth in all facets of life, especially in relationships, as genuine connection is difficult to achieve when wearing a mask or acting out a persona.

6. Form a Functional Persona

Develop a functional social shell to mediate interactions in casual encounters, but ensure it doesn’t become your entire identity, allowing for genuine connection beneath the surface.

7. Maximize Your Negotiating Position

In any challenging situation, especially when feeling trapped, do everything possible to put yourself in the most virtuous and powerful negotiating position by understanding details and being prepared to act strategically.

8. Strategize Career Advancement

If dissatisfied with your job, meticulously analyze the specific problems, articulate your value, update your resume, proactively address any gaps, explore other job opportunities, and then negotiate with your boss from a position of strength.

9. Avoid Deceit to Preserve Wisdom

Refrain from polluting your thoughts and actions with deceit, as lying warps your internal mechanism for orienting yourself in the world and compromises your ability to make wise decisions.

10. Incorporate Daily Wellness Practices

Start your day with flexibility and breathing exercises, such as those from Kundalini yoga, to reduce anxiety and improve overall well-being.

11. Dedicate Mornings to Creative Work

Reserve the early hours for focused writing or artistic projects, followed by a walk and breakfast, before engaging with the connected virtual world.

12. Balance Digital and Private Time

Consciously manage your engagement with technology and the virtual world by balancing periods of connection with introverted privacy and disconnection, especially from everyone except your intimate partner.

13. Integrate Culture and Relationships

Ensure your life includes not just projects and entertainment, but also genuine culture (beauty, drama, art) and intimate relationships and friendships, as these are vital for a rich and balanced existence.

14. Avoid Presuming Best for Others

When trying to help someone, disabuse yourself of the notion that you know what is best for them, as this responsibility is not yours and can hinder their personal growth.

15. Prioritize Listening Over Advice

The most effective way to help someone is not by giving advice, but by genuinely listening to them, allowing them to untangle their own thoughts and problems.

16. Ask Genuine Questions

When interacting with others, especially those you want to help, ask honest, real questions to understand their perspective, rather than leading them towards a predetermined answer.

17. Clarify Preconditions for Satisfaction

In arguments with loved ones, ask what specific words or actions would satisfy them, encouraging them to articulate their needs and facilitating resolution.

18. Seek Specifics for Reconciliation

If someone expresses what would satisfy them in an argument, even if you feel awkward, commit to uttering those words or performing those actions as a good-faith demonstration of your commitment to peace.

19. Atone for Privilege with Virtue

Acknowledge any unearned privileges you possess and atone for them by striving to live the best possible life, speaking the truth, treating people with respect, upholding individual dignity, and putting your own house in order.

20. Aim for Goodness, Not Happiness

Instead of making happiness your primary goal, aim to be good and virtuous, and consider happiness a grateful gift that may come unexpectedly during that pursuit.

21. Ask “How Are You Doing?”

When checking in on someone, especially if you want a genuine response, ask “How are you doing?” instead of “Are you happy?”, as it allows for a broader and more honest expression of their state.

22. Speak Truthfully and Accept Consequences

Believe that truth will ultimately save the world, so speak truthfully, observe the outcomes, and accept the consequences, trusting that this path is ultimately beneficial.

23. Engage in Free Dialogue

Participate in continuous, free dialogue with people of diverse temperaments and perspectives to collectively navigate a changing future, as no single person or group holds all the answers.

24. Focus on Individual Solutions

Recognize that the most serious problems often find their right solutions at the level of the individual, rather than through top-down political mandates.