A Conversation with Prof. Jordan Peterson

[October 1, 2026]  Prof. Jordan Peterson delivers some true, useful insights into being someone who can navigate the world with better clarity.  People are here on Earth for a purpose, and that is certainly no accident.  So why do we exist and how can we make ourselves better?  Prof. Peterson gives us some ideas here:

Boring People Don’t Exist:  If you’re bored by a conversation, you’re the dull one.  Okay?  So, if you find people boring, it’s like you should take a look in the mirror because what you’re doing is reducing all your interactions with other people to only that which is trite.  And, you’re doing that to protect yourself for some reason.  Because, if you listen to people, and I don’t care who they are, they’re so interesting that you would run away screaming.  People are very weird.  They’re very strange.  They’re full of snakes and twists and bends and that’s just true for so-called simple people, as it is for sophisticated people.  And so you want to engage with the person in a way that keeps the fascination alive.  And then you want to listen.  If you really listen, they’ll tell you what they’re up to.  They won’t be able to help it. Because, if you run across someone who listens, especially if no one is listening to you, you will tell them everything.

Don’t Aim to Win the Argument:  Your aim is to establish a relationship with your sister.  Okay.  Now, you have no idea how you’re going to do that.  And the probability that you’ll do that by talking her out of her ideology is, well you already know that’s basically zero.  That hasn’t worked.  The family’s fractured.  That’s not working, so you don’t know what to do.  But you know what you want, okay, so now you look for an opening.  Maybe you invite her for dinner and then you watch, you think and you see when what you do is working. And what is not working.  Try to find your pathway with her.  You’re searching, that’s a quest.  What’s the quest for?  You want your sister back.  You have to remember that.  I want my sister back.  I don’t want to win the argument.  I don’t want to talk her out of anything.  You can want that but you’re not going to get your sister back.  You’re not going to get all the things you want.  You don’t want to sacrifice the lower thing to win the argument to the higher thing which is you want your sister back.

Dare to Dream:  Ask yourself, “What do I want?”  With the presumption that you know if you’re not completely blind and deluded and greedy, that you could probably have it and the world wouldn’t fall apart just because you got something you needed.  You could give yourself that break and you have to find out, just like you would when you’re making friends with someone.  It’s like “What the hell do you want?”  “If I could offer myself what I wanted, what would it be?”  “Well, I don’t know.”  Well, then the first thing you want to know is what you want.  That’s some place to start.  You can figure it out.  If you aim small enough.  So, if you’re not motivated, you’re probably living someone else’s dream.  You’re laboring under some false illusion.  You’re tyrannizing yourself.  You’re taking on too much responsibility.  You’re using power when invitation would suffice.  And, you don’t have a vision.  Well, it doesn’t have to be that way.  You could figure out a game you want to play and invite yourself along.

You Only See What You Aim At:  We understand this about perception; all facts are not equal.  We don’t perceive everything in the world.  We perceive relevant things in the world.  And those are the facts at hand; the relevant facts.  The relevant facts are relevant because they pertain to a goal.  Even in a simple situation.  If I want to walk from Point A to Point B, I’m making the assumption that Point B, the place I’m headed, is better than the place I’m at, because otherwise, why go?  And, that’s why the chicken crossed the road, by the way. And then when I look on that pathway that opens itself up because of my aim, I can see the way forward and I can also see the obstacles in my path.  The fact that I perceive them as obstacles in relationship to the aim means that I perceive them with negative emotion.  Things that get in your way, elicit negative emotion and that’s a marker, an obstacle.  Things that move you forward elicit positive emotion.  Enemies get in your way, and allies and friends facilitate your movement forward.  Enemies raise your ire and make you anxious.  Friends fill you with enthusiasm and the desire to cooperate towards that shared aim.  That’s the landscape of the world.  That’s the story that you inhabit; journey from Point A to Point B.  The story is the representation of an aim. It’s the representation of a journey.

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NOTE: My newest book, “Growing Up Free” comes out today on Amazon.  The link below is for the Kindle/eBook version).  I’ll update this to the paperback as soon as it goes hot.

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Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).
3. “Growing Up Free,” on Amazon (link here), (Kindle/eBook version)