[September 14, 2021] Occasionally, there comes along someone who is able to put into words what we all have been thinking about on valuable things, but just couldn’t quite put our finger on it. That person is Dr. Jordan Peterson. Dr. Peterson is an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto, a practicing clinical psychologist, and author of the revolutionary book Maps of Meaning.
John Brooks wrote a short article on his website HighExistence1 listing “40 Profound Life Rules” from Jordan Peterson. I’ve laid them out below. Note how similar they are to what I’ve been writing.
- Tell the truth.
- Do not do things that you hate.
- Act so that you can tell the truth about how you act.
- Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.
- If you have to choose, be the one who does things, instead of the one who is seen to do things.
- Pay attention.
- Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you need to know. Listen to them hard enough so that they will share it with you.
- Plan and work diligently to maintain the romance in your relationships.
- Be careful who you share good news with.
- Be careful who you share bad news with.
- Make at least one thing better every single place you go.
- Imagine who you could be, and then aim single-mindedly at that.
- Do not allow yourself to become arrogant or resentful.
- Try to make one room in your house as beautiful as possible.
- Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.
- Work as hard as you possibly can on at least one thing and see what happens.
- If old memories still make you cry, write them down carefully and completely.
- Maintain your connections with people.
- Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or artistic achievement.
- Treat yourself as if you were someone that you are responsible for helping.
- Ask someone to do you a small favor, so that he or she can ask you to do one in the future.
- Make friends with people who want the best for you.
- Do not try to rescue someone who does not want to be rescued, and be very careful about rescuing someone who does.
- Nothing well done is insignificant.
- Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.
- Dress like the person you want to be.
- Be precise in your speech.
- Stand up straight with your shoulders back.
- Don’t avoid something frightening if it stands in your way — and don’t do unnecessarily dangerous things.
- Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
- Do not transform your wife into a maid.
- Do not hide unwanted things in the fog.
- Notice that opportunity lurks where responsibility has been abdicated.
- Read something written by someone great.
- Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.
- Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.
- Don’t let bullies get away with it.
- Write a letter to the government if you see something that needs fixing — and propose a solution.
- Remember that what you do not yet know is more important than what you already know.
- Be grateful in spite of your suffering.
Remember these. Read them daily. They are about valuable things in our lives.
Dr. Peterson recently came out with a book that is also worth reading. They are all worth reading. It’s about the Dangers of Order. I reviewed the book a few months ago.
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Great list and helps make the world a better place.
Good list of great things. I printed them out and posted them on my refrigerator. Now, my whole family can read them every day and think about how to be a better person. And, then …. be a better person. We all work together to make it happen. Gen. Satterfield, thanks for showing us this list.
You are ahead of me on that comment TJ. I did the same. Tonight, I will go over these with my kids.
He is a man worth paying attention to.
Pow, hit that one out of the park, Gen. Satterfield. Thanks. Yes, these are similar to what you write.
I too saw some similarity. 😊
Excellent list of 40 important things in our life. Wow, you don’t even have to think about them. They all make sense. I know that Dr. Peterson has written on them in his books and lectured on them as well. I recommend folks go to his YouTube channel.
I’ve been a reader of Dr. Jordan Peterson’s books for some time now. In fact, I’ve re-read his books at least twice now and find more and more things to think about. Yes, these are things to know. Sadly, too many of us are just too busy to build up our own character.
Sounds downright un-American to me. Good comment Rev.
That is what makes Americans great and better than others (generally … well, maybe most of us). When we see someone who is smart, we reward them. If they are stupid, we punish them. That is the way of the world. General Satterfield is doing us a great service with his website, so read it daily.
Ha Ha Ha…. yes Captain. That is like V said, this is what separates Americans from others. —- and our guns.
👍👍👍👍👍
A great man of our times. We need more like him.