I enjoyed reading 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson. Those of you who have read my post on how much my life has been positively affected by hearing a piece of simple advice from Peterson probably aren’t surprised that I also found value in his book. While I find his political ideas interesting, I think his life advice is where he really shines, and his book contains a lot of good stuff.
It started out a little slow but picked up steam after the first few chapters. Some of Peterson’s critics say his advice is worthless or that he says a lot without saying much. I agree that he could be more focused and trim some fat out of his writing, but I disagree about the utility of his advice. Those who have their lives more or less together probably don’t need much help and probably won’t benefit from what Peterson has to say, while those who are struggling and do need some guidance will probably benefit if they put his recommendations into action. I’ve certainly benefited from doing that, and a lot of other people seem to be benefiting as well.
Unlike many other self-help books, which tend to have an optimistic message about everything working out, 12 Rules for Life contains a great deal of negativity and darkness. Peterson makes several mentions of Nazi concentration camps and Soviet gulags as reminders of the dark side of humanity. He also includes stories from people he’s personally known whose lives went downhill until they came to an end. By including examples of some of the worst things humans have done, he shows quite clearly what to avoid, and, with the recommendations for positive action in the book, he provides a starting point for what to work toward and how to do so.
This ties in with his exercise (that I don’t think was mentioned in the book) in which you write out in detail your best possible life and your worst possible life; once you’ve done that, you can put together a plan to move toward your personal heaven and away from your personal hell. As suggested by the subtitle, “An Antidote to Chaos”, Peterson’s thinking is that by focusing on getting our own lives together (which is the area of the world in which we have the greatest degree of control), we can gradually build up our confidence and competence before turning that focus outward. In this way, we’ll be more likely to succeed in making the world better rather than failing to make an impact or making things worse. If enough people did that, the world would contain a lot less suffering and maybe some of the problems that currently appear unsolvable could be eliminated.
I’d recommend checking out the book, especially if any of this sounds interesting to you. If you’re not a fan of his or you’ve heard negative things about him, I completely understand. However, if you still want to check out the book even if he’s not your cup of tea, then I recommend a life hack I mentioned in another post: separate Peterson from his ideas and focus just on the ideas. Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut, and looking at someone’s ideas without attaching the ideas to that person makes it easier to see if they hold water. If you do check out the book, I’d love to know what you think about it and if it helps you. For me, this is a great book that I’ll probably refer to periodically as I make my way in the world.