The One Thing Jordan Peterson Nailed About Your Perspective on Life

I’m not sure if this will apply to you

But it applies to some people I know, and I need to figure out how I can get them to read this. How do you tell someone that by making life worse for others, they double up on their own misery?

There are good reasons to resent your existence

• Everyone you know is going to die.
• You are going to die.
• There is going to be a fair bit of pain along the way.
• Life isn’t going to treat you fair.

You have every right to resent these. You have every right to think the world is against you. It’s no wonder you complain about it — but should you?

When you complain

• You make everything you complain about infinitely worse.
• When you make things worse for yourself, you make it worse for the people around you.
• Those people don’t want to be around you.
• You complain about the people who don’t want to be around you.
• You make life infinitely worse for yourself.

“There is this idea that hell is a bottomless pit, and that’s because no matter how bad it is, some stupid son of a bitch like you could figure out a way to make it a lot worse.” — Jordan Peterson.

When you think life is dumping on you

If you think that’s life, and it’s a bitch. If you believe there is nothing you can do about it, you suffer.

“That’s what the religious people have always said — life is suffering.” — Jordan Peterson.

Those beliefs condemn your face to look like you just sucked a lemon. It places a chip on your shoulder, so heavy it makes you walk around in circles. When you walk around in circles, you follow your own footsteps and those are the footsteps that got you to where you are.

When you stop resenting your existence

When you accept life can sometimes be shit — also know it doesn’t have to be like that all the time.

“Pick up your damn suffering and bear it. Try to be a good person so you don’t make it worse.” — Jordan Peterson.

There are people who have done terrible things to their fellow humans, unimaginable and awful things. You don’t have to be like that — even when you have a good reason.

Start with yourself. Get yourself together. What do you do in the face of suffering — try to reduce it. Stand up, be solid, be the person people can rely on. That’s better than being a victim.

You don’t have to be hateful, spiteful, or the neurotic monster nobody wants to visit at Christmas. You get more out of life from giving pleasure than you get from spiteful revenge.

You overcome the suffering of life by being a better person. It isn’t easy, take responsibility for yourself and have a meaningful life.

“Everything you do matters. That’s the definition of having a meaningful life.” — Jordan Peterson.

Changing your outlook

“What you should be doing is figuring out who it is you are trying to be?” — Jordan Peterson

Choose the person you want to be, then use what you learn to be that person. Set that as your goal. Be specific, you won’t be able to become that person if you don’t know who that person is.

Most people go through life reacting to it. They don’t have a goal, life just happens. Even when people brood about life, most don’t have any notion of the person they want to become, it’s vague and foggy.

“Often people don’t like to specify their goals because they don’t like to specify conditions for failure.” — Jordan Peterson.

Changing the outlook of others

Jordan Peterson thinks you can. This is why he shares his learning. He reads in great depth, he formulates his thoughts on what he has learned, then writes it down. Writing clarifies his ideas. Then he teaches what he has learned. Teaching solidifies his knowledge.

Test sources. If you try one and it doesn’t resonate, try another. Then clarify your thoughts in writing. Your responsibility is to pass on your knowledge to others.

Knowledge is power, the power to learn from it and change for the better. You owe it to your children, your friends and your family — you might even owe it to your audience when they come to see you at your TEDx talk.

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