12 Rules of Life (10 - 12) (2024)

Good morning. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Since 2018, our Gameco*cks ( University of South Carolina ) have not made it onto the AP Top College Football list. They did it this weekend in a win over . I am not really a huge football fan, but I do like to hear when one of my alma maters does win something.

Today, we are reviewing the final three of Peterson's 12 Rules for Life.

Rule 10 — Be Precise In Your Speech

Now we know from the lessons above we’re supposed to listen and always tell the truth. But why is being precise in our words even more beneficial? Peterson says it’s because when things start to fall apart, and your world is turning into chaos, the best remedy is to put into words what exactly went wrong, how it specifically hurt you, and what you need to do to recover from it.

Being precise in your speech, speaking courageously, and with truthful words can eliminate much of the crushing anxiety when things are unknown and undefined.

Rule 11 — Do Not Bother Children When They Are Skateboarding

When humans are in a healthy state of mind, they don’t try to minimize their risks. They seek to optimize them to their benefit. Humans are happiest in a sweet spot between safety and skill, pushing themselves to learn and grow without going off the deep end, knowing that the worst is just getting hurt a bit along the way.

Being overprotected and too dependent is the death sentence of personal success. As indicated in the title of the rule, every skateboarder is taking the scary risk to become competent and powerful at skateboarding. If a helicopter mom hovers overhead, the child will not take the risks needed to become a better skateboarder. This same type of risk-taking is required to become a strong man or woman. By participating in the natural hierarchies that exist within a society that as a whole seeks to move upward, “all ships float with the tide!”

Don’t be afraid to be afraid. Do scary things, and don’t bother children who are learning these lessons in real-time, like when they are skateboarding.

Rule 12 — Pet A Cat When You Encounter One On The Street

As a psychologist, Peterson illustrates well how fragile humans are most of the time. He finds it shocking that we aren’t in a state of paralyzing fear at all times with all the craziness around us — especially when all we have to do is surf the internet or turn on the TV (what’s that anymore?). Our lives are filled with pain, disappointment, and loss, and then maybe a little joy and happiness sprinkled in to appreciate the difference.

And then, of course, we die.

Peterson says if you think too much about that, you’re headed straight to the abyss. So, how do we cope? He also says people are very, very tough, and if you focus on the simple and the good you will be able to make it through.

Jordan Peterson

About the man that I do respect, I can’t say it much more concise than The Guardian’s opinion of Peterson in their review of his book: “The Canadian clinical psychologist Jordan B Peterson has, in recent years, become an internet celebrity, producing a slew of videos and interviews on all manner of political and social topics. He is acerbic, combative, and openly contemptuous of his opponents, particularly Marxists and “Postmodernists,” for whom he harbors a special animus. He is an enthusiastic and prolific culture warrior, who has no trunk with “white privilege,” “cultural appropriation,” and a range of other ideas associated with social justice movements.

His reluctance to call transgender people by their preferred pronouns (unless they ask him to) has earned him a reputation as a transphobe, and while his views have marginalized him within the academic community, they have bolstered his reputation in conservative circles.” The reason the media and academia don’t like Peterson is that he speaks the truth, and this is why his books are bestsellers, his live presentations are sold out, and he has 3.83 million subscribers of his YouTube channel."

One thing I do want to point out about this book is Peterson’s extensive reference to the Bible and use of biblical stories to illustrate his points about each rule. One particularly interesting quote comes in the discussion where humans are inherently bad all the way from the beginning with Adam and Eve. He asks what is to be done by people to resolve this and he speaks of Christ’s life and death as an example of how to live and even sacrifice ourselves.

His solution is that we follow Christ’s example and try to make the world more like heaven than hell.

In that regard, I am thinking about my next book that is more Christ-centered, following on the biblical standard of learning and change — 40 days. In our next session, we are going to be studying Gary Ryan Blair's 100 Days Challenge where for 5+ minutes a day Gary teaches and challenges us to define our goals, kickstart them, and stay on track over the 100 days. As you may know, Gary forwarded my book, How to Createyourself. Similar to the 100 Days Challenge, I want to create the 40 days program as a biblical companion to this newsletter and the CYS book. One that all people, even non-Christians, will appreciate, learn and affect the change they desire in their life. I have a few titles in mind that I would like your opinion about. Click here for the first one...

When you want to speak with me about your ideas or needs, just reach out viaLinkedInor through our mobile community app,Createyourself.com

Have a great weekend, Gordon

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