COMPARE YOURSELF TO WHO YOU WERE YESTERDAY, NOT TO WHO SOMEONE ELSE IS TODAY
I have been following Jordan B. Peterson for awhile now and I was looking forward to reading this book. I wanted to focus on this book and read it rule for rule and understand it all. It is a really useful book to live by and I think everyone can learn something from this as long as you are will to see your own faults.
Book Review: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson
Rating:
Title & Author: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson
Genre: Nonfiction, Psychology
Release date: January 23 2018
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Random House
Synopsis
What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson’s answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.
Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.
What does the nervous system of the lowly lobster have to tell us about standing up straight (with our shoulders back) and about success in life? Why did ancient Egyptians worship the capacity to pay careful attention as the highest of gods? What dreadful paths do people tread when they become resentful, arrogant, and vengeful? Dr. Peterson journeys broadly, discussing discipline, freedom, adventure, and responsibility, distilling the world’s wisdom into 12 practical and profound rules for life. 12 Rules for Life shatters the modern commonplaces of science, faith, and human nature while transforming and ennobling the mind and spirit of its listeners.
I give 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson five out of five hearts because it is a really great book with lessons for life. Jordan B. Peterson is a psychologist and public speaker like Stefan Molyneux of whom I have read several books. I think these kinds of books could change your life in a good way as long as you are willing to see your own faults.
The rules are:
1. Stand up straight with your shoulders back
2. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping
3. Make friends with people who want the best for you
4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today
5. Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them
6. Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world
7. Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)
8. Tell the truth – or, at least, don’t lie
9. Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t
10. Be precise in your speech
11. Do not bother children when they are skateboarding
12. Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street
Jordan writes in a funny entertaining, but realistic way. He uses as many examples as he can to show the reader what he means because if you look at the rules above it seems a bit of a funny list. Most of the time I did figure out what Jordan meant by the end of the piece on the rule.
It is really hard to live by these rules (in the beginning), but they will definitely help you to have a better life and also for your relationships with people. It actually helps if your partner and other people around you read it too.
Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.
For now, let books enrich your life!