12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson Summary

Rule 1: Stand up straight and with your shoulders back

It all starts with standing up straight and with our shoulders back. As we correct our posture, our brain releases a bit of serotonin which in turn makes us feel a little bit stronger and a little more confident which in turn makes all of this new change noticeable to everyone around us who start treating us a little bit better.

This makes one feel more confident and strong.

Rule 2: Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping

One is tend to help others more than themselves. In other words, to most people taking care of someone else comes much more natural than taking care of oneself.

Taking care of me

This is known as Self Loathing. It is a kind of belief that one is not worth helping. So, one misses out on taking care of themselves. Therefore they must try to take care of themselves physically, mentally and emotionally as if they are helping others.

Learn to embrace the randomness

Rule 3: Make friends with people who want the best for you.

They want to see you succeed, to see the best version of you, but also they serve as an inspiration for themselves.

Great friends push one another to greater heights, call each other bullshit and don’t let you mistreat yourself.

At all costs you must avoid people who want to drag you down to their level just to feel good about themselves. Such toxic people have no place in your life.

Also, you must avoid helping people who won’t take responsibility for their own actions.

Rule 4: Compare yourself to who you were yesterday

One has compared themselves to someone at some point in their lives who at least on the surface is doing better than themselves. The grass is always greener on the other side, after all.

Try to be better every day, a better version of yourself every single day. For that,

Define your goals, work on the achievable tasks and Focus on your growth instead of taking examples from the society who do better than you who also showcase themselves in the world of social media. This might make you feel miserable. So compare with yourself and achieve it.

Rule 5: Tell the truth, or at least, don’t lie

You may be lying to others or even to yourself and most likely you’ll get away with it at least for some time. When you lie yourself, deep down you are quite aware that those things are inconsistent with your true beliefs. As a result, you feel constantly unsettled, restless and out of balance.

Develop your personal truth instead and act in accordance with it. It is not easy but ultimately reduces anxiety, increase happiness and make you feel a lot better about yourself.

Knowing all these won’t be enough, you must actually implement these to get a clarity to life and live the life happily following these particular 12 rules by Jordan Peterson.

To know the rest of the rules buy it.

Also read

Man’s Search For Meaning

The Great Gatsby