12 Rules for life
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# Self Help
When I was somewhat younger. I did go through life more with a mindset of “I don’t give a f***“. I will see what comes my way. However, gladly I already realized that lots of things happen in your life because you chose them to be so. Or in the least, you made a decision based on a “seemingly” random opportunity that came your way.
To make good decisions it partly comes from your own unique personality. However, lots of good practices can be learned from others and self-help books are perfect for this.
At first glance, rules can be strict and limit your life, however, if you really put some discipline and schedule in your daily routine it actually simplifies your life a lot. I was curious about what 12 extra rules, an antidote to a chaotic life could bring me.
How the book came to be
The book starts pretty cool showing the history and some unknown interesting life facts about Peterson. These bits and pieces of knowledge are tied perfectly together to set up the making of this book.
What was great about reading this first chapter is knowing that He started from a lot more than 12 rules to be written down. But as he continued with his book it was clear that he needed to cut down on scope and bring forth the most valuable lessons he could teach.
After reading this, I am pretty confident that most of these rules could have some impact on my life if I followed/learned from them. Its already a hefty book at 448 pages so sticking to the essentials will be great.
The rules
This book does not read like, this is rule 1 do this and this. Rule 2, apply this to your life and this will be solved. If this would be written like some other “cheap” how-to guides the book would have been a boring read for me.
Instead, Peterson cleverly worked on these rules by pouring out his knowledge about a slew of different sources. Sources like his personal beliefs, religion, science, politics, biology and for sure psychology make every rule thoroughly thought out. This makes these rules valuable and interesting to read. Many of his sources have a reference attached and you could easily validate online.
It’s not a book however of referencing 1 source after another, they are tied together by personal stories and observations. Very cleverly written and understandable. “Every time I came to the last 10 - 20 pages of 1 specific rule I started to get an “Aha” moment. As everything was tied togethor nicely. The rule came to live”
It was very satisfying to be allowed inside the mind of Peterson and I felt that I could have written that rule, it made sense to me. But it is clever writing that allows you to explore the story laid before you. It sounds a bit cheesy but never in a self-help book I experienced this.
A great company after reading this book would be this youtube video. Jordan B. Peterson on 12 Rules for Life Not only is it a recap of what you have read, but hearing the rules explained with other stories makes the rules even clearer.
So will I apply them?
I plan to follow 1 rule per month, and taking care that each month I add one of the rules to my live. This should give me, 1 year from now structure in my live. And hope this makes me a better person. I will be keeping this up to date as my rules are applied to my life. See what effect this might bring me. I feel I already have some progress because some rules are already applied. Others though will affect me when I try them out and better understand the lessons inside.
Have you read this book? Did you find all the rules valuable and applied some to your live?
Rating
9⁄10