1. 1-Sentence-Summary:
1.1. 12 Rules For Life is a stern, story-based, entertaining self-help manual for young people, that lays out a set of simple principles, which can help us become more disciplined, behave better, act with integrity, and balance our lives while enjoying them as much as we can.
2. Favorite quote from the author:
2.1. "It's all very well to think the meaning of life is happiness, but what happens when you're unhappy? Happiness is a great side effect. When it comes, accept it gratefully. But it's fleeting and unpredictable" - Jordan Peterson
3. 3 Lessons:
3.1. Before you judge the world, take responsibility for your own life.
3.1.1. No matter how unfair life gets, you should never blame the world. There’s always someone who’s suffered worse than you.
3.1.2. Even though the future may sometimes look bleak, if you can focus on taking responsibility and keeping your own house clean, so to speak, you’ll find the bad times will pass.
3.2. Care for yourself like you would for a loved one.
3.2.1. Denying yourself the prescription you need is neither smart nor smug. It’s a subversive form of self-punishment. We do it a lot and, as a result, tend to take better care of others than ourselves.
3.2.2. Peterson suggests this is a consequence of our inability to deal with the insanity of life
3.2.3. We indulge in our dark sides from time to time and thus, feel we deserve punishment.
3.2.4. Like Yin and Yang, we all carry both light and dark inside us. One can’t exist without the other.
3.2.5. That means instead of just striving for either one, we should seek balance, which is why his second rule is to care for yourself like you would care for a loved one: do what is best for you, even though it might not always make you happy.
3.3. Seek meaning through sacrifice, not happiness through pleasure.
3.3.1. Balancing your light and your dark side can take many different forms. Sometimes, it may be staying in bed to get healthy, even though you want to work. Other times, it might mean staying late at work on a Friday.
3.3.2. However it looks like, it always involves choosing meaning by making a sacrifice, rather than temporary happiness by choosing pleasure.
3.3.3. Peterson says this is a great coping mechanism, because it helps balance your life between drowning in hedonism and being so righteous it drives you mad.
3.3.4. Not all sacrifices are equal. Those you make for personal gain hold less meaning than those you make for the greater good
3.3.5. Even though it might feel like it when you do it, sacrifice is never really about giving up rewards, it’s about deferring them until you can get something even better, usually a feeling of whole-ness or contentment. As such, it’s also great willpower training.