CL #13: The World's Most Valuable Skill According to Jordan Peterson
The power to move towards your goals
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The world’s most valuable skill is the ability to reinvent yourself.
Those who have mastered this skill drop societal expectations of who they should be and decide who they want to be.
Unfortunately, most young people have believed the lie that they are okay the way they are.
They spend hours wasting away their lives in video games, pornography, drugs and binge watching YouTube videos and TV shows hoping that their lives will magically improve.
But instead of being happy, they end up feeling more miserable while living purposeless and unstructured lives.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, a renowned psychologist, online educator, and bestselling author of “12 Rules for Life” and “Beyond Order,” explains why young people are not okay the way they are:
I know this to be true because I also thought I was okay while the fire of purpose was burning within me.
Until I made a decision to be honest with myself and pursue my purpose.
Here are 5 tips to reinvent yourself taught by Dr. Jordan Peterson:
#1: Figure out what you need to change
There are two reasons why human beings change: it’s either to run away from pain or to run towards pleasure.
Truth be told, we often self-sabotage our lives and act in ways that are not consistent with the future that we want.
You need to learn how to think and figure out what you want in life. Listen to Dr. Peterson’s thoughts on this concept:
You already have the solutions to your problems:
First, stop sabotaging yourself and commit to change,
Second, decide what you need to stop doing and,
Third decide what you need to start doing.
Will your future self be proud of you?
Run towards your vision as you escape the person you would become if you don’t change now.
The pain I am running from is that of being an old man who had lots of knowledge since his youth but did not take action. The pain of not living up to my full potential.
The pleasure I am running to is that I want to hear God’s words on the day of judgement, “Well done good and faithful servant!”. I want to know that I used all the talents God gave me for his glory.
Take time to reflect on what you need to change
Thinking precedes action and it will win you many life battles.
You need to learn to think because thinking makes you act effectively in the world.
- Jordan Peterson
#2: Pick a Transcended Goal
You need to pick a life goal that is above and beyond who you are.
If you pick things you can achieve, for example health, wealth and happiness; what happens if you achieve them?
Your life starts lacking meaning and you have to start all over again.
How do you pick a transcended goal?
By setting up your hierarchy of values. Your values are the foundation of your goals.
If you don’t clarify your values you’ll copy other people’s goals and will end up in the wrong destination.
You don’t want to use your time and effort to climb a ladder only to realize that it was on the wrong wall.
So, how do you pick your values?
Listen to the clip below:
Dr. Peterson makes a case that what’s at the top of your hierarchy of values is your functional God, where you believe in God or not.
It’s your true north, it’s what makes your heart beat.
So you need a goal that makes you feel that you are leaving a mark on the universe.
You need to wake up everyday knowing that your work will matter and that your legacy will live on after you die.
Contrary to the popular idea that we are built for happiness, we are actually build for a struggle, a weight and a burden.
It’s only when we bear our burden that we find meaning in life and experience happiness.
So, what’s your burden for the world?
Start by reflecting on your core values using one of these value worksheets.
Remember that it’s not about what sounds good, or who you aspire to be, it’s about what you are truly committed to.
The easiest person to lie to is you. Be honest with yourself.
Ensure that you have solid examples of instances where you have demonstrated these values and you can see the decisions you have already made based on the values you pick.
After you have made peace with your values, your overall direction in life will start being clear.
You won’t discover your goal in a day, but it’s a fight worth having with yourself.
#3: Craft a Daily Routine
“I’m just not feeling like it”.
This statement has ruined lots of dreams, relationships and lives.
A farmer who does not feel like planting in a rainy season will starve the family.
A student who does not feel like studying will think that they are dumb.
A parent who does not feel like caring will neglect let the children.
Dr. Jordan Peterson teaches that we need to reclaim the routine for our mental health and progress in life:
Unfortunately, the word routine often evokes negative emotions in many people.
Routine is negatively viewed as a way to suck out the joy out of life and limit one’s freedom.
Most people would rather play a video game or watch a movie instead of following a routine.
But that’s the wrong view of routine.
Routine could be your best friend if you use it to move towards your goals and schedule time to also play.
Set up your routine to have the day that you want! Not the day that other people want you to have.
There are two extremes to avoid when setting up a routine:
A strict routine that feels like a cage
A liberal routine that feels like an open field
You need a lenient routine that feels like an artist drawing a straight line in an open canvas.
You will often draw crooked lines but the most important thing is that you are drawing.
You are the master of your routine, not it’s servant.
Design a life that you don’t need to escape from.
Negotiate with yourself on what is best for you. Be a good boss to yourself and set yourself up for success.
When you fail, because you will, get back up and improve your routine.
#4: Choose Continuous Improvement Over Perfection
Perfection is the enemy of progress.
It creates unmet expectations and perceived failures that stop us from moving towards our goals.
Excellence is an important attitude in life but it’s different from perfection.
The perfectionist wants to control the outcomes but the excellent wants to control the process.
Rule #4 in Dr. Peterson’s book 12 Rules to Life is:
“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.”
Listen to the short clip below:
The bottom line is strive to constantly defeat your former self for that is the sustainable way to growth.
You don’t really know the people you are comparing yourself to.
You see their shiny outside but you don’t know the realities of their lives.
Strive to be 1% better than yesterday.
Improving by 1% is not immediately noticeable but you will make massive gains in the long run.
If you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.
- James Clear
Understand that your current trajectory is more important than your current position.
#5: Be willing to make sacrifices
A seed doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first.
Some habits have to die for you to reinvent yourself.
The Bible uses the same language to describe the new man in Christ.
The old man has to die for the new man to live.
You can’t store new wine in old wineskins.
Listen to the clip below:
If something is valuable, you will make sacrifices to attain it.
Once you are clear on what you want, think of the sacrifices you will need to make to attain it. And remember to make it worthwhile.
What sacrifices are you willing to make to reinvent yourself?
These 5 steps changed the way I thought about reinventing myself.
They look simple, but they are not easy to implement.
What step will you take this week to reinvent yourself?
That’s it for today!
As part of reinventing myself for 2024, I have started a new publication for individuals who want to find their next job.
Subscribe to The Smart Jobseeker here.
Thank you Joseph for this very practical piece. I have found the values worksheet shared here to be very useful.
Thanks Bechem. JP has taught me to relentlessly pursue my goals