Self-Improvement
by Jordan B. Peterson
When is order too much?
Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life was about taming chaos. Beyond Order, its sequel, looks at the opposite danger. Too much order makes a person rigid and a society tyrannical, he argues, so a good life keeps one foot in the familiar and one in the unknown.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Rule III. Peterson says we keep problems vague on purpose, in a marriage or at work, because seeing one clearly would mean acting on it. So small irritations go unsaid for years, and grow. His advice is to work out exactly what's wrong, and what you want, and say so.
Rule IV says opportunity lurks where responsibility has been abdicated. Look for the thing that needs doing and that nobody is doing, then do it. Peterson argues that this is where people find meaning, and at work it's also what makes someone hard to replace.
Rule VII is to work as hard as you possibly can on at least one thing and see what happens. Peterson's case is that full effort on one demanding aim pulls a scattered person together. Dabbling keeps every door open, and you never find out what you could have done.
Rule IX covers memories that still sting years later. Peterson's view is that they hurt because you haven't yet understood them. Write the event down carefully and completely, work out what went wrong and what you'd do differently, and it tends to lose its grip.
Aim
Get a clear picture of the person you could grow into. Then point all your effort that way.
The fog
Problems you refuse to look at don't go away. They pile up quietly until they're too big to handle.
Responsibility
Look for the jobs nobody wants to take on. That's often where the real chances are.
One thing
Commit hard to one thing. If you keep every option open, you never find out what you can do.
Beauty
Put real effort into making one room lovely, right down to the art on the wall.
One thing to try
Try Rule VIII, making one room in your home as beautiful as possible. Pick the room you use most, fix what bothers you about it, and hang one picture you love. Peterson treats beauty as a need adults neglect, and one room is a start you can finish.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Beyond Order comes with a Your Move story to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWhen is order too much? Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life was about taming chaos. Beyond Order, its sequel, looks at the opposite danger. Too much order makes a person rigid and a society tyrannical, he argues, so a good life keeps one foot in the familiar and one in the unknown.
Don't hide things in the fog; Pick up what others drop; Go all in on one thing; Write the old memory down.
Try Rule VIII, making one room in your home as beautiful as possible. Pick the room you use most, fix what bothers you about it, and hang one picture you love. Peterson treats beauty as a need adults neglect, and one room is a start you can finish.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Beyond Order in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Your Move story to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
