"Get Your ACT Together!" - Jordan B. Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) - #Entspresso

Good morning, Believe Nation! It's Evan. My one word is believe. I believe in you, and I want to see that awesome thing that you have inside you explode out into the universe to have a major impact. And so to help you on your journey, today's message is take the meaningful path. Over to you, Jordan B. Peterson.

You don't have to necessarily have done anything wrong for things to get completely out of control. It's a terrifying doctrine. But it's not a hopeless doctrine, because it still says that there's a way forward. There's a pathway forward. And the pathway forward is to adopt a mode of being that has some nobility. So that you can tolerate yourself, and perhaps even have some respect for yourself, as someone who's capable of standing up in the face of that terrible vulnerability and suffering, and that the pathway forward, as far as the existentialists are concerned, is by— well, certainly by the avoidance of deceit, particularly in language, but also by the adoption of responsibility for the conditions of existence, and some attempt on your part to actually rectify them. And the thing that's so interesting about that is— well, two, as far as I'm concerned, and some of this is from clinical experience, you know, if you take people —and I've told you this—and you expose them voluntarily to things that they are avoiding, and are afraid of, you know, that they know they need to overcome, in order to meet their goals, their self-defined goals. If you can teach people to stand up in the face of the things they're afraid of, they get stronger. And you don't know what the upper limits to that are, because you might ask yourself, like, if for 10 years, if you didn't avoid doing what you knew you needed to do, by the def— by your own definitions, right, within the value structure that you've created, to the degree that you've done that, what would you be like? Well, you know, there are remarkable people who come into the world from time to time, and there are people who do find out over decades-long periods what they could be like if they were who they were. If they said— if they spoke their being forward. And they get stronger, and stronger, and stronger, and we don't know the limits to that. We do not know the limits to that. And so you could say, well, in part, perhaps the reason that you're suffering unbearably can be left at your feet. Because you're not everything you could be, and you know it. And of course, that's a terrible thing to admit, and it's a terrible thing to consider. But there's real promise in it, right? Because it means that— perhaps there's another way that you could look at the world, and another way that you could act in the world, so what it would reflect back to you would be much better than what it reflects back to you now. My experience is, with people, that we're probably running at about 51% of our capacity. Something— I mean, you can think about this yourselves. I often ask undergraduates how many hours a day you waste, or how many hours a week you waste. And the classic answer is something like 4 to 6 hours a day. You know, inefficient studying, watching things on YouTube that not only do you not want to watch, that you don't even care about, that make you feel horrible about watching after you're done. That's probably 4 hours right there. Now, you think, well, that's 20, 25 hours a week, it's 100 hours a month, that's 2.5 full work weeks, it's half a year of work weeks, per year! And if your time is worth $20 an hour, which is a radical underestimate, it's probably more like $50, if you think about it in terms of deferred wages. If you're wasting 20 hours a week, you're wasting $50,000 a year. And you are doing that right now, and it's— because you're young, wasting $50,000 a year is a way bigger catastrophe than it would be for me to waste it, because I'm not gonna last nearly as long. And so if your life isn't everything it could be, you could ask yourself, well, what would happen if you just stopped wasting the opportunities that are in front of you? You'd be who knows how much more efficient. 10 times more efficient. 20 times more efficient. That's the Pareto distribution. You have no idea how efficient efficient people get. It's completely— it's off the charts. Well, and if we all got our act together collectively, and stop making things worse, because that's another thing people do all the time. Not only do they not do what they should to make things better, they actively attempt to make things worse, because they're spiteful, or resentful, or arrogant, or deceitful, or— or homicidal, or genocidal, or all of those things, all bundled together in an absolutely pathological package. If people stopped really, really trying just to make things worse, we have no idea how much better they would get, just because of that. So there's this weird dynamic, that's part of the existential system of ideas, between human vulnerability, social judgment, both of which are— are— are— are major causes of suffering, and the failure of individuals to adopt the responsibility, that they know they should adopt. It isn't merely that your fate depends on whether or not you get your act together, and to what degree you decide that you're going to live, out your own genuine being. It isn't only your fate, it's the fate of everyone that you're networked with. And so, you know, you think, well, there's 9 billion— 7 billion people in the world. We're going to peak at about 9 billion, by the way, and then it'll decline rapidly. But 7 billion people in the world, and who are you? You're just one little dust mote among that 7 billion. And so it really doesn't matter what you do or don't do. But that's simply not the case. It's the wrong model, because you're at the center of a network. You're a node in a network. Of course, that's even more true now that we have social media. You'll, you'll know 1,000 people, at least, over the course of your life. And they'll know 1,000 people each, and that puts you 1 person away from 1 million, and 2 persons away from 1 billion. And so, that's how you're connected. And the things you do, they're like dropping a stone in a pond. The ripples move outward. And they affect things in ways that you can't fully comprehend. And it means that the things that you do, and that you don't do, are far more important than you think. And so if you act that way, of course, the terror of realizing that is that it actually starts to matter what you do. And you might say, "Well, that's better than living a meaningless existence. It's better for it to matter." But I mean, if you really asked yourself, would you be so sure, if you had the choice? I can live with no responsibility whatsoever. The price I pay is that nothing matters. Or I can reverse it, and everything matters. But I have to take the responsibility that's associated with that. It's not so obvious to me that people would take the meaningful path. You know, when you say, "Well, nihilists suffer dreadfully, because there's no meaning in their life, and they still suffer." Yeah, but the advantage is, they have no responsibility. So that's the payoff, and I actually think that's the motivation. Say, "Well, I can't help being nihilistic. All my belief systems have collapsed." It's like, yeah, maybe. Maybe you've just allowed them to collapse, because it's a hell of a lot easier than acting them out. And the price you pay is some meaningless suffering, but you can always whine about that, and people will feel sorry for you. And you have the option of taking the pathway of the martyr, so that's a pretty good deal, all things considered. Especially when the alternative is to bear your burden properly, and to live forthrightly in the world. Well, what Solzhenitsyn figured out, and so many people in the 20th century— it's not just him, even though he's the best example— is that if you live a pathological life, you pathologize your society. And if enough people do that, then it's hell. Really. Really. And you can read "The Gulag Archipelago" if you have the fortitude to do that, and you'll see exactly what hell is like. And then you can decide if that's a place you'd like to visit, or even more importantly, if it's a place you'd like to visit and take all your family and friends, because that's what happened in the 20th century.

Doing meaningful work is scary, because if you really want to reach your potential, you really want to have a big impact, you really want this thing inside you to come out and touch people's lives, you're gonna have to stretch, you're gonna have to grow, you're gonna have to do the things that you're scared of, because if you're always operating in that safe comfort zone, then you're never gonna really be able to have the impact that you can. You're never going to be able to really contribute and create the meaningful work that you are capable of. If you really want to do meaningful work, you're going to have to risk failure. One of my favorite stories is of Louis C.K., the comedian, and he is famous for throwing out his best weapons first. So normally a comedian saves their best bombs, their best weapons for the end of a show so you end off on a high. What he does is take that best joke that he closed the show yesterday with and he opens his next show with it. Which forces him to get even better and better and better every time. You take your best stuff and you lead with it, so then you have to come out with something better. You have to keep working and grinding, where too many comedians will just do the same one hour over and over and over again, and then you're not really creating that meaningful work. I look at Lily, who we started the Unlocking Lily series with, who joined me, and I'm helping her build her business as a speaker. And every time I give her a challenge, she always goes for the most difficult one. So if I'm giving her an espresso to work on, or I'm giving her another speaking challenge, and I give her a couple options, she always by default goes to the most difficult one, the most uncomfortable one, the one that's going to stretch her comfort zone the most. And even though it is uncomfortable and it's scary and it feels, you know, crappy, that's how you grow, that's how you become better, that's how you can then go on to create meaningful work. So whenever you get the opportunity to create meaningful work, You'll also get hit with a very real dose of fear. You have this opportunity to do this great thing, but because it's new and scary, there's going to be a lot of fear built up. And those are the moments that will help define you and shape your path. Because do you go and push through the fear and go and do that amazing thing that has a chance to be really, really meaningful in the world? Or do you succumb to the fear and feel like you're not worthy, you can't do it, and come with all these reasons why you're not capable? Of doing that meaningful work. If you get the chance, if you create the chance to do that meaningful work and you don't do it and you bow down to the fear, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life. So pick up your sword and let's go do some meaningful work together. So the question today, today is I'm curious, what is the most meaningful piece of work that you've done? What's the most meaningful thing you've done in your business so far, leave it down in the comments below. This is not a comparison of whose is more meaningful than others, just something that you are really proud of. Say, "I did this, I made this, I wanna show my grandkids this." Leave it down in the comments, really curious to see what you have to say. I also wanna give a quick shout out to Peter Johnson from complementum.se. Peter, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word. Really, really, really means a lot to me, man, and I hope you're enjoying the read. Thank you guys again for watching. I hope you have an amazing day. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever Your one word is much love, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of en-spresso.

I don't like mindless content. I've never liked it. I like to think about what I'm watching, what I'm taking in, what I'm listening to. So like even music, I can't listen to music that doesn't challenge me in any way, and I never could. It's just kind of who I am as a person. It was, I guess, embedded in my DNA to just really want to feel something, figure something out, you know, and not, you know, just tell jokes for the sake of telling jokes. I like to say things that at least can be meaningful. And people— I know that I'm doing my job when I see someone, like, react other than just a laugh, actually give me a reaction. And it's not always just turning as much as it's just like, oh no, like people shaking their head. But comedy a lot of times has just become this court jester type thing where everyone just says the craziest, brashest, most outlandish, absurd, silly thing, and it means nothing. And I don't want to say things that don't mean anything.

So you like sort of putting the audience in a scenario where they could turn on you. And then it's a little bit more work for you as the artist to kind of make sure that they don't.

Yeah, yeah, it's more work, it's more exciting, and it's more fulfilling.

If you had to keep track of 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, what you do, you would be shocked, astounded, overwhelmed, or as they say in Britain, gobsmacked, how much time you waste. And I make them keep track of every minute of the day. Every minute of the day. And it's not easy. It's not easy. And when you find out the— I have people that have come to the seminar that spend 20 hours a day walking in the fresh air and meditating. 20 hours a week, excuse me, not a day. 20 hours a week. And they don't get anything done. And they don't feel relaxed.

It's an idea that says that when you put forth effort, you get reward. When you throw your heart and mind and soul into something, you get something back. Now, in my book, I call that notion, that belief that effort brings reward, meaningful work. And when you look at the lives of people who are really successful, what you see over and over again is this idea of meaningful work is embedded in their consciousness. You know, I tell a story in the book of the Beatles. Everybody knows about the Beatles. They come here in 1964 in the British invasion. The most interesting thing about the Beatles is what happened to them before they came to America. In 1960 and 1959, when they were just kids, they were invited to go to Hamburg, in Germany to be the house band at a strip club. And they went there and they stayed there for months on end. And 7 days a week, they played 8-hour sets, night after night in this strip club, right? And over the course of that extraordinary crucible, that experience of playing, they taught themselves how to be a great band, right? In fact, we know— we think now that By the time the Beatles came to America, they had played together as a live band 1,200 times. We could go to all of the clubs on Friday night in San Francisco where all the promising young bands are playing. I submit to you, you would not find a single band that has played together 1,200 times, right? Just doesn't happen. So what made the Beatles special? What made them special is that they were willing to play together 1,200 times, willing to play 8-hour sets 7 nights a week for months at a stretch. And why were they willing? Because they believed in the notion of meaningful work. They had an opportunity to throw their heart and mind into something and get something back. And that made all the difference in the world.