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1-Page Summary of 12 Rules for Life

Overview

Pinocchio is a puppet that gets his wish of becoming a real boy. However, he soon learns that it’s not easy to be an independent person when you have to deal with the dangers of life and painful lessons about honesty, friendship and family.

Classic stories like Pinocchio depict the task of finding meaning in life as a balance between order and chaos, familiarity and adventure. People continue to read historical texts because we yearn for universal values and rules that will give our lives meaning. These are some of the themes author Jordan B Peterson has taken into consideration when creating his list of 12 such values to help modern people through today’s chaotic times.

In this presentation, you will learn a lot of interesting things. For example, what can lobsters teach us about confidence? What can lotus flowers tell us about the pursuit of meaning in life? And how young skateboarders reflect human nature.

Big Idea #1: Hierarchies are a common facet of life in societies around the world, so give yourself an advantage with good posture.

You have probably heard of the phrase, “the pecking order.” However, do you know where it originated? It comes from a Norwegian zoologist who was studying chickens in the 1920s and noticed that there were clear hierarchies among them. The healthiest and strongest ones always got to eat first because they were at the top of the hierarchy, while those at the bottom had their feathers falling out and ate only leftovers.

Competition in nature is not limited to chickens. It occurs throughout the animal kingdom, including lobsters. Lobster pecking orders are also present in captivity as well as in the ocean. Scientists have found that winners of lobster fights will have higher levels of serotonin compared to losers, who will have more octopamine.

Hierarchies have an effect on a lobster’s posture. The more serotonin, the higher up in the hierarchy the lobster is and therefore it will be more agile and upright. If there’s more octopamine, then that means that the loser is tense and curled up since he’s lower down on the hierarchy. This difference in postures affects further confrontations because when lobsters are tense they look smaller compared to their opponent who looks bigger and more intimidating as he stands tall with his claws outstretched at his opponent. Humans also experience hierarchies where people try to assert dominance over others by making themselves appear bigger than those around them or trying to make them feel inferior through intimidation tactics.

Studies have shown that those with alcoholism are less likely to enter a competitive situation, which only reinforces their low self-esteem and depression.

On the other hand, those who are on a winning streak often display confident body language. This can help keep their streak alive because we associate confidence with intelligence. Just like lobsters, humans measure each other up and this affects our perception of them.

So, if you want to give yourself an advantage, hold your head high and take up a posture of a winner.

Big Idea #2: Care for yourself with the same tenderness you would a loved one.

If your dog needed medicine prescribed by a vet, you wouldn’t ignore it and leave the prescription unfilled. However, one-third of people ignore medical prescriptions given to them by doctors. Why do we take better care of our pets than ourselves?

One reason is that we’re more critical of ourselves than others, which makes us feel bad about ourselves. We punish ourselves for our mistakes and think we don’t deserve to be happy. Therefore, we take better care of other people than ourselves.