good morning believe nation its 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 no
up to 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 ten years
if you didn’t avoid doing what you knew
you needed to do by the death 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’d 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 the number 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 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
four to six 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 four hours right there no you
think well that’s 2025 hours a week it’s
a hundred hours a month that’s two and a
half full work weeks it’s half a year of
work weeks per year and if your time is
worth twenty dollars 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 fifty thousand dollars a
year and you are doing that right now
and it’s because you’re young wasting
fifty thousand dollars a year is a way
bigger catastrophe than it would be for
me to waste it because I’m not going to
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 be who knows how much more efficient
ten times more efficient 20 times more
efficient that’s the purrito
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
homicide
idle or genocidal or all of those things
all bundled together in an absolutely
pathological package if people start
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 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 nine billion seven billion
people in the world we’re going to peak
at about nine billion by the way and
then it’ll decline rapidly but seven
billion people in the world and who are
you you’re just one little dust mote
among that seven 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 know you’ll know a thousand
people at least over the course of your
life and they’ll know a thousand people
each and that puts you one person away
from a million and two persons away from
a 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 it 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
ask 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 now when you say well
nihilist suffered dreadfully because
there’s no meaning in their life and
they still suffer yeah but the
advantages 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 they are 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 four tit 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 light 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 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 operate in that safe comfort zone
then you’re never gonna really be able
to have the impact that you can you’re
never gonna be able to really contribute
and create a 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 sources
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’s 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
we’re too many comedians we’ll 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 to the most
difficult one
so if I’m giving her an interested to
work on 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 gonna stretch your
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 gonna 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 you do
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 of the day 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 the
comments below and this is another
comparison of whose is more meaningful
than others just something that you were
really proud of say I get this I made
this I want to show my grandkids this
leave it on the comments really curious
to see what you have to say I also want
to give a quick shout out to Peter
Johnson from complement them that I see
Peter thank you so much for picking up a
copy of my book your one word really
really really means a lot to remain 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 we continue to believe in yourself
and whatever you’re one where it is much
love and I’ll see you again tomorrow
morning for another shot of espresso
Spray so give me go
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 III
can’t listen to music that that doesn’t
challenge me in any way and I never
could so 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 don’t like to say things
that at least can be meaningful and it
people I know that I’m doing my job when
I see someone like react other than just
the left 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 I would say but comedy a lot
of times has just become this court
jester type thing where everyone just
you know go says the craziest rashes
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 more work for you as the
artist to kind of make sure that they
don’t yeah yeah it’s it’s more work as
more exciting and it’s more fulfilling
you had to keep track of seven 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 it
out the I have people that have come to
the seminar it’s spent 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 the story of the book of
um of the Beatles everybody knows about
the Beatles they come here in 1964 and
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 went 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 seven days a week
they played eight-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 1200 times we could go to
all of the clubs on Friday night in San
Francisco or all the promising young
bands are playing I submit to you would
not find a single band that is played
together 1200 times right just doesn’t
happen so what made the Beatles special
what made them special is that they were
willing to play together 1200 times
willing to play eight-hour sets seven
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
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 no
up to 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 ten years
if you didn’t avoid doing what you knew
you needed to do by the death 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’d 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 the number 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 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
four to six 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 four hours right there no you
think well that’s 2025 hours a week it’s
a hundred hours a month that’s two and a
half full work weeks it’s half a year of
work weeks per year and if your time is
worth twenty dollars 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 fifty thousand dollars a
year and you are doing that right now
and it’s because you’re young wasting
fifty thousand dollars a year is a way
bigger catastrophe than it would be for
me to waste it because I’m not going to
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 be who knows how much more efficient
ten times more efficient 20 times more
efficient that’s the purrito
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
homicide
idle or genocidal or all of those things
all bundled together in an absolutely
pathological package if people start
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 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 nine billion seven billion
people in the world we’re going to peak
at about nine billion by the way and
then it’ll decline rapidly but seven
billion people in the world and who are
you you’re just one little dust mote
among that seven 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 know you’ll know a thousand
people at least over the course of your
life and they’ll know a thousand people
each and that puts you one person away
from a million and two persons away from
a 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 it 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
ask 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 now when you say well
nihilist suffered dreadfully because
there’s no meaning in their life and
they still suffer yeah but the
advantages 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 they are 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 four tit 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 light 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 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 operate in that safe comfort zone
then you’re never gonna really be able
to have the impact that you can you’re
never gonna be able to really contribute
and create a 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 sources
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’s 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
we’re too many comedians we’ll 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 to the most
difficult one
so if I’m giving her an interested to
work on 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 gonna stretch your
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 gonna 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 you do
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 of the day 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 the
comments below and this is another
comparison of whose is more meaningful
than others just something that you were
really proud of say I get this I made
this I want to show my grandkids this
leave it on the comments really curious
to see what you have to say I also want
to give a quick shout out to Peter
Johnson from complement them that I see
Peter thank you so much for picking up a
copy of my book your one word really
really really means a lot to remain 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 we continue to believe in yourself
and whatever you’re one where it is much
love and I’ll see you again tomorrow
morning for another shot of espresso
Spray so give me go
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 III
can’t listen to music that that doesn’t
challenge me in any way and I never
could so 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 don’t like to say things
that at least can be meaningful and it
people I know that I’m doing my job when
I see someone like react other than just
the left 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 I would say but comedy a lot
of times has just become this court
jester type thing where everyone just
you know go says the craziest rashes
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 more work for you as the
artist to kind of make sure that they
don’t yeah yeah it’s it’s more work as
more exciting and it’s more fulfilling
you had to keep track of seven 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 it
out the I have people that have come to
the seminar it’s spent 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 the story of the book of
um of the Beatles everybody knows about
the Beatles they come here in 1964 and
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 went 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 seven days a week
they played eight-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 1200 times we could go to
all of the clubs on Friday night in San
Francisco or all the promising young
bands are playing I submit to you would
not find a single band that is played
together 1200 times right just doesn’t
happen so what made the Beatles special
what made them special is that they were
willing to play together 1200 times
willing to play eight-hour sets seven
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
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