Spending Free Time with “12 Rules for Life”

The long holidays have just passed and I hope you enjoyed them. For me, I was hanging out in a café and reading a book I’d been putting on hold for a long time. The book was “12 Rules for Life”.

The book is written by Jordan B. Peterson, an acclaimed psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and Harvard University. He has combined ancient wisdom with scientific research to create 12 profound principles on how to deal with problems and chaos in daily life. We all have our own problems and sometimes good books can offer different perspectives and solutions to our problems.

The book “12 Rules for Life” talks about simple and practical principles for how to live a meaningful life so I want to recommend this book to you. I hope you will find it useful.

Rule 1: Stand Up Straight with Your Shoulders Back.

A psychological study found that people with good posture tend to earn acceptance from society more than those who have bad posture. So standing tall is the best way to improve your posture and the simplest way to show that you are confident and distinct.

Rule 2: Treat Yourself Like Someone You Are Responsible for Helping

To treat yourself as if you were someone you are responsible for helping is to always be conscious of how the world affects you. It isn’t always easy to do. In life, you’re constantly facing unpredictability so you need to be mindful of how you allow external events to impact you.

Awareness helps us to deal with problems in a more reasonable way. Sometimes, we let our emotions guide our judgement. That’s just wrong. Greater consciousness and self-awareness will guide us to think and solve problems rationally and systematically.

Rule 3: Make Friends with People Who Want the Best for You

Surround yourself with good people who will bring good things to your life. You should choose friends who want you to be the best that you can be. Good friends give you constructive criticism to help you become a better person.

Rule 4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not Who Someone Else is Today (เปรียบเทียบตัวเองกับตัวเองในเมื่อวานไม่ใช่เปรียบเทียบกับคนอื่นในวันนี้)

Reflecting on your past helps you become a better person today. This rule is crucial to your success. You must challenge yourself to move forward, not move backward.

Rule 5: Do Not Let Your Children Do Anything that Makes You Dislike Them (อย่าปล่อยให้ลูกของคุณทำอะไรที่คุณไม่ชอบ)

This rule is essential for those who have children but you can apply it to life even if you don’t have kids. For those who have kids, this rule means don’t let your kids do things that will do them no good, or repeat mistakes you have made in the past. For those who have no kids, the rule will prevent you from making the same mistakes over again. We are all human so we all have made mistakes at some point in our life. Don’t drown in the past. Instead of regretting the mistakes, we should learn from them to become a better person.

Rule 6: Set Your House in Perfect Order Before You Criticize the World (ทำบ้านตัวเองให้เรียบร้อยที่สุด ก่อนที่จะหันหน้าไปวิจารณ์ทั้งโลก)

Personally, I really like this rule. It simply means you should do your job right before criticising others. In the era of social media, people tend to spend too much time criticising others instead of doing things that are useful to their lives. But this rule doesn’t mean you can criticise others when you’ve become successful. It only says that you should correct your flaws, instead of pointing out others’ weaknesses.

Rule 7: Pursue What is Meaningful (Not What is Expedient)

Optimism is one of the drivers to success. You should change the way you think so instead of asking if the thing you’ve done is useful or not, you should ask yourself how you can learn from it.

Rule 8: Tell the Truth, or at least Don’t Lie

This rule is a path to success. Tell the truth, or at least don’t lie, will earn you credibility and it won’t hurt you in the future.

Rule 9: Assume that the Person You Are Listening to Might Know Something You Don’t

No one knows everything. Each of us has our own expertise and abilities. In order to become successful, you need to listen to other people’s opinions and learn from them to improve yourself.

Rule 10: Be Precise in Your Speech

You should always remind yourself that you cannot take what you have said back. Your words define who you are and they influence your life in one way or another so you should be careful with your words.

Rule 11: Do Not Bother Children when they are Skateboarding

Skateboarding can be a dangerous sport for children. But it is a good way for them to challenge themselves and cope with danger. You should not let go of a chance to try something new just because you think it’s dangerous. Sometimes, you should take a risk and challenge yourself. If you make it, it means you have taken another step forward and are ready to take on new risky challenges in life.