12 Rules for Life

As I'm reading the Jordan Peterson book and everyone else is doing it...

1. Avoid Drugs. Drug use (or selling) is a good sign something is wrong or you are somehow on the wrong trajectory. Try to figure out what that thing is. Maybe it's just being young and stupid...but even if it is, it's not a bad idea to be young and stupid for less vs. more time. Or, it could be self-medicating. Not bad to try and figure out what that thing is, either.

2. Save Your Money

3. Aim High. Even if you fail to meet goals, etc, you will generally be objectively better off to have "gone for it" than to have not in order to avoid disappointment. I'd apply this to a lot of the important things in life - career, love, etc.

4. Err of the side of too many sexual encounters versus too few.

5. For exercise, choose activities that bring you joy as you are more likely to stick with it and thus bring you better fitness, health, and also be fun. And if you are busy, take the stairs versus the elevator.

6. In contrast, for career, choose something you are good at versus something that brings you joy. Because you spend so much time with it, you will start to enjoy things you are good at and I imagine start to dislike things you aren't after awhile. Also, you stand to make more money this way.

7. If you want to have kids, start making decisions in advance of having kids that lay the groundwork for it. For example - young men: get a job, young women - don't date losers. And once you're close, don't wait for the perfect moment, just jump in.

8. I've never met anyone I thought read too much. On the other hand, almost everyone I know has spent too much time in school.

9. Understand life to be a series of phases. Therefore, do not assume what is happening in this moment is by any means permanent. Thus, if things are going well, enjoy it and see #2. And if things are not, do not wallow, just consider that things can and will get better, especially if you make choices that will lead you there.

10. Surround yourself with good people and people you like and preferably BOTH. It makes everything a lot easier.

11. If you are American, find ways to meet and befriend people from as many foreign countries as you can. The best option, of course, is to travel a lot and for extended periods of time. If money or time or obligations limits this possibility, you can also find ways to meet foreigners and immigrants in the United States. One of the downsides of being American today is that it's easy to believe the world revolves around us and that all of our political and social pathologies are unique to us. They are not. You learn this very quickly and intuitively when interacting with foreigners. One of my favorite aspects of living in Los Angeles - a truly global city - is the vast number of foreigners I interact with in all sorts of walks of life - from studying with, to teaching, to working for/with, living next to, going to daycare, friends/family, playing soccer, etc. Just to sample a list off the top of my head, countries include - Taiwan, Philippines, Armenia, El Salvador, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, India, China, Korea, Nigeria, Rwanda, Germany, Italy, UK, Columbia, Canada, Iran, Turkey, Russia, France, Sweeden...I mean that's a pretty damn good list. It's all around us everywhere in LA - maybe not as much in other places - but I find this a pretty remarkable and under explored and appreciated part of life.

12. Reduce drag in your life. This will mean different things to different people. For me, an example: I hate shopping for clothes, so I just decided I'm going to buy most everything from JCrew. I probably am not getting the best "deals" or maximizing my "look," but it's one less thing for me to think about. If I need a shirt or pair of pants, I just go to JCrew, see what I like and buy it. Done. A similar idea is to always try and minimize my commute. Many folks have a basic choice: less house/less commute vs. more house/more commute. I say choose the the former.

I realize I am less qualified than most others making these lists, but they are sort of fun. There's a good chance I'm wrong about 50% of them, but I'm not sure which 50%.