How Jordan Peterson Changed My Life

Jordan Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life, Beyond Order and Maps of Meaning of Meaning, changed my life. The person who is sitting here today, writing this article is not the same person who this story is about. After reading his books, watching his talks, lectures on Youtube and doing his self-authoring program, I’ve been able to become more of my true self. In fact, Jordan has some great courses for understanding yourself that you can check out here and here. Actually he and many other authors like: Steven Pressfield, Robert Greene, Ryan Holiday and Julie Morgenstern, to name a few, have helped me become a better version of myself and that’s what led me to work with hiitide. After personally experiencing the benefits of online courses and expert wisdom, I started a journey of working in the E-learning and tradition education world on a mission to share this opportunity with others.

Let me tell you who’s life Jordan Peterson changed:

I’m 23 years old and I just graduated from college. Life hasn’t taken me on the same path as my classmates. In fact, it seems to me we have taken completely different paths at this point. The idea of a cubicle or a desk job just doesn’t excite me, nor does a 401k plan or health benefits. When I hear other people my age mention them, it makes me feel sick. I feel a sense of disappointment when my friends get jobs that don’t offer them awe or beauty or unique experiences. I wonder how they can have so little vision, why don’t they dream? Where is their passion and vigor for life?

I guess it’s easy for me to think like this because I’ve been experiencing life in a completely different way. Through some of my recent psychedelic experiences, I started to have a realization that life is so much more than money and security. I now understand it’s about what we make of it, it’s about exploring ourselves, it’s about finding our gift, it’s about following our own path.

I think back to this and realize I really had an overwhelming superiority in the way I saw myself. I must have believed because I had a few eye-opening experiences that I was somehow more evolved than my peers.

After a lot of traveling, working on a vegan food truck at music festivals and living for the moment, I decided to make a “career” out of it. I moved to the Hudson Valley, about an hour and half outside New York City to live and work in an artist community. It was a place that often uses the phrase, “radically accepting,” which was aligned with my point of view.

This is a place on the outskirts of society. No one here cares about a 401k, or social status. It’s “radically accepting,” and everyone who walks through the door receives “no judgement.” It’s a safe haven for someone like me who doesn’t want to be judged for my choices to partake in unhealthy habits like: drinking, smoking, excessive cannabis use, regular psychedelic use, lack of exercise and lack of sleep to name a few.

I was given the perfect job for someone who just received their B.S.B.A with a major in Marketing. I was gifted the opportunity to be the dishwasher in exchange for a shared room and meals 5 days a week. I thought, “sweet deal.”

After a while, the drudgery of my job and the low bar I set for myself started to get to me and I needed to change. One of my friends, an amazing artist, recommended a book and that’s where my whole life started to change. I believe the first book that really started my journey was Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long Term Fulfillment by George Leonard.That’s where I started to get into reading, self improvement and wanting to change myself. Eventually, I started to become more and more entrenched in books, podcasts and lectures. I loved sitting down with my friend who recommended my first book and having deep philosophical discussions about life, politics and beyond. It was a way to discover myself, discover the world and learn more and more about life itself.

Over time, I came across Jordan Peterson through his somewhat controversial talks with interviewers about gender pronouns. It all led me into his actual work which is based around psychology, myth, religion and how to orient oneself for a well-lived life.

My life off the beaten path wasn’t without merit. I learned a lot and I even wrote about it in a blog post here.

What happened when I came across Jordan Peterson’s work was life changing.

When coming to his work, I would consider myself lost. Although I was trying to put the pieces together, I had no role models around me that would show me the way. The men around me were generally weak, both physically and mentally. They were likely to degrade others, abdicate responsibility for their actions, experience a lot of negative emotion and be somewhat lazy. I was one of them. I did the same thing but I knew I needed to change. I just didn’t know how.

That was, until Jordan Peterson’s work came into my life. First, I started watching his youtube videos with Joe Rogan and eventually made it to his Biblical Series. These talks were the most fascinating to me because they were incredibly insightful, relatable and gave new context to work I had come across before.

As a child, I went to a Catholic grade school, served as an altar boy and attended Catholic college. I naively believed I already knew everything there was to know about this area and had moved on in a sense. Then, Jordan re-enlivened these topics for me and put a refreshing spin on stories I had only heard from a monotone priest while I was 30 feet away, falling asleep in a pew.

During this time, I started to actively search for responsibility and ways to strengthen my character. I loved the saying, “It’s better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war.” This led me to start training Jiu Jitsu, a grappling martial art that has been popularized by the Gracie family in America. On my several mile trek to the gym, I would listen to Jordan’s work and be inspired to take action in my life. I thought, “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life washing dishes for minimum wage, I know there’s more out there for me.” I knew that I could use my college education to my advantage but, I didn’t know how. I never had an internship, I didn’t even get good grades in college. I wondered, “Who’s going to believe in me? Who’s going to give me a shot.”

Taking My First Steps

Here I am 23 years old, with little to show for my life. But, I know how to read and write, I’m intelligent and capable. I was the president of my high school senior class and of my chess club. I’m no schmuck, I just haven’t done anything yet, I haven’t bloomed.

Realizing my potential, I start creating my resume and applying for jobs. I’m feeling unstoppable, confident and ready for change. I think, “I wonder if the place I’m at will give me a chance to grow here. After all, I like it here.” I follow JP’s advice and prepare to ask for a raise.

Beforehand, I apply to jobs, have my resume in order and am ready to say no to an offer that isn’t what I’m searching for. I get dressed, look at myself in the mirror before heading there and take a deep sigh. This is the first real professional thing I’ve done in all 23 years of my life and I feel a bit nervous. What am I afraid of? Rejection? Acceptance? Scrutiny? Forget it, I slowly pace up to the owner’s doors and make my way in. Surprisingly, I’m greeted by smiling faces, the husband and wife who started the organization are there and ready to talk. We sit down next to each other and begin discussing. I tell them about my commitment to the company, my gratitude for their time and for the opportunity to work with them. Then, “I tell them what I’ve done to add value above my job description, what I’m planning on doing and how much I want to make for my raise.” The woman who leads the organization looks at me and listens to everything I have to say, nodding her head. As I finish my appeal, I think to myself, “you’ve got this!”

She smiles at me and tells me how grateful they are to have me as part of the organization. She rants and raves about the event I‘ve started, about my attention to detail, about the way I carry myself, about how I’ve made an impact in a plethora of departments. During this moment, I can feel the excitement, I’m dreaming of the things I’ll do with my raise, about how I won’t have to struggle so hard. I can feel relief around the corner as she gives me compliment after compliment. It’s such a great feeling and I think about how Jordan’s advice is changing my life, right now, in this moment. I watch every word that comes out of her mouth stare deep into each formation of syllables as they ring the bell of triumph through my ears. It all starts to drown out with excitement and I notice a bead of sweat dripping down my neck from the intense concentration.

Then, she tells me, “But, I’m sorry I can’t give you a raise.”

Suddenly, all of my hopes and dreams feel crushed. I feel the excited smile falling off my face and tears starting to well up in my eyes. My first adult moment in all the years of my life and I failed. It’s been confirmed, I have no value. Without much explanation, I was told that, “One day I would thank her for not giving me the raise.” Then sent back home to start my search all over again.

Marching forward

Again, I looked to Jordan Peterson for answers and remembered him saying that asking for a raise is somewhat of a demand. “If you don’t give me this, then I will leave,” is the message. I realized that it was my own personal responsibility to make my situation better and where I was wouldn’t provide me with the life I was searching for.

This moment, where I go out and ask for a raise, is one of the most important moments of my life. It’s the moment where I start the search for something more. It’s the catalyst to creating a vision for my life, taking steps forward and becoming an adult. Not only an adult, but someone who is moving into his purpose, looking at his life and deciding what it is that he truly wants. It’s the moment when I took personal responsibility of my life and what I will make of it.

Before this moment, before Jordan Peterson entered into my sphere, I was lost. My time was spent in chaos, in the unknown. In his words, I was a Peter Pan character, enjoying my sense of freedom and playing with life. Then, Jordan Peterson came along and gave me the courage, confidence and idea that I should try to be all that I can be and have a responsibility to maximize my potential and that by doing that, I can leave the world in a better place then I came into it. Simultaneously, I’ll make my life a life worth living, leaving behind a legacy worth being proud of, and being a person I could admire. This message that he purports changed my life and pushed me out of my stagnancy and into my mission.

After that moment, I went and earned a TEFL certification to teach English overseas and found a job in Shenzhen, China. I took his Self-Authoring program and began to write intimately about my own life and develop a vision moving forward. I even started to see a therapist to talk through the many decisions and complications I was dealing with in the process. This turned out to be extremely valuable beyond measure.

At this time, I had to go over my life and see how I got to this point, evaluate where I was and then create a plan for where I want to go in the future.

Here’s a shortened version of what it looks like to do the Self-Authoring Program:

• Past: In the past, I experienced a trauma that changed the course of my life. In high school, I was the most involved student in my class. I played 4 sports, was captain of the soccer team, president of my senior class, president of chess club and was in the top 10% of my class. On the week of graduation, I found out that my parents were getting divorced and my whole world came crashing down. Relationships between my parents and I became tense and I resorted to alcohol, partying and other substances for comfort. When I arrived at college in the fall, I was set up to play on the soccer team. I gained 40lbs over the summer and never showed up to the first day of practice and haven’t played soccer again. Over time, things continued to spiral. Although I was always a straight A student through all of my schooling, in college, my grades plundered. I was on the brink of failing out of school by my second semester. Was assisted by a priest to have belief in something greater in my life like God or religion. Started using psychedelics and had mystical experiences that made me believe there was more to life and myself than I could possibly grasp. This gave me the strength to start trying again.
• Present: Living in an artists community, with interesting people who are all living alternative lifestyles. Making very little money and having no career that will take me into a significant future. Single, long hair, very extroverted.
• Future: Who do I want to be? What do I want to do? Do I want a wife and children? I had all of these questions and more and at 23 years old I wasn’t sure exactly how to answer all of these questions. So I took jordans advice and made the worst first draft possible of a 3–5 year plan for my life. I remember it was very abstract but it was better than nothing.

Here’s an excerpt from my journal of my worst first draft a week after not getting the raise:

On this life journey of trial and error, there are opportunities for achieving great successes. I just have to find my way towards all of them.

I am putting together a life plan for myself, not all at once but piece by piece. Creating goals and visioning a few years into the future at a time. This year I have realized that one day, I want a family, with children and a wife. This is a big realization because so much comes along with pursuing that idea. Obviously finding a wife and a mate, building up enough of a foundation and resources in order to create and sustain not only my own life but the lives of others, and still be able to experience the joy of being. How can I do all of this? How can I pursue a career that is ultimately meaningful, challenging, and fulfilling? How can I continuously accumulate enough resources to provide, maintain, and thrive?

These are big questions and I think it will take me a while to figure out. One thing I am feeling is that this year of living in China would give me the right amount of time to sort out some of my finances, learn how to be more financially responsible, dive deeper into my philosophy and understanding about relationships, marriage, children, and family. Also, giving me the opportunity to work on creating the next opportunity after that, which would be something more lucrative. Develop more of my book, start a podcast, and see what business project I can start building. I want my primary hobby outside of what I am creating to build financial income to be Jiu Jitsu.

Realistically, if I start working on these things while I have the time, I can build them into a sustainable source of income so that I can turn what I love into my career.

So, if I continue and start working on my dream/passion projects like: Writing, podcast/video and working full time, I can start preparing, building, and sacrificing for a family and living into my potential at the same time. By the time I have a kid, I can have my book out or being published, I can be working within a good organization, making weekly videos, and teaching Jiu Jitsu.

I believe I am intelligent enough to make an impact at any company, to provide myself valuable experience, to stop struggling financially, and to build a great life for future generations to come. This is my vision.

How did it turn out?

So you must be wondering, where am I at right now. From a broke dishwasher, living in an artist community to where I am today, what happened? How did my worst first draft turn out?

Well, it didn’t go in a straight line at all but, things happened and I made headway. First, I found the love of my life. We were already friends and one day realized that we had more than a friendship to explore. Matthew Dicks, author of Storyworthy often says the way he picks up women is by hanging around long enough for them to notice him as a prospect. I like to think I have a little bit of that in me. Anyway, I got married, became a teacher and moved by myself to China to start teaching classes. During that time, I was in solitude for most of the day and for that I will forever be grateful. Although it was the most isolating experience of my life, I spent hours writing every day. Over the three months span, I made more progress than I had in my entire adult life.

I ended up securing a job with a tech company in Shenzhen and became the Content Creator/Teacher for an AI education course called Linkid, where I would spend the next year building out a program that would quickly reach over 60,000 students throughout China. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, I made the choice to leave China and was able to work remotely from a small town in Mississippi where I was reunited with my wife.

I kept writing for my blog and eventually landed a freelance gig with a local magazine. Although my job with the tech company in China paid well and was encompassed in my original vision, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing. So, I kept looking and found hiitide.

Now, I’m a content writer and have built a successful app in China that served over 60,000 students. I am training Jiu Jitsu as a hobby and lifestyle and working diligently on projects that challenge me and excite me. That vision I set out for myself has come true in so many ways. Jordan Peterson always says, “It’s better to aim somewhere, than nowhere at all.” I took that to heart and took aim and worked diligently to execute. Luckily, this is just the first part of my life vision. Since then, it has changed, become more clear and continues to push into the future.