"FOLLOW This Life Advice To CHANGE Your Future In 2023!" | Jordan Peterson

He argues that suffering without meaning tends to spiral into bitterness, cruelty, and resentment, which can lead people to harm themselves and others. In his framing, an aim provides meaning that makes unavoidable suffering bearable and directed.

He describes a structured writing method to orient yourself: map the past to understand what happened and why, assess current virtues and faults, then write a future vision and convert it into goals. He repeatedly emphasizes that orientation requires knowing where you are and where you’re going.

He says a vague question like “What do you want?” is too broad, so the program breaks life into domains (family, career, education, health, relationships, substance use, and more) and asks you to write a concrete three-to-five-year vision. He stresses doing it over a couple of days and writing without perfectionism.

After defining what you want, he says you also need a vivid picture of what you’re trying to avoid: imagine your weaknesses multiplying and your life becoming “as bad as it could be” in three to five years. That feared outcome can supply motivation to do difficult things now (like having hard conversations) when hope alone isn’t enough.

He explains that aims structure perception: once you commit to an aim, you start noticing opportunities and obstacles relevant to it. He links this to being precise in speech and using a “map” for traveling through time and space.