PURSUE WHAT IS MEANINGFUL (NOT WHAT IS EXPEDIENT)

Peterson is big on suffering. Suffering is the basis of human existence, he claims, and every modicum of happiness we achieve is wrested from the jaws of tragedy.

Rule 7 is about choosing meaning over expedience. Peterson argues we can only achieve meaning (Meaning — he likes capital letters) through sacrifice, suffering and delayed gratification.

It’s another of these big, sweeping rules that’s tricky to put into practice, but I decided to write a story for work that had been hanging over my head for ages. I’d been putting it off, but now I was going to suffer through it. It was a small way of choosing

purpose over indulgence, but Peterson says it’s important to make incremental changes.

I bought myself a chocolate chip cookie and told myself I wouldn’t eat it until I was done, just to drive home the bit about suffering. Then I started a log to track my progress.

Just before 1 p.m. Took the cookie out of its bag so I could look at it as an incentive.

1:21 p.m. Still haven’t started. Had a text conversation with a colleague about how I’m trying to use a cookie to force myself to write a story.

1:39 p.m. Took a picture of the cookie.

2:05 p.m. Had a conversation about Ramadan, which involves fasting for an entire month. Feeling pathetic about my cookie-related struggle.

2:51 p.m. Took a break from writing to gaze longingly at the cookie.

3:45 p.m. Another colleague asked for a bite of my cookie. I said no. He asked what Peterson says about sharing, so then I had to give him a bite. 4:00 p.m. Took a picture of the remaining cookie. 5:15 p.m. Colleagues go for a drink on a patio. The suffering is real. 8:00 p.m. Still writing. 9:20 p.m. Finished the story, at last. Ate the rest of the cookie. It was stale, but the taste of moral victory was sweet.

It occurred to me that I may not be taking this seriously enough. Peterson takes everything seriously. In this chapter, he describes a vision he once had where he was hovering high in the air, looking down over all humanity, “above even the pinnacle of the highest of dominance hierarchies.” This is a guy who believes he has great Wisdom and Insight, and I used one of his rules to hold off on eating a cookie. But I don’t know how else to live out these rules. I’ve realized this isn’t a self-help book in any practical sense of the term.