Be responsible and start a rocket company

If a 21 year old man has a clean room, it is probably because he watches Jordan Peterson videos.

But seriously, his theory around responsibility does seem to hold some measure of truth. He says it better than I can,

"Responsibility. That’s what gives life meaning. It’s like lift a load, then you can tolerate yourself right because look at you. You’re useless, easily hurt, easily killed. Why should you have any self-respect? That’s the story of the fall. Pick something up and carry it, make it heavy enough so that you can think, 'Useless as I am at least I could move that from there to there.'"

Looking at Peterson's growth on the internet, there is obviously something there causing sparks to fly in the minds of young men (85% of his audience). I feel it too. Yet as a person who thinks they have a decent handle on life – aside from the occasional complete and total mental breakdown – there seems to be something missing in his message. Sure I feel useless sometimes, but most days I feel like I'm doing life well, perhaps above average. I'll go a bit further. The responsibility Peterson often talks about: getting a job, providing for a family, maintaining friends, having hobbies, and just being an decent contribution to society, doesn't seem hard to me. It actually feels unmotivating and sad to aim that low. (And yes I can see your eyes rolling from here.)

Recently I finished Walter Isaacson's new biography on Elon Musk. I'd read Ashlee Vance's biography on musk way back in the 10th grade and still to this day – aside from the childish Twitter drama – find Elon so inspiring. Who doesn't lol. But a few days ago it hit me; Elon's crazy missions: sustainable energy, flying rockets to Mars, etc, are Jordan Peterson's high-achiever version of the responsibility theory. It is like, okay so doing the normal stuff sounds easy and boring? Try flying a rockets. Try literally changing the world on a large scale.

I've known for a long time that the idea of changing the world is very appealing to me – even despite the high price attached to that. Crazy as I may or may not be, connecting this to Peterson's theory has been very helpful in keeping me aligned throughout the day. I keep in mind, yes, there is a big exciting mission that could change lives. But also, this mission is rote and hard and annoying just like any other responsibility is day to day. And I work at it piece-by-piece every single day so I can tolerate myself, so I can have a little bit of self-respect.

Maybe you need to be responsible and aim higher.

P.S.: For the life of me, I couldn't think of any way to write this article and not sound like some combination of a crazy, delusional narcissist or naive, light-minded child. Conviction, craziness, or courage? Idk, anyways, I hope you liked it :)

2023-10-05