[February 5, 2023] If there are two things I learned about how to rise to the top of any profession, it’s you have to work harder and do so efficiently. Dr. Jordan Peterson describes in the following narrative (see link) his thoughts on how to be efficient and discusses doing so makes you much more successful.
I believe that we are all in search of the meaning of life. And we are driven to look for ways to increase the meaning in our life is to do difficult things, and that comes with tremendous responsibility.
Dr. Peterson recommends we “aim high, but don’t aim so high you can’t manage it.” Do this by breaking down your aims into reasonably attainable sub-goals. You want to aim high, and then you want to find out how efficient you can get. He recommends discovering your limits while in your 20s, disciplining yourself, discovering how much work you can do, loading to your maximum capability, and pushing yourself to the point that you exhaust yourself. And, then, you back off.
The optimal amount of work is that which is sustainable across decades. You have to learn that, and you cannot learn it without stretching yourself to your limit. If your life now isn’t everything it could be, and if you’re suffering from an excess of meaninglessness, then you are not properly oriented in the world.
Figure out what you need to do, and see how efficient you can get. If you have a task to do, then spend some time figuring out how to do it 5 to 10 times faster. You will have to rearrange your life a bit, but that is how successful people become hyper-efficient.
The degree to which our personal sanity depends upon that structure is unbelievable. And that means creating a stable, predictable routine and sticking to it.
The reason we can exist as fully functioning, autonomous, stable persons is not itself because we are organized and structured, even though that is important. We are prosperous and stable because other people can tolerate having us around for reasonably long periods and will whack us upside down every time we do something so stupid that those around us will dislike it.
By having a stable, efficient routine, you are establishing a credible, reliable, trustworthy, and potentially interesting human being who isn’t going to do anything too erratic at any moment. If you don’t have a routine, you begin to get isolated and start to drift badly.
Establishing this efficiency to get things done correctly will reveal yourself to you and others. And this is how you become a person who knows the meaning of your life.
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It is amazing how efficient a person can become if they put their mind to it and be open to learning different techniques. I found that I could get more done in the morning hours if I set up a simple plan and put it into notes the day before. My mind is usually foggy early after I wake up and the plan was simple to execute. I got twice as much done in the morning hours because of it and with much less stress. Simple but effective.
Learn early in your life how to become more efficient. The payoff is great because you will be so far ahead of others that they will never catch up. Success builds exponentially upon success.
Excellent point and one that Dr. Jordan Peterson repeatedly points out.
It’s a compounding return and that is why we need to teach children early the best ways of doing things.
“Learn to be efficient” Or, at least start the process. I’m shocked at how little folks know about getting the most basic things done in their weak lives. Be strong, be resilient, be ready, and be the one who can fight off the dragons. Else, you will die and those around you will suffer.
Most individuals have absolute NO idea how efficient we can be if we put our heads to it. But, it takes concentration, focus, and hard work. Too many of our youth are weak, effete, and weak-kneed to do it. Sad.
IS, you got that right and no one should be surprised. When you give out participation trophies, that is just the beginning of encouraging weakness.
That explains our Millenial snowflakes to a stitch.
What is sad, is that our primary school systems, teachers and administrators, are teaching our kids to be weak and rely on adults to solve their problems for them. And, of course, you are a knuckledragger if you think differently.
Having a routine is part of the solution. Never forget that. Now, that said, a routine can get you into trouble with an enemy who is keen on finding out your routine and exploiting it to their advantage. So, my advice, is protect your routine from prying eyes.
Yep, always two sides to the coin.
There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain. — Plato
Here is a gem that should be etched in your mind, “The optimal amount of work is that which is sustainable across decades. You have to learn that, and you cannot learn it without stretching yourself to your limit. If your life now isn’t everything it could be, and if you’re suffering from an excess of meaninglessness, then you are not properly oriented in the world.” Gen. Satterfield has highlighted Dr. Jordan Peterson’s look at ‘efficiency’ and his work is insightful. I recommend reading Dr. Peterson’s books. You will be better off for reading them. And, also Gen. Satterfield’s latest book “55 rules for a good life.” All are great. Buy them now and read them twice.
Right Max. and it is easy to criticize or fail to understand and then do nothing about your lack of understanding. Read, re-read, and read again. Don’t give up on trying to glean something from dr. Jordan Peterson’s lectures and books.
Good comment Max, as usual. The question now is where is Gen. Satterfield going with his blog. I love it. I have to admit that so I’m a bit biased. But where will this thinking take us. It is up to him and us to make that clear.
Indeed, I also recommend Gen. S’s book. 👍👍👍👍👍 5 thumbs up.
Excellent article on efficiency but I’m not so sure most will garner what you are getting at, Gen. Satterfield. Better to spell it out. Wink Wink, I got it.
It is amazing how efficient you can get if you put some focus on it. But, and a big but, you must know where you are going and how you are going to get there.
And have the insight to know when you must change your course.