Jordan Peterson's Ultimate Advice for Students and College Grads - STOP WASTING TIME

Summary

The speaker emphasizes the importance of utilizing our time efficiently, highlighting the significant waste of potential hours each week and its financial implications. They advocate for the power of writing as a tool for clear thinking and effective action, and stress the necessity of setting and adhering to a daily schedule that balances responsibility with reward. The transcript also touches on the broader impact of individual actions within social networks and the importance of taking personal responsibility for creating a meaningful life.

Takeaways

• 🕒 The speaker suggests that people are often running at about 51% of their capacity, wasting a significant amount of time inefficiently.
• 📚 It's common for individuals to waste 4 to 6 hours a day on activities that are not only unproductive but also leave them feeling regretful.
• 📈 The wasted time equates to a substantial loss in terms of potential earnings and opportunities, emphasizing the high cost of procrastination and inaction.
• 💡 The speaker highlights the Pareto distribution, indicating that efficiency can vary greatly among individuals, with highly efficient people being exceptionally so.
• 📝 Writing is presented as a critical skill that is closely tied to thinking, and thus, to effective action in the world.
• 🏫 Universities are criticized for not emphasizing the importance of writing as a means to develop critical thinking skills.
• 💪 The ability to think, speak, and write coherently is described as a powerful tool that can lead to success, influence, and opportunities.
• 🗓️ The importance of having a schedule is stressed, with the speaker advising against viewing it as restrictive but rather as a means to create a desirable day.
• 🔄 The speaker encourages setting up a schedule that includes a balance of responsibility and reward, and negotiating with oneself to ensure productivity and fulfillment.
• 🌐 The individual's actions are likened to a stone dropped in a pond, suggesting that one's behavior can have far-reaching effects on their network and society.
• 🌟 The script concludes with the idea that if people focus on fixing what is within their sphere of influence and aim for what is genuinely good for them, they are likely to achieve it.

Q & A

What percentage of capacity does the speaker estimate people are running at?

The speaker estimates that people are running at about 51% of their capacity.

What is the classic answer to the question of how many hours a day are wasted according to the speaker?

The classic answer is that people waste about 4 to 6 hours a day, often due to inefficient studying or watching unengaging content on YouTube.

How does the speaker quantify the wasted time in terms of work weeks per year?

The speaker equates the wasted time to two and a half full work weeks per month, which amounts to half a year of work weeks per year.

What is the estimated monetary value of wasted time if one's time is worth $20 an hour?

If time is valued at $20 an hour, then wasting 20 hours a week equates to wasting $50,000 a year.

Why does the speaker believe that wasting $50,000 is a bigger catastrophe for young people compared to older individuals?

The speaker believes it's a bigger catastrophe for young people because they have more time ahead of them, and thus the wasted time has a greater impact on their potential.

What is the Pareto distribution mentioned by the speaker in relation to efficiency?

The Pareto distribution is used by the speaker to illustrate the vast difference in efficiency between average people and those who are highly efficient, which can be 'off the charts'.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of learning to write?

The speaker emphasizes writing because it is synonymous with thinking, which enables one to act effectively in the world and win battles they undertake.

What does the speaker suggest is the most powerful weapon one can provide someone with?

The speaker suggests that the ability to think, speak, and write coherently is the most powerful weapon one can provide someone with.

What is the speaker's view on the importance of having a schedule?

The speaker views having a schedule as crucial for mental health and insists that it should be set up in a way that it resembles the best possible day one could have.

How does the speaker recommend balancing responsibility and reward in one's schedule?

The speaker recommends negotiating with oneself, similar to how one would negotiate with an employee, to find the right ratio of responsibility to reward, ensuring that the day ends in a better state than it began.

What is the speaker's perspective on the impact of individual actions within a network?

The speaker believes that individual actions are like ripples in a pond, affecting a vast network of people, and thus what one does or doesn't do is far more important than they might think.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Embracing Efficiency and the Power of Writing

The speaker begins by addressing the issue of wasted time, estimating that people operate at around 51% of their capacity due to inefficient studying and unproductive activities like aimless YouTube browsing. They emphasize the economic and personal cost of this wasted time, suggesting that even at a conservative hourly rate, individuals are losing significant amounts of money annually. The speaker then transitions into the importance of learning to write as a fundamental skill that enhances thinking and communication, which are crucial for success in life. They express surprise that universities do not stress the importance of writing for clear thinking and effective action. The paragraph concludes with advice on creating a balanced schedule that incorporates both responsibility and reward, advocating for a self-negotiation approach to personal productivity.

05:02

🌐 The Ripple Effect of Individual Actions and the Importance of Routine

In this paragraph, the speaker discusses the potential for improvement if individuals were to act more responsibly, suggesting that even small changes could lead to a positive spiral of growth. They touch on the interconnectedness of human society, where individual actions can have far-reaching effects, much like ripples in a pond. The speaker critiques the tendency of people to make things worse out of spite or negative emotions and the broader societal implications of such behavior. They also stress the importance of having a routine for mental health and the regulation of mood, advocating for a routine that aligns with one's desired life, referencing social norms and personal reflection as guides. The paragraph ends with a discussion on the existential choice between a life of responsibility and meaning versus one of nihilism and suffering, highlighting the challenges and rewards of embracing responsibility.

10:02

🤔 Self-Reflection and the Pursuit of a Meaningful Life

The final paragraph delves into the concept of self-negotiation and the idea that individuals must treat themselves with the same care and consideration as they would a loved one. The speaker criticizes the common tendency to be one's own harshest critic and the resulting cycle of procrastination and self-punishment. They advocate for a more thoughtful approach to life, where one must identify and aim for what is truly good for them, rather than merely what they desire. The speaker suggests that by setting clear criteria for success and being willing to make sacrifices, individuals can achieve their goals. They conclude by encouraging introspection on one's own actions and habits, urging the listener to identify and rectify self-sabotaging behaviors, and to seriously consider what they truly want and need in life.

Keywords

💡Capacity

Capacity in this context refers to the potential or maximum amount of work or activity that can be achieved. The speaker mentions that people are running at about 51% of their capacity, implying that there is a significant room for improvement in productivity and efficiency. This concept is central to the video's theme of maximizing one's potential and avoiding wasted time.

💡Inefficiency

Inefficiency is the lack of effectiveness in the use of time or resources. The script discusses inefficient studying and watching unproductive content on YouTube as examples of wasting time, which ties into the broader message of the video about the importance of using time wisely and being self-aware of one's habits.

💡Pareto Distribution

The Pareto Distribution, also known as the 80/20 rule, is a principle that suggests that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In the script, it is used to illustrate the idea that a small proportion of highly efficient people can achieve significantly more than the average person, emphasizing the potential for individuals to greatly improve their productivity.

💡Writing

Writing is highlighted as a critical skill in the video, equated with thinking. The speaker argues that the ability to write well is a powerful tool for clear communication and effective action in the world. The script suggests that universities often fail to convey the importance of writing as a means to develop critical thinking skills.

💡Responsibility

Responsibility is a recurring theme in the script, with the speaker discussing the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions and time. It is presented as a key component of personal development and the creation of a meaningful life, as well as a factor in the collective well-being of society.

💡Schedule

A schedule is a plan for carrying out a course of action in a specific order or within a specific time frame. The video emphasizes the importance of having and adhering to a schedule to organize one's day effectively. It contrasts a rigid, prison-like schedule with one that is flexible and rewarding, encouraging viewers to negotiate with themselves to create a balanced routine.

💡Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. The script uses the example of wasted hours to illustrate the high opportunity cost of not using time effectively, suggesting that by wasting time, individuals are losing out on significant personal and financial gains.

💡Negotiation

Negotiation in this context refers to the internal dialogue one has with oneself to balance responsibilities with rewards. The speaker suggests that individuals should treat themselves as they would treat someone they care about, negotiating a fair exchange of work for leisure or rewards, which is essential for maintaining motivation and avoiding burnout.

💡Ripple Effect

The ripple effect is the phenomenon where a small action has far-reaching consequences, similar to the ripples created when a stone is thrown into a pond. The script uses this concept to discuss the impact of individual actions on a broader scale, emphasizing that personal choices can have significant effects on society and the world.

💡Existential

Existential refers to the nature of existence, particularly the human condition and the individual's search for meaning. The video touches on existential themes such as vulnerability, social judgment, and the weight of personal responsibility, suggesting that understanding and addressing these aspects are crucial for living a meaningful and authentic life.

💡Circadian Rhythms

Circadian rhythms are the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a daily cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness in an organism's environment. The speaker mentions that lacking a routine can dysregulate these rhythms, affecting mood and mental health, underlining the importance of a consistent daily schedule for overall well-being.

Highlights

People often operate at around 51% of their capacity, wasting significant time on inefficient studying and unproductive activities.

The average person wastes 4 to 6 hours a day on activities that do not contribute to personal growth or satisfaction.

Wasted time equates to a significant loss in potential earnings and opportunities, with a yearly estimate of $50,000 at $20 an hour.

Efficiency can be greatly improved by eliminating wasted time, with the potential for ten to twenty times more productivity.

The Pareto distribution illustrates the vast difference in efficiency between average and highly efficient individuals.

Teaching people to write is equated to teaching them to think, which is essential for effective action in the world.

Universities often fail to convey the importance of writing as a tool for thinking and achieving success.

Effective communication through writing, speaking, and presenting can lead to financial support, opportunities, and influence.

Creating and adhering to a schedule is crucial for mental health and productivity, contrary to the belief that it restricts freedom.

A well-structured schedule should balance responsibility with reward, similar to negotiating with an employee.

Individuals should aim for gradual improvement in their routines, targeting 51% or 50.5% accuracy the following week.

The collective actions of individuals have a significant impact on society, as each person is a node in a vast network.

The choices made by individuals ripple outward, affecting a much larger population than one might initially consider.

The existential dilemma of choosing between a life of no responsibility and meaningless suffering versus a life of responsibility and meaning.

The importance of adopting a routine for mental health, suggesting a time to wake up and sticking to it to regulate mood.

The need for introspection and self-negotiation to identify and pursue what is genuinely good for oneself, rather than what is merely desired.

The concept that if individuals understand and aim for what is good for them, they are likely to achieve it, with adjustments along the way.

The necessity of setting clear criteria for success to increase the likelihood of achieving one's goals.

The idea that 'actually wanting' something involves a complete reorientation of one's life to maximize the probability of obtaining it.

The importance of self-reflection to identify and rectify behaviors that are detrimental to one's life and goals.

Transcripts

My experience is with people that we're probably running at about 51% of our capacity.

Something - I mean you can think about this yourselves. I often ask undergraduates:

How many hours a day you waste, or how many hours a week you waste?

And the classic answer is something like 4 to 6 hours a day, you know inefficient studying,

watching things on YouTube that not only do you not want to watch -

That you don't even care about, that make you feel horrible about watching after you're done. That's probably four hours right there.

Now, and you think - That's 20-25 hours a week.

It's a hundred hours a month. That's two and a half full work weeks.

It's half a year of work weeks per year and if your time is worth,

$20 an hour, which is a radical underestimate,

it's probably more like $50 if you think about it in terms of deferred wages.

If you're wasting 20 hours a week...

you're wasting $50,000 a year, and you are doing that right now, and because you're young wasting $50,000

is a way bigger catastrophe

than it would be for me to waste it because I'm not gonna last nearly as long, and so if your life isn't everything it

could be, you could ask yourself. Well, what would happen if you just stopped wasting the opportunities that are in front of you?

You'd be who knows how much more efficient? Ten times more efficient? 20 times more efficient?

That's the Pareto distribution. You have no idea how efficient efficient people get. It's off the charts!

Best thing you can do is teach people to write, because there's no difference between that and thinking and

one of the things that just blows me away about universities is that

No one ever tells students why they should write something

It's like well you have to do this assignment well, why are you writing? Well, you need the grade it's like no

You need to learn to think

Because thinking makes you act effectively in the world, thinking makes you win the battles you undertake and those could be battles for good things

If you can think and speak and write you are

Absolutely deadly

Nothing can get in your way

so that's why you learn to write, it's like

when I can't believe that people aren't just told that it's- it's- it's like

It's the most powerful weapon you can possibly provide someone with and I mean

I know lots of people who have been staggeringly successful and watched them throughout my life

I mean those people you don't want to have an argument with them.

They'll just slash you into pieces and then not in the malevolent way.

It's like if you're gonna make your point and they're gonna make their point you better have your points

Organized because otherwise you're gonna look like and be an absolute idiot

you are not going to get anywhere and if you can formulate your arguments coherently and make a

presentation, if you can speak to people, if you can lay out a proposal, god, people give you money, they give

you opportunities, you have influence

Make a schedule and stick to it. Okay. So what's the rule with the schedule? It's not a bloody prison

That's the first thing that people do wrong they say well, I don't like to have to follow a schedule

It's like well, what kind of schedule are you setting up.

Well, I should- I have to do this, then I have to do this, then I have to do this, you know

And then I just go play video games because who wants to do all these things that I have to do. It's like wrong

Set the schedule up

So that you have the day you want. That's the trick. It's like okay

I've got tomorrow, if I was gonna set it up so it was the best possible day I could have

Practically speaking, what would it look like?

well, then you schedule that and obviously there's a bit of responsibility that's good to go along with that because if you have any sense

One of the things that you're gonna insist upon is that at the end of the day

You're not in worse shape than you were then- then at the beginning of the day, right? Because that's a stupid day

If you have a bunch of those in a row, you just dig, you know

You dig yourself a hole and then you bury yourself and it's like sorry, that's just not a good strategy. It's a bad strategy

so maybe

20% of your day has to be responsibility and obligation

Or maybe it's more than that depending on how far behind you are. But even that you can- you can ask yourself, okay?

Well, I've got these responsibilities.

I have to schedule these things in, what's the right ratio of

responsibility to reward. And you can ask yourself that just like you'd negotiate with someone who is working for you

It's like okay, you gotta work tomorrow

Okay, so I want you to work tomorrow and you might say okay. Well, what are you gonna do for me

That makes it likely that I'll work for you? Well, you could ask yourself that you know, maybe you do an hour of

responsibility and then you play a video game for 15 minutes.

I don't know, whatever turns your crank man, but you know

You have to negotiate with yourself and not tyrannize yourself

Like you're negotiating with someone that you care for, that you would like to be productive and have a good life

And- and that's how you make the schedule

It's like and then you look at the day and you think well if I had that day, that would be good

Great, you know and you- you're useless and horrible, so you'll probably only hit it with about seventy percent accuracy

But that beats the hell out of zero.

Right and if you hit it

Even with fifty percent accuracy another rule is well aim for fifty one percent the next week or 50 and a half

percent for God's sake or because

you're gonna hit that position where things start to loop back

positively and spiral you upward.

Well, and if we all got our act together collectively and stop making things worse because that's another thing people do all the time not

Only do they not do what they should to make things better

they actively attempt to make things worse because they're spiteful or resentful or arrogant or deceitful or

or homicidal or genocidal, or all of those things all

Bundled together in an absolutely pathological package. If people stopped really really trying just to make things worse

We have no idea how much better they would get just because of that

So there's this weird dynamic that's part of the existential system of ideas between human vulnerability

social judgment both of which are

are major causes of suffering and the failure of individuals to adopt the

Responsibility that they know they should adopt. It

Isn't merely that your fate depends on whether or not you get your act together and to what degree you decide that you're going to

Live out your own genuine being, it isn't only your fate. It's the fate of everyone that you're networked with

And so, you know you think well

There's nine billion, seven billion people in the world

We're going to peak at about nine billion, by the way

And then it'll decline rapidly but seven billion people in the world and who are you you're just one little dust mite

Among that seven billion and so it really doesn't matter what you do or don't do but that's simply not the case

It's the wrong model because you're at the center of a network. You're a node in a network

Of course, that's even more true

Now that we have social media you'll- you'll know

you'll know a

thousand people, at least, over the course of your life and they'll know a thousand people each and that puts you one person away from

a million and two persons away from a billion and

So that's how you're connected and the things you do they're like dropping a stone in a pond

The ripples move outward and they affect things in ways that you can't fully

comprehend and it means that the things that you do and that you don't do are far more important than you think and

So if you act that way

of course the terror of realizing that is that it actually starts to matter what you do and you might say well that's better than

living a meaningless existence. It's better for it to matter

But I mean if you really asked yourself would you be so sure? If you had the choice I can live with no

responsibility whatsoever, the price I pay is that nothing matters

Or I can reverse it and everything matters

But I have to take the responsibility that's associated with that. It's not so obvious to me that people would take the meaningful path

Now when you say well nihilists suffer dreadfully because there's no meaning in their life and they still suffer

Yeah, but the advantage is they have no responsibility

So that's the payoff and I actually think that's the motivation. To say well, I can't help being nihilistic all my belief systems have collapsed

It's like yeah, maybe

maybe you've just allowed them to collapse because it's a hell of a lot easier than acting them out and

The price you pay is a meaningless suffering but

You can always whine about that and people will feel sorry for you and you have the option of taking the pathway of the martyr

So that's a pretty good deal all things considered especially when they are, when the alternative is to

bear your burden properly and to live

Forthrightly in the world. Well what Solzhenitsyn figured out and so many people in the twentieth century

it's not just him even though he's the best example is that if you live a pathological life you

Pathologize your society and if enough people do that, then it's hell

Really

really and

You can read the Gulag Archipelago

if you have the forti- fortitude to do that and you'll see exactly what hell is like and then you can decide if that's

a place you'd like to visit or even more importantly if it's a life, if it's a place you'd like to visit and

Take all your family and friends because that's what happened in the 20th century.

No one can live without a routine

You just, forget that, if you guys don't have a routine

I would recommend like you get one going because you cannot be mentally healthy without a routine

You need to pick a time to get up. Whatever time you want

But pick one and stick to it because otherwise you dysregulate your circadian rhythms, and they regulate your mood

Plan a life you'd like to have and and you do that partly by

Referring to social norms, that's more or less

Rescuing your father from the belly of the whale but the way, other way you do that is by having a little conversation with yourself

About, as if you don't really know who you are because you know what

You're like, you won't do what you're told. You won't do what you tell yourself to do, you must have noticed that

It's like you're a bad employee and a worse boss and both of those work, you know, for you

You don't know what you want to do

And then when you tell yourself what to do, you don't do it anyway

So you should fire yourself and find someone else to beat but- but you know what

My point is, is that you have to understand that you're not your own servant

so to speak. You're someone that you have to negotiate with and that's- and

You're someone that you want to present the opportunity of having a good life to and

That's hard for people because they don't like themselves very much

So, you know, they're always like cracking the whip and then

Procrastinating and cracking the whip and then procrastinating. It's like god, it's so boring and such a pathetic way of spending your time. I

Think what you have to do and this is part of humility is you have to look around you within your sphere of influence

like the direct sphere of influence and fix the things that announce themselves as in need of repair, but

one of the main reasons that people don't get what they want is because they don't actually figure out what it is and

The probability that you're going to get what would be good for you

Let's say, which would even be better than what you want, right?

Because you know, you might be what- wrong about what you want, easily, but maybe you could get what would really be good for you

Well, why don't you? Well, because you don't try. You don't think, okay

here's what I would like if I could have it and- and I don't mean- I

Don't mean in a way that you manipulate the world to force it, to deliver you goods for status or something like that

That isn't what I mean. I mean something like

Imagine that you were taking care of yourself like you were someone you actually cared for and then you thought okay

I'm caring for this person. I would like things to go as well for them as possible

What would their life have to be like in order for that to be the case?

Well people don't do that. They don't sit down and think alright, you know, let's- let's figure it out. You've got a life, it's hard

obviously, it's like

Three years from now you can have what you need

You've got to be careful about it. You can't have everything, you can have what would be good for you

But you have to figure out what it is and then you have to aim at it

Well my experience with people has been is if they figure out what it is that would be good for them

And then they aim at it, then they get it and it's strange because they don't necess- it's a strange thing, it's not

quite that simple because, you know, you may

formulate an idea about what would be good for you

And then you take ten steps towards that and you find out that your formulation was a bit off and so you have to reformulate

Your goal, you know, so you're kind of going like this as

You move towards the goal

But a huge part of the reason that people fail is because they don't ever

set up the criteria for success and

so since success is a very narrow line and very unlikely, the probability that you're going to stumble on it randomly is zero and

So there's a proposition here and the proposition is if you actually want something

You can have it. Now

the question then would be well, what do you mean by actually want and

The answer is that you reorient your life in every possible way

To make the probability that that will occur as certain as possible and that's a sacrificial idea, right?

It's like you don't get everything, obviously you

Obviously, but maybe you can have what you need and maybe all you have to do to get it is ask

but asking isn't a

Whim or- or today's wish it's like you have to be deadly serious about it. You have to think

Okay, like I'm taking stock of myself and if I was going to live properly in the world

And I was going to set myself up

Such that being would justify itself in my estimation and I don't mean as a harsh judge

Exactly what is it that I would aim at? Sit on your bed one day and ask yourself

What's- what remarkably stupid things am I doing on a regular basis to absolutely screw up my life and

If you actually ask that question

But you have to want to know the answer right because that's actually what asking the question means

It doesn't mean just mouthing the words. It means you have to decide that you want to know

You'll figure that out so fast it'll make your hair curl.