When the light bulb is burnt out, change the light bulb

Jordan Peterson said: “If you want to know something about yourself, sit on your bed one night and say, “What’s one thing I’m doing wrong, that I know I’m doing wrong? That I could fix. That I would fix”. You meditate on that, and you’ll get an answer.” Re-read that line a second and a third time.

He explains that the answer to this question will not give us the answer we want, but rather the answer we need.

Having problems in life is a sign of being alive. It’s a good thing. We just need a little discipline to find the root cause and fix it.

Imagine you’re working from home, it’s 8 pm, and suddenly the light goes off. You’re not wondering if the sun suddenly went to bed, right? No, you quickly realize it’s the damn light bulb, and you change it.

But when it comes to issues in our personal life, such as with our job, our partner, our friends, or within our own mind, we work hard to find an external cause of our misery while completely ignoring the root cause. You don’t feel good in your job? Why? Your boss. Why? He’s not nice. Why? Maybe he’s stressed out. Why? Oh! I screwed up with one of the company’s best clients. Ah!

Root causes all the way.