Finding Purpose In Cleaning Up My Room

About a year ago my focus in life changed. The way I looked at my own life specifically and how I was choosing to interact with the world around me shifted to a new paradigm. I had learned so much about the injustices of the world and read so many accounts of inspiring people throughout my college experience, I was determined to change society itself and “make a difference”. Not only this, but I believed that the state of the world was basically lost and drastic immediate action was necessary for the survival of our species and the world as we know it. Because of this I was certain that if nothing changed within a few years there was basically no point in investing myself in anything – it would all be gone soon anyway right?

However in the past year I have started listening a lot more to podcasts – through them I have discovered some incredible thinkers and listened to a huge variety of very experienced and wise individuals. Listening to these people who have lived much longer and fuller lives than myself has given me what I feel to be a powerful insight and definitely a better perspective on life. People like Joe Rogan, Aubrey Marcus, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Gary Vaynerchuk, Joey Diaz and many others have influenced how I saw my life in the grand scheme of things. I learned things like: No matter how smart I think I am now, in 10 years I won’t be able to believe I naïve and dumb I was at 22. Nothing happens overnight – success and prosperity are long-term games and you can’t try to win them overnight. There is no winning without losing first. The biggest lessons always come from the hardest falls. And that we learn, grow, and improve by leaning into the resistance, by embracing challenges and standing up to chaos head on.

Dr. Jordan Peterson is somebody I have learned a ton from and is truly one of the wisest and most powerful speakers I have come across. I was lucky enough to discover him through Joe Rogan’s podcast and began listening to many of his very powerful lectures on human nature, The Bible, and overall finding meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in this life. He has been very critical of the direction that the university system seems to be taking, and has issued a sort of challenge to those who listen to him. His message is not only to young people, but I believe it applies very well to our current generation and the problems we face. Despite it being much more complex than this, a common theme has emerged and can be boiled down quite simply to what has become an almost famous quotation. His message is this: “How do you think you are going to change the world if you can’t even clean up your own damn room?” This very simple question struck me hard, and it is something I think about often, and something I think we should all spend more time pondering.

Obviously this question can be taken both literally as well as figuratively, but either way it remains a powerful question to understand and answer within oneself. In a literal sense; how do I hope to put the time, effort, hard work, discipline, and sheer determination it takes to “clean up the world” if I can’t even muster up these virtues enough to clean and organize my own tiny bedroom? Seriously, it seems like a weird comparison to make but it makes total sense. The act of cleaning up the world and reorganizing a society as vastly complicated as our own is no easy task, and the thought that some 22 year old kid is going to be able to do that without ever practicing any of the skills necessary for such a monumental task is simply laughable. This thought alone caused me to do a massive double take, what was I really imagining was possible? Who did I think I was that I would magically be able to do something people have been attempting for hundreds of years? On the metaphorical side of things, the act of organizing one’s room is so much more than that physical 15-20 foot room we sleep in. It involves organizing our thoughts and ideas, getting rid of useless junk that’s cluttering up our lives, and making ourselves as useful to our individual purpose as possible.

These insights along with others I learned from people like Aubrey Marcus changed my outlook and turned my attention inward. I decided that in order to be of the best service to others as possible, I had some real work to do on myself. I decided that I needed to be the best possible version of myself, and that through that process I would become the type of person who was capable of enacting a positive change on the world.

I have found this shift towards a personal philosophy of virtue ethics to not only be intensely rewarding but also to be what I feel as the right path. It involves actively practicing traits I believe to be virtuous and ones that we should all strive to cultivate within ourselves. I practice humility - every time I think that I will be the one to change the world I stop and ask myself, why would you think that? What makes you special? What makes you different from the millions of other people around the world who wish to change their societies in the same way you do? It forces me to self-administer discipline and hard work on myself, the world doesn’t change unless you are an active agent within it. Nothing changes sitting on your couch and playing video games. And perhaps most of all it forces me to strive everyday for my highest ideal. Each day I strive to be the best person I can be. Because quite honestly, I believe that is all we can do individually to bring about whatever change we wish to see from the world.

 Focus on yourself, set a goal, and strive for your highest ideal. Hopefully the rest will follow in time, but if not at least you’ll know you gave it your greatest effort possible.