In his book, 12 RULES FOR LIFE, AN ANTIDOTE TO CHAOS, on Page 31, Jordan Peterson writes out Rule 2: "Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping."
He is seeking to push young people with no self-esteem to push the gloom out of their confused psychology of self-appraisal, and accept that they are individuals with God's divine spark in them, that they matter and they need to love and esteem themselves, and discipline themselves morally and spiritually so they start acting like they are worth caring for, and do care for themselves.
Now, these definitions can be tricky. I do not think or know if Jordan is a normative egoist, but he is pro-individual. The two concepts, normative egoism (my stance) and Jordan stance (normative individualism) are related, perhaps identical.
No matter. He is urging young people to love themselves and care for themselves and that has little to do with seeking pleasure, money, sexual gratification, fame, power, or adulation.
The type of individualism that Jordan offers is quite austere: The pleasures of life are to be sought, but meaning through ethical responsibility, self-discipline and high standards of performance placed on the self by the self is the kind of individualism that he promotes (As I do too under my moral code of normative egoism as the active life of maverization.).
This has nothing whatsoever to do with being selfish, shallow, ruthless, malevolent, and hurtful towards others or oneself.
Jordan does not like talking about self-esteem, but I find this idea central to my ethical plan. I would suggest that the individual only has high self-esteem if he treats himself like someone he is responsible for helping, in the process of undertaking the life voyage of maverization.
Low self-esteem would be someone that is lazy, selfish, immoral, hedonistic, shallow un-ambitious and following the crowed, doing little to take care of oneself, or to help others or the world.
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