Meaning vs Expedience: The Choice That Defines a Life

The distinction between meaning and expedience represents one of Jordan Peterson’s most profound insights into human psychology and moral development. This framework helps explain why some people find deep satisfaction and resilience in life while others, despite material success, experience emptiness and despair. Understanding and applying this principle is essential for creating a life of genuine fulfillment and sustainable motivation.

Understanding the Fundamental Distinction

Defining Meaning

Meaning, in Peterson’s framework, refers to the deep sense of purpose and significance that comes from aligning your actions with your fundamental values and contributing to something larger than immediate self-interest.

Characteristics of Meaningful Action:

• Purpose-Driven: Connected to deeper values and long-term vision
• Contributory: Adds value to yourself, others, or the world
• Character-Building: Develops virtues and personal strength
• Sustainable: Provides lasting motivation and satisfaction
• Integrative: Creates coherence between beliefs, values, and actions
• Growth-Oriented: Promotes development and learning

Sources of Meaning:

• Responsibility for others’ well-being
• Creative expression and contribution
• Personal growth and development
• Service to causes larger than yourself
• Building and maintaining relationships
• Pursuing truth and understanding

Defining Expedience

Expedience refers to actions chosen primarily for their immediate convenience, advantage, or pleasure, often without consideration of long-term consequences or deeper values.

Characteristics of Expedient Action:

• Short-Term Focused: Prioritizes immediate benefit over long-term consequence
• Self-Serving: Primarily benefits the individual in the moment
• Avoidant: Often seeks to avoid difficulty, conflict, or responsibility
• Unsustainable: Requires constant external motivation or reward
• Fragmenting: Can create conflicts between actions and values
• Stagnating: Often prevents growth and development

Examples of Expedient Choices:

• Lying to avoid immediate consequences
• Choosing entertainment over important but difficult work
• Avoiding difficult conversations or responsibilities
• Pursuing money or status without regard for values
• Taking shortcuts that compromise quality or integrity
• Seeking pleasure or comfort at the expense of growth

The Psychology of Meaning vs Expedience

Neurological and Psychological Differences

Research in psychology and neuroscience reveals important differences between meaning-driven and expedience-driven behavior:

Meaning-Driven Behavior:

• Dopamine System: Sustained activation through progress toward goals
• Stress Response: Better stress tolerance and recovery
• Motivation: Intrinsic motivation that sustains through difficulties
• Well-being: Higher life satisfaction and mental health
• Resilience: Greater ability to bounce back from setbacks

Expedience-Driven Behavior:

• Dopamine System: Quick spikes followed by crashes
• Stress Response: Increased stress from unresolved problems
• Motivation: Requires external rewards and constant stimulation
• Well-being: More susceptible to anxiety, depression, and emptiness
• Resilience: Lower tolerance for setbacks and challenges

The Meaning-Making Process

Humans have an inherent drive to create meaning from their experiences. This process involves:

Integration: Connecting experiences into a coherent narrative about your life and purpose Significance: Finding importance and value in your actions and choices Direction: Identifying where you’re going and why it matters Connection: Relating your individual life to larger patterns and purposes

The Expedience Trap

Modern society often encourages expedient thinking through:

• Instant Gratification Culture: Technology and consumer culture promoting immediate satisfaction
• Efficiency Obsession: Valuing speed and convenience over depth and quality
• Risk Aversion: Systems that discourage necessary risks for growth
• External Validation: Measuring success by external markers rather than internal fulfillment

The Paradox of Meaning

Why Meaning Often Involves Suffering

Peterson draws from existentialist philosophy and religious tradition to argue that meaning often emerges through accepting and working with life’s inherent difficulties rather than avoiding them.

The Suffering-Meaning Connection:

• Growth Through Challenge: Difficulties develop strength, wisdom, and character
• Responsibility Creates Meaning: Taking on burdens for others generates purpose
• Transcendence: Moving beyond self-interest creates deeper satisfaction
• Integration: Working through problems creates psychological wholeness

Viktor Frankl’s Insight: Even in extreme suffering, humans can find meaning by choosing how to respond to their circumstances.

The Sacred and Meaningful

Peterson argues that meaning has a sacred quality—it involves treating certain things as ultimately valuable beyond their practical utility:

Sacred Elements in Meaning:

• Relationships: Treating people as inherently valuable, not just useful
• Truth: Valuing honesty and authenticity even when costly
• Beauty: Appreciating and creating beauty for its own sake
• Justice: Standing up for what’s right even when difficult
• Growth: Pursuing development even when comfortable stagnation is available

Practical Applications Across Life Domains

Career and Work

The meaning vs expedience framework dramatically changes how you approach professional life:

Expedient Career Approach:

• Choosing jobs solely based on salary or convenience
• Avoiding challenging assignments or responsibilities
• Focusing only on personal advancement
• Taking shortcuts that compromise quality
• Avoiding difficult colleagues or situations

Meaningful Career Approach:

• Choosing work that aligns with your values and contributes value
• Seeking opportunities for growth and skill development
• Taking on responsibilities that serve others
• Maintaining high standards even when no one is watching
• Building relationships and helping colleagues succeed

Implementation Strategies:

• Define your core values and ensure your career supports them
• Seek roles where you can contribute meaningfully to others
• Invest in developing skills that serve long-term purposes
• Build relationships based on mutual support and growth
• Accept challenging assignments that develop your capabilities

Relationships and Family

Meaningful relationships require investment, vulnerability, and commitment:

Expedient Relationship Approach:

• Avoiding difficult conversations
• Using people for personal benefit
• Abandoning relationships when they become challenging
• Prioritizing personal comfort over mutual growth
• Avoiding commitment and responsibility

Meaningful Relationship Approach:

• Having difficult but necessary conversations
• Investing in others’ well-being and growth
• Working through challenges rather than avoiding them
• Accepting responsibility for your role in relationships
• Making commitments and honoring them consistently

Implementation Strategies:

• Practice honest, direct communication even when uncomfortable
• Invest time and energy in people you care about
• Accept responsibility for problems and work toward solutions
• Support others’ growth even when it’s inconvenient for you
• Create traditions and shared experiences that build connection

Personal Development and Growth

The choice between meaning and expedience fundamentally shapes your development:

Expedient Development Approach:

• Seeking quick fixes and easy solutions
• Avoiding activities that require effort or discomfort
• Focusing only on pleasant or immediately rewarding activities
• Avoiding feedback or criticism
• Staying within comfort zones

Meaningful Development Approach:

• Accepting challenges that promote growth
• Seeking feedback and learning from mistakes
• Pursuing difficult goals that align with your values
• Taking responsibility for your development
• Embracing discomfort as part of the growth process

Implementation Strategies:

• Set goals that stretch your capabilities and character
• Seek out constructive feedback and criticism
• Engage with ideas and perspectives that challenge you
• Take on responsibilities that develop your strength
• Practice disciplines that build character over time

Health and Self-Care

Even health and wellness can be approached from meaning or expedience:

Expedient Health Approach:

• Seeking quick fixes and temporary solutions
• Focusing only on appearance or immediate results
• Avoiding activities that require discipline or discomfort
• Using shortcuts that may compromise long-term health

Meaningful Health Approach:

• Building sustainable habits that support long-term well-being
• Accepting the discipline required for genuine health
• Viewing health as stewardship of your body and mind
• Making choices that serve your long-term capacity to contribute

Financial and Material Decisions

Money and possessions can serve either meaning or expedience:

Expedient Financial Approach:

• Focusing solely on accumulation without purpose
• Making decisions based only on immediate financial benefit
• Avoiding financial responsibility or planning
• Using money primarily for personal pleasure or status

Meaningful Financial Approach:

• Using resources to support your values and purposes
• Building financial stability to serve others and pursue meaning
• Making investments in growth and capability
• Using wealth responsibly and generously

Advanced Applications

The Integration of Meaning and Expedience

At higher levels of development, the goal is not to completely eliminate expedient thinking but to subordinate it to meaningful purposes:

Strategic Expedience:

• Using efficient methods to achieve meaningful goals
• Making practical decisions that serve deeper purposes
• Balancing idealism with realistic constraints
• Accepting “good enough” solutions when perfectionism would prevent progress

Principled Pragmatism:

• Maintaining core values while adapting methods
• Finding practical ways to live meaningfully in the real world
• Making compromises that don’t compromise integrity
• Being strategic about when and how to pursue meaning

Cultural and Social Applications

Societies and institutions can also be evaluated through the meaning-expedience lens:

Expedient Institutions:

• Focus on efficiency and immediate results
• Prioritize profit or power over purpose
• Avoid difficult problems or long-term thinking
• Create systems that encourage short-term thinking

Meaningful Institutions:

• Serve purposes beyond their own existence
• Invest in long-term health and development
• Address difficult problems even when costly
• Create systems that encourage virtue and growth

Leadership and Influence

Leaders face constant choices between meaning and expedience:

Expedient Leadership:

• Making decisions based on immediate political advantage
• Avoiding difficult decisions or conversations
• Focusing on metrics that look good short-term
• Using power primarily for personal benefit

Meaningful Leadership:

• Making decisions based on long-term good for all stakeholders
• Having difficult conversations and making tough decisions
• Focusing on sustainable success and development
• Using power to serve others and create value

Challenges and Common Obstacles

Challenge 1: Social Pressure

Problem: Society often rewards expedient behavior and makes meaningful choices difficult Solution: Build communities and relationships that support meaningful living

Challenge 2: Immediate vs Delayed Rewards

Problem: Expedient choices provide immediate satisfaction while meaningful choices often require delayed gratification Solution: Develop practices that help you tolerate delay and maintain long-term focus

Challenge 3: Uncertainty and Risk

Problem: Meaningful choices often involve uncertainty and risk while expedient choices feel safer Solution: Build tolerance for uncertainty and develop skills for navigating risk

Challenge 4: Energy and Effort

Problem: Meaningful choices often require more energy and effort than expedient ones Solution: Build physical and mental fitness to sustain meaningful effort over time

Challenge 5: Complexity and Ambiguity

Problem: Meaningful choices are often complex and ambiguous while expedient choices seem clearer Solution: Develop thinking skills and seek wisdom from others who model meaningful living

Measurement and Assessment

Internal Indicators of Meaningful Living

Psychological Markers:

• Deep sense of purpose and direction
• Resilience during difficult periods
• Satisfaction from effort and contribution
• Integration between values and actions
• Sustainable motivation that doesn’t depend on external rewards

Behavioral Markers:

• Consistent effort toward long-term goals
• Willingness to accept responsibility and difficulty
• Investment in relationships and others’ well-being
• Continuous learning and development
• Service to causes larger than yourself

External Indicators

Life Outcomes:

• Sustainable success that doesn’t sacrifice values
• Strong, lasting relationships
• Positive impact on others and community
• Continuous growth and development
• Legacy of contribution and value creation

Feedback from Others:

• Respect and trust from people you admire
• Requests for advice and guidance
• Others seeking to learn from your example
• Recognition for contribution rather than just achievement
• Positive influence on others’ development

Decision-Making Framework

The Meaning vs Expedience Choice Process

When facing decisions, use this framework to evaluate options:

Step 1: Clarify Your Values

• What do you believe is most important in life?
• What legacy do you want to leave?
• What kind of person do you want to become?

Step 2: Assess Long-Term Consequences

• How will this choice affect you in 1, 5, and 10 years?
• What kind of precedent does this choice set?
• How does this choice affect others?

Step 3: Evaluate Character Impact

• Does this choice build or erode character?
• Will you respect yourself for making this choice?
• Does this choice align with who you want to become?

Step 4: Consider Contribution

• How does this choice serve others or contribute value?
• Does this choice make the world slightly better or worse?
• What would happen if everyone made this choice?

Step 5: Accept Responsibility

• Are you willing to accept the full consequences of this choice?
• Can you pursue this path with integrity and commitment?
• Are you prepared for the difficulties this choice might involve?

Getting Started with Meaningful Living

Week 1-2: Values Clarification and Assessment

1. Identify your core values and what you find most meaningful
2. Assess current choices using the meaning vs expedience framework
3. Notice daily decisions where you choose between meaning and expedience
4. Begin journaling about what gives your life purpose and significance

Week 3-4: Small Meaningful Choices

1. Make daily choices that align with your values even when more difficult
2. Practice delayed gratification in small ways to build the capacity for meaningful choices
3. Seek out responsibilities that serve others or contribute value
4. Have difficult conversations you’ve been avoiding

Month 2-3: Integration and Commitment

1. Align major life areas (career, relationships, health) with meaningful purposes
2. Build support systems of people who encourage meaningful living
3. Develop practices (meditation, reading, service) that sustain meaning
4. Take on larger responsibilities that challenge you to grow

Ongoing: Deepening and Service

1. Continuously refine your understanding of what’s meaningful to you
2. Seek increasing responsibility for others’ well-being
3. Mentor others in making meaningful choices
4. Contribute to creating more meaningful institutions and communities

Conclusion

The choice between meaning and expedience is not a one-time decision but a moment-by-moment orientation toward life. Each choice you make either builds the capacity for meaningful living or reinforces patterns of expedience. Over time, these choices compound to create either a life of deep satisfaction and contribution or one of emptiness and regret.

Peterson’s insight is that meaning is not something you find but something you create through your choices and actions. By consistently choosing the meaningful path—even when it’s more difficult—you develop the character, relationships, and sense of purpose that make life genuinely fulfilling.

Remember that meaningful living is not about perfection or never making expedient choices. It’s about making meaning your primary orientation and using expedience only in service of meaningful purposes. This requires courage, discipline, and wisdom, but it offers the possibility of a life that matters both to yourself and to others.

The world needs people who choose meaning over expedience, who are willing to take on responsibility and work toward purposes larger than their immediate comfort. By making this choice consistently, you not only create a more satisfying life for yourself but contribute to the creation of a more meaningful world for everyone.