These are my thoughts about Rule 5 from Jordan B. Peterson’s “40 Rules”. You can read them all here. In the case of the rules that made it into his “12 Rules for Life” book, I’m not going to repeat any of his explanations here. These are my own thoughts about each rule from my own life and experience.

5. If you have to choose, be the one who does things, instead of the one who is seen to do things.

There’s a phrase that I have heard in only the last couple of years: virtue signalling. I decided to look up where this phrase came from and what it actually means. This sent me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole of evolutionary biology but that can wait for another day.

Basically, as far as I can tell, virtue signalling can be one of two things:

1. Making sure that when you do something good, people see that you have done that thing.

2. Publicly calling out others for not doing something good (or for doing something bad) when the act of calling them out is designed to elicit praise and support from one’s peers.

For the purpose of this article, I’ll talk about only the first definition.

This type of virtue signalling is a deep part of human nature and has been around for as long as people have been in social groups. It seems to have exploded because of social media but, then again, so has everything else.

Here, I’ll quote a large part of Matthew 6 in the Bible. Regardless of your beliefs, you’ll get the point.

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

The Bible. Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18

I haven’t had a lot of problems with this particular rule. I’ve been in the public eye for many years, first as the son of a minister then, much later in life, as one of the leaders of an activist cause. I’ve been on radio and television, in newspapers, in front of hundreds or thousands of people at rallies, and on social media. But I’ve never struggled with the idea that my being public was “for the sake of being public”. In any situation, I try to look at intent. My intent was always correct. It was for the furtherance of the particular cause. It was not to put myself on a pedestal.

Any time I donate, I try to make that donation anonymous. Sometimes that’s not possible, but I’ve been able do it most of the time. After the donation, I usually unsubscribe from any updates because I feel like every update is patting me on the back by reminding me of my donation and I don’t like that feeling.

A big difficulty in doing this is that being seen to do something can be advantageous. If you’re the one being seen to help the homeless, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, rescue the animals, and whatever else, then you might be the one to get invited to the better opportunities, perhaps even lucrative business opportunities.

In one sense, it’s like a company sponsoring a charity event as long as their name is emblazoned everywhere around that event. They’re getting a ton of advertising space by being seen to be the benefactor. Think of the significant dollar value of advertising given up by that company if they were to donate the same amount of money to the same cause anonymously.

Whether it’s reaping the rewards in business or gaining the “respect” and admiration of our peers, it definitely seems that doing good publicly benefits the doer. And it certainly seems that doing good anonymously is difficult and perhaps less rewarding, certainly immediately.

This is what Matthew is saying in the Bible passage quoted above. Those who do good publicly have already received their reward in full right now (i.e., the admiration of others). Those who do it in private have a greater reward coming to them down the road.