The rules are sort of sappy:
Rule 1: Stand up straight with your shoulders back
Rule 2: Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping
Rule 3: Make friends with people who want the best for you
Rule 4: Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today
Rule 5: Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them
Rule 6: Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world
Rule 7: Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)
Rule 8: Tell the truth — or, at least, don’t lie
Rule 9: Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t
Rule 10: Be precise in your speech
Rule 11: Do not bother children when they are skateboarding
Rule 12: Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street
Not sappy. Sublime. IMHO.
If that’s as far as you get, just reading the “rules” without delving deeper then yes, they appear sappy. I suggest you spend some time reading viewing some of his university lectures, particularly the Maps of Meaning. He is by no means the savior of western philosophy, but he’s a critical thinker with some really profound ideas. Some of his debates are worth watching too. The Munk debate regarding Political Correctness, with Stephen Frye on his team no less, is quite good.