Welcome to the daily Stoic podcast designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues courage discipline justice and wisdom into the real world Life is a lot. It's overwhelming. It comes at us fast. What should we do?
What should we not do it said I could talk about how life without design is erratic it can disorient us it can overwhelm us So what we're gonna talk about in today's episode are some stoic rules to live by things to start doing things to stop doing Some guardrails some tried and true best practices from the ancient world that can help us live better today Things the stoic say you should never do don't be overheard complaining Mark's really says and meditations not even to yourself Just notice how often you catch yourself complaining how often you're winding the things are this way and that way instead of again Just accepting them or better yet do something about them don't compare yourself to others I could do this as we should only enter competition We're winning is up to us meaning is winning is getting the thing that I want is how I measure success here Is it up to me if so then it matters and I'm gonna focus on it if it's not up to me I'm judging myself the wrong way and comparing myself to others and things that are outside my control Don't tie your identity to things that you don't own that can be taken away from you that are yours only in trust or yours only temporarily Seneca lived in a world where you could be exiled by unjust charges where you could die from a cut on your finger where an emperor had unlimited power over you And so they understood that to attach yourself to be identified with something that was temporary or ephemeral It could be taken for you was to make yourself very vulnerable to the whims of the world Don't talk more than you listen the founder of Stosas and Zino he says with two ears and one mouth for a reason that ratio matters Marcus really says line was you strictly with yourself tolerant with others It's remembering that just as you mess up other people mess up It's called self discipline for reasons and we want to be tolerant of other people and their mistakes They understand they didn't sign up for the same riggers or standards that we did when we mess up when we make mistakes We always have reasons we always have justifications right we understand that it doesn't say that we're a bad person And why don't we extend that courtesy to other people don't over indulge not just in the vices But also in seemingly good things marks really some meditation talks about not being all about business the still virtue of temperance right? It means moderation that's famously symbolized by someone pouring water in the wine. They're deluding it right don't overdo it in sleep Don't overdo it in work. Don't overdo it in stress.
Don't overdo it in procrastination and taking time off life is about temperance It's about balance about finding the right amount Five stoic habits that will make you have the best year yet number one pause and reflect This is the definition of stoicism put every oppression to the test question every emotion you can still respond just don't respond right away Number two go for a long walk every day Nietzsche was right when he said that only ideas had while walking have anywhere Three this is more than just walking do something really hard this year Seneca said we treat the body rigorously so that it's not disobedient to the mind do something hard this year challenge yourself pick a big Goal and get after it number four do things the way you don't usually do that Marx really talks about practicing using his reigns In his non-dominant hand don't do things the way you've always done them try a new way introduce some variety I think it was William to come to Sherman who his now is he never went back the same way He came try to do something unusual get you out of your rhythm It makes you better take a book with you everywhere you go the foundational story of stoicism has Zeno being caught that wisdom comes when we have conversations with the dead carry a book with you talk to writers and thinkers the wisest people who ever lived who are no longer with us This is key to a good year Fame is worthless. What is fame people chattering about you people clapping their hands together Marx really says in meditations What good is that he says how strange is it that we long for posthumous fame fame? We won't be around to enjoy he says besides the people in the future will be just as stupid as the people who are alive right now Why do we care about other people's opinions more than our own? Why do we crave to be liked by others who by the way?
We don't like that much whose opinion about other things we don't respect very much But when it comes to us we want to be known by them. We want to be singing by them. We want to be loved by them It's silly you need to shut up you talk way too much Zeno the founder of stoicism says we have two ears and one mouth or a reason the world would be so much better if we posted less and read More if we read it more books if we had less hot takes when we open our mouth we close our ears ambition is a form of insanity Right at the essence of stoed philosophy is focusing on what we control We don't control what other people say or do or think right I try to write really good books I've had to do a lot of work to realize I don't control whether to become a best-seller or not the New York Times decides that Marx really explains this perfectly He says ambition is when we try our happiness to what other people do or say or decide He says sanity is when we tie it to our own actions So I have to define success as writing the best book that I'm capable of fulfilling my own artistic vision Everything else right with the gatekeepers decide what the audience decides when they decide it that has to be seen as extra unless I want to go Number one is you put every impression to the test right the snow to say just because you have an emotional reaction to something You have this first impression first opinion but to stop and go is this actually true? Do I really believe this right you other people believe it take a minute look at it zoom in zoom out see what it really is Don't let the first impression of a thing over well new the stoic set to actually think about the worst case in here This a little counter to it sometimes anxious people their catastrophizers I get that but this does practice pre-meditatiable more than actual meditation I'm a cat and so sometimes we're anxious in the abstract.
We're worried in the abstract We have this sense that things could be really bad, but we don't stop and think well What would actually happen if that right you don't want to talk to this person you're anxious about it But what's the worst that could happen they laugh at you they don't like you right they ignore you it's not actually that bad You're worried about losing your job would you end up under a bridge star? I know so many things would happen before that actually getting up close in person with those impressions with those fears those anxieties can help you Come to terms with how fundamentally irrational what you're worried about it's three we get a lot of markets It really is his thoughts on anxiety because he journaled right and so journaling is such a helpful way to create some Distance between you and your thought you don't just put the impression to the test in your mind But you write it down write down what you're worried about what you're thinking about what you're excited about what you're afraid about paper Is more patient than people and one start and realizing that taking some time to think to work through your thoughts in the morning or before you go to bed It's not a good use to do it is a really helpful way for treating and dealing with these stressful anxious feelings that we have Here's eight stoic tips that help you beat your procrastination number one you take it step by step part of the reason we procrastinate Is that we do the opposite as we extrapolate all the way out to the end all the things that we have to do how hard it's gonna be? No, you can't let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole Mark's really says in meditation don't imagine everything that could possibly happen is a stick with what's in front of you He's a stick with the iron stick with the idea stick with the smallest thing and You know the founder of so this is this would add that well-being is realized by small steps But it is no small thing a little things add up number two you got to have a routine There's no x-x tell us that life without a design is erratic or winging it. There's quite much as too many choices So limit those amount of choice what time you wake up what kinds of things you wear what you don't do in the morning What you do do in the morning create a routine which creates less opportunity for procrastination number three And this is actually part of having a good routine you have to eliminate the end essential Actually, this is so much of what we do and say is not essential But when we eliminate the inessential pieces we get the double benefit of doing the essential things better if you have less on your to-do Is there is less for you to procrastinate about the things that you do get done will be the things that matter number four You need a sense of urgency part of the reason you procrastinate is because you think you have tomorrow You think you have forever but life is short it is tick tick ticking way as you are putting things off You are dying the stoic say you are dying every minute you are dying every day Let this sense of urgency motivate you number five You're procrastinating because you're spending a lot of time with people for whom procrastination is okay seek out better companies seek Company of people who are committed people who are doers people who don't put things off And you will find that your own procrastination dimension number six and this goes back to the idea of small steps It's all about momentum It's all about the small wins one of the reasons I try to write just a couple crappy pages a day as the writing Will goes is because in doing so I feel like I'm making progress I lower the stakes and then the wins that I get help motivate me to get over the harder things number seven stop being a Perfectionist as they say perfectionism is just another way to say paralysis if basically you're violating a cardle So you are thinking too much about outcomes focus on the process focus on what's in your control You are doing leave the outcomes aside by concentrates on what's in front of you concentrate on what's in front of you Concentrate on what you control don't think about what other people are gonna say how perfect it's gonna be just do it And finally number eight you have to demand the best of and for yourself because if not now when evicty This addresses this directly in his discourse He says putting things off and deferring the day to which you will attend to yourself which you will get serious about these things What does this mean?
He says it means you will live and die as someone quite ordinary You don't want to do that so stop deferring demand the best of and for yourself That's why you have to beat your procrastination I just heard this stat that shocked me given that I uh hear from the sales staff and my publisher quite a bit The status sales teams spend about 50% of their time on admin work and self-selling relationship building closing deals Which means they're not selling right and that's where today's sponsor comes in pipe drive It's a simple intelligent crm tool for small and medium businesses Pipe drive was built from the ground up to strip away that manual work that stuff that's wasting your time taking your sales team away from doing the thing you pay them to do Which is sell stuff they've got smart automations to handle repetitive tasks And you can even customize these automations to fit your unique sales process Plus I've got AI features that will analyze your pipeline flags stall deals surface what needs attention and tell your team what to do next without them having to go Look for it switch to a crm built by sales people for sales people enjoy over the 100,000 companies already using pipe drive And right now when you use our link you'll get a 30 day free trial No credit card or payment needed just head over to pipe drive.com slash no to get started That's pipe drive dot com slash stoic to be up and running in minutes 2000 year old advice for when you're insulted when your feelings are hurt when you have been criticized number one from edictus It's not the remark that upsets us. It's our opinion about that remark It's not things that upsets is our opinion about those things the remark is just words We decide that we've been offended number two. This is also from petitice He says, you know when you are offended when your feelings are when you let it get to you You are complicit you have chosen to take offense again The remark is someone wrote the article someone posted a tweet someone put up the comment But then you decided that that hurt you that that hurt your feelings number three This is from the great romance though kato he was once punched in the bathroom And bumped into him there words were exchanged and someone threw a punch and then afterwards the person came to apologize And he said what I don't even remember being hit you can just pretend not to have heard it You can just pretend that it didn't happen number four comes to us from Seneca and it has to do with our responses He says look would you return a bite to a dog or a kick to a mule? No, you understand this is what these things do and people do that people This way we know we don't return it back in kind and that's actually number five Mark's who is the best revenge is to not be like that He says it only harms you if it harms your character So the unfair criticism the slander the insult whatever it is that hasn't hurt you But if you degrade yourself in how you respond if you sink down to their level then it in fact has hurt you because it has made you worse Let's come back to epic t-t-t-he says look whenever you've been criticized whenever someone exposes something about you Whenever someone says something about you in public say actually if this person really knew me they'd say something worse Right tell yourself you actually got off easy.
They don't know your real secret They don't know what you're actually embarrassed about they don't know what really went on behind the scenes So you should say hey, I'm actually lucky that I'm being criticized for this and not for that Mark's really talks about this He says look you're gonna meet annoying people of course of the day You're gonna meet people who disagree with you people who criticize you people who stand here We're gonna meet with all that He says the main thing is you cannot let them implicate you in ugliness You have to understand what they don't understand which is the difference between right and wrong good and bad They don't understand how the world actually works if they knew better They wouldn't be criticizing you the way that they are at the same time The stillx remind us that when someone corrects us like when the criticism is correct They're actually doing us a favor you wouldn't interrupt your enemy when they were wrong and they were making a mistake when they were looking silly No, you would let them do that right you would let them continue in error So when someone points out something that you're not right about when someone corrects you you should accept that correction So actually the key is not necessarily ignoring all criticism But knowing which criticism to listen to and which not to mark to us is you gotta think about the people whose approval you want Think about the critic at the newspaper and you go They would actually like to be doing what I'm doing You think about the nasty commenter on the bottom of this video and you go How many of these people would actually like to be doing this? How many of these people if they met you in person would be acting very differently? Okay, Mark's really says when you look at these people we look at them of course you find you won't be straining for their approval so much These are five things that fools do according to the ancient stillx Number one they care about what other people think even though they don't actually respect those people even though in private Those people show you that they're not worthy of you caring about what they think It is the craziest thing in the world Mark's really says that we all love ourselves more than other people But for some reason we care about their opinion more than our own The second thing fools do in effect said this is the one thing all fools have in common They're always getting ready to start fools wait until tomorrow. They say I'll get to it later I'll get to it after this.
I'll get to it when things calm down No, you won't know fools don't if you're gonna do it do it now you could be good today Mark's really says but instead you choose tomorrow fools make that choice Number three fools act like they can afford to procrastinate like they have forever again It's crazy the stoic say we protect our property we protect our money And then we waste our time as if it is not the most precious resource we have the only thing they're not making more of number four What we do is we suffer unnecessarily and we do this by extrapolating by being anxious by worrying about things that are not in our control Key who suffers before it is necessary Seneca says suffers more than is necessary when you're torturing yourself about what may or may not happen What you're doing is adding to the pain and anguish we suffer more in imagination Seneca says then we'd have to in reality Number five a fool is a know-it-all and in this sense they're right when you think you know everything It's true. You can't know anything else epic to this one of the stoic philosophers says that we have to remember We cannot learn that which we think we already know why people are humble they are open fools are know-it-all Eight things that will make today a successful day prepare for what you're planning to face marks really says tell yourself in the morning You're gonna meet frustrating people difficult people traffic whatever don't be surprised prepare for it take a walk I start every morning with a long walk or long run outside being active that day is a win from that point forward do deep work focus Don't get sucked into your email. Don't let your your inbox be your to-do list focus intensely get lost in it go into a flow state always wonderful Do a kindness do something nice for someone today marks your list is if you want to feel good do good That's a great way to have a great day. We you should always be reading reading is the most wonderful thing that was ever invented It's how we learn from other people's painful trial and error.
You should always be reading get lost in a book again It's also a form of deep work made time for strangers extra so I know I already said going for a walk but go for run go for a swim Go for a bike ride do a crossfit session Whatever it is but get active get your heart rate moving push yourself every single day think about death The mensa worry life is short you cannot take it for granted we could go at any moment As Seneca says it's not that life is short So we waste a lot of it and we waste it because we think we have unlimited amounts of it And then finally at the end of the day before you go to bed take a few minutes and review the day in a journal in your mind With your spouse whatever think about what what well think about what you could do better and think about how if you're lucky enough to wake up tomorrow You're gonna have an even better day because you're gonna follow all eight of these practices Thanks so much for listening if you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes That would mean so much to us and would really help the show. We appreciate it. I'll see you next episode