The Daily Stoic - Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Should Stop

Episode Date: June 24, 2020

"If you’ve ever made it to the end of Homer’s Odyssey, you might have noticed a rather strange part of the ending. It’s a part that’s talked about a lot less than the rest of the poem, possibly because it makes so little sense. You see, despite spending every waking second for ten years fighting to get home, despite overcoming nearly insurmountable obstacles on his way, despite all the carnage of the final battle to reclaim his kingdom, Odysseus does something almost inconceivable the second he possesses what he longed for…"Find out what that is, and how you can avoid doing the same thing, in today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholidayYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wundery's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target. The new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic. For each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has

guided some of history's greatest men and women? For more, you can visit us at dailystowach.com. Can't stop, won't stop, should stop. If you've ever made it to the end of Homer's The Odyssey, if you haven't, please check out Emily Wilson's translation as well as our new interview with her for dailystoke.com. You might have noticed a rather strange part of the ending. It's a part that's talked about a lot less than the rest of the poem, possibly because it makes so little sense. You see, despite spending every waking second for 10 years fighting to get home, despite overcoming nearly insurmountable obstacles

along the way, despite all of the carnage of the final battle to reclaim his kingdom, Odysseus does something almost inconceivable that very second he possesses what he longed for. He starts planning to leave again on another mission, another voyage. Didn't he learn his lesson? Can't he be happy or still for even like one minute? Apparently not. Perhaps this is really the message of the epic. We are incapable of being still.

Even when we get what we want, we immediately crave something else. We are addicted to the hunt, to the journey, and home is just a lie we tell ourselves. Isn't that sad? Sennaka and ambitious guy, if there ever was one, wrote about the shameful spectacle of the lawyer who's dying breath passes while at court

at an advanced age pleading for unknown litigants and still seeking the approval of ignorant spectators. He was just talking about Odysseus in another form. He was talking about all of us who can't stop, who have to keep going, who have to keep achieving, who are incapable of knowing what enough is. The key to a great life and de happiness is stillness, its contentment, its enjoying what we have. It's the ability to say no, to reject the temptation to do more, more, more, even if more is another impressive journey or an occupational honor. Stop at least for today. Just stop. Be still.

If you're looking for more stillness in your life, if you've come to believe that stillness would make things better for you, I hope you can check out my new book Stillness is the key. It's the sequel to The Ops School is the Way and Ego is the Enemy. It's out everywhere books are sold. You can get it on Audible, you can get it as an ebook, you can get it at your local independent bookstore. I hope you check it out. I think it's the best thing I've ever written, and I think it will help you not just in your journey to stillness but in your study of Stoicism. Hey, prime members. You can listen to the Daily Stoic early and add free on Amazon music. download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen

early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts. talks to founders behind some of the world's biggest and most innovative companies, to learn how they built them from the ground up. Guy has sat down with hundreds of founders behind well-known companies like Headspace, Manduke Yoga Mats, Soul Cycle, and Cotopaxi, as well as entrepreneurs working to solve some of the biggest problems of our time, like developing technology that pulls energy from the ground to heat in cool homes, or even figuring out how to make drinking water from air and sunlight. Together, they discussed their entire journey from day one, and all the skills they had to learn along the way, like confronting big challenges, and how to lead through uncertainty.

So if you want to get inspired and learn how to think like an entrepreneur, check out how I built this, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon or Wondery app.