The Daily Stoic - Compete With Yourself And Root For Everybody Else | Seeking Out Shipwrecks

Episode Date: August 26, 2021

Ryan explains how you turn the words and phrases you come across into actions, and reads this week’s meditation from The Daily Stoic Journal, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast.Ladder makes the process of getting life insurance quick and easy. To apply, you only need a phone or laptop and a few minutes of time. Ladder’s algorithms work quickly and you’ll find out almost immediately if you’re approved. Go to ladderlife.com/stoic to see if you’re instantly approved today.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://DailyStoic.com/emailFollow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and FacebookSee 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. on music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Thursdays, we do double duty, not just reading our daily meditation, but also reading a passage from the book, The Daily Stoic, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful co-author and collaborator,

Stephen Hanselman. And so today we'll give you a quick meditation from one of the Stoics, from Epititus Markis, really a Seneca, then some analysis for me, and then we send you out into the world to do your best to turn these words into works. to turn these words into works. Compete with yourself and root for everybody else. The stoic said that you should focus on your own improvement, that the only race to run is against yourself. At the same time, they also remind us that we're all tied up in this thing together, that we're all bees in the same hive. Aren't those two things that odds with each other? When you focus on your own race, don't you necessarily want to win

the expense of others, or at the very least have to disregard them and their interests? Well, no. We've talked about this. What one does ripples through the collective? Marcus really has said that when one bee is injured, the whole hive suffers. Marcus Aurelius said that when one bee is injured, the whole hive suffers. Goes the other way too, when one bee succeeds, the whole hive thrives. A tweet from Candice Millard squares this tension perfectly. My advice for what it's worth, she says, for success and happiness is this, compete with yourself and root for everybody else. In his letters to Lucilius, Senika was explicit in his writing aspirations, he wanted to be one of the greats. But unlike some writers, he didn't view other writers as competition. If he read a great work, he didn't see it as a threat. In fact,

in his 46th letter, Senika says he received his copy of a book that Lucilius wrote. With the intention of just quickly skimming it, the sunlight called to me, he said, hunger warned, and the clouds were lowering. But I absorbed the book from beginning to end. I was not merely pleased. I rejoiced. So full of wit and spirit it was. He was happy for his friend.

He was rooting for him. And we can imagine he was inspired to better himself and get better at his own craft as well. Seeking out shipwrecks. I was shipwrecked before I even boarded. The journey showed me this, how much of what we have is unnecessary and how easily we can decide to rid ourselves of these things whenever it's necessary, never suffering the loss. That's from Seneca's moral letters 87. And this is today's entry in the Daily Stoke, 366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living from yours. Truly, Ryan Holiday with my co-author and translator, Steve Hanselman, you can get the book anywhere books are sold, including signed copies in the Daily Stoke Store and our limited edition, a leather bound edition, as well.

Xeno widely considered to be the founder of the School of Stoicism was emergent before he was a philosopher. On a voyage between islands and the Mediterranean, his ship sank along with its cargo. Xeno ended up in Athens, and while visiting a bookstore, he was introduced to the philosophy of Socrates

and later an Athenian philosopher named Cratees. These influences drastically changed the course of his life, leading him to develop the thinking and principles that we now know as Stoicism. And according to the ancient biographer, Diogeny's, Zeno joke, now that I've suffered a shipwreck, I'm on a good journey. Or according to another account,

you've done well fortune, driving me thus to philosophy. The Stoics weren't being hypocritical when they said we ought to act with a reverse clause or that even the most unfortunate events can turn out to be for the best. In fact, the entire philosophy is founded on that idea. You know, I tell this story at greater length in lives of the Stoic,

so I'll read you a chunk of that as well, just because it's one of my favorite stories in all of Stoicism. And I think it's just so fitting. I write, the story of Stoicism begins fittingly in misfortune on a fateful day late in the fourth century BC, And I think it's just so fitting. I write, As for many entrepreneurs, their business was on the line every day. No one knows what caused the wreck. Was it a storm? Pirates, human air? Doesn't matter. Zeno lost everything. Ship and cargo. In a time before insurance and venture capital. It was an irreplaceable fortune. And yet the unlucky merchant would later rejoice in his loss, claiming, I made a prosperous voyage when I suffered a shipwreck.

For it was the shipwreck that sent Xenodotathans and on the path to creating what would become stoic philosophy. Another fun wrinkle about this that I love is that, you know, he ends up in a bookstore and it's the bookseller is reading the works of Socrates and this is what sends Xenodotath's path. So I think there's a couple of things here. Xenodot's quote is actually a little bit more about the idea of precrates, and this is what sends Zeno data's path. So I think there's a couple of things here. Zeno's quote is actually a little bit more

about the idea of pre-meditasha and malorum about preparing for adversity. Maybe Zeno was prepared, maybe he wasn't, again, that his whole business was on the line and he lost everything in this shipwreck, maybe suggests that perhaps he wasn't. But the idea that the worst possible thing, the thing you dread, the thing you

could not have imagined, the thing you think is the worst stroke of bad luck, turns out to be the pivot point of his entire life. Zeno, think about how many Tyrian die merchants there would have been in the ancient world. How many of their ships were coming into Athens week in and week out? And think of how few of them we've even heard of. I mean, have you even heard of Tyrion Purple? No. You haven't even heard of the country that Zunos from, right? And so the irony is that the thing that he probably resented and was angry about and feared all of this

Turns out to be the only reason that we're even talking about him right now And I think this is a good lesson that you know Holds true in your own life, right? If you think about the worst things that have happened to you the things that you dreaded the things that you wanted as time has passed You've seen how they've contributed to who you've become. That's not to say you would have chosen them. That's not to say that they weren't painful. And that's not to say that there wasn't more,

in some cases, more downside than upside, but there was upside. And in that, we can make true what Zeno said that we made a great fortune by suffering a shipwreck that perhaps from heartbreak came the love of your life or from a financial calamity came from some great injury, came a wonderful recovery, came a new way of doing things, from the heart attack came an awakening about your health.

The worst thing that happens you can become something good, this is what the idea of the obstacle the way is really about. And I just love so much that it's literally written into the story of stoicism that is there at the beginning. It is there before the beginning. In fact, it's there causing the beginning. And I think that can be true for all of us as well. So, I'm not saying I hope you find I hope your shipwrecks today. I'm just saying if your if your ship does wreck Let's turn it into a Xeno like rising from the ashes Thanks so much for listening if you could leave a review for the podcast

We'd really appreciate it the reviews make a difference and course, every nice review from a nice person helps balance out. The crazy people who get triggered and angry anytime we say something they disagree with. So if you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us, and it would really help the show, we'd appreciate it, and I'll see you next episode. I'll see you next episode. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke early and add free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondering Plus in Apple Podcasts. Celebrity feuds are high stakes.

You never know if you're just going to end up on Page Six or Du Moir or in court. I'm Matt Bellesai. And I'm Sydney Battle, and we're the host of Wonder E's new podcast, Dis and Tell, where each episode we unpack a different iconic celebrity feud, from the build-up, why it happened, and the repercussions. What does our obsession with these feuds say about us? The first season is packed with some pretty messy pop culture drama, but none is drawn out in personal

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