The Daily Stoic - Greatness is up to You | A New Way To Pray

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

Every day, you have to do things you’d rather not do. Or maybe you’re early in your career, and you have to do things that you think are beneath you. Maybe you dream of some higher station in life, and you phone it in on the lowly tasks you’re given now. You think, I’m better than this, this is embarrassing, this doesn’t matter.Foolishness.📕Pre-order Ryan Holiday's new book "Discipline Is Destiny" and get exclusive pre-order bonuses at https://dailystoic.com/preorder ✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook See 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 Stoke Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke Podcast. Each day, we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stokes, illustrated with stories from history, current events, and literature to help you be better at what you do. And at the beginning of the week, we try to do a deeper dive, setting a kind of stoke, intention for the week, something to meditate on, something to think on, something to leave you with, to journal about whatever it is you happen to be doing. So let's get into it.

Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wunderree'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. Greatness is up to you. Every day you have to do things you'd rather not, or maybe you're early in your career and you have to do things you think are beneath you. Maybe you dream of some higher station in life and you phone it in on the lowly tasks you're given.

Now you think, I'm better than this. This is embarrassing. It doesn't matter. But this is foolishness. Plutarch tells us about a Greek general in statesmen who, despite his brilliance on and off the battlefield, was appointed to an insultingly minor office in Thebes, responsible as it was for the city's sewers. In fact, it was because of his brilliance

that he was put in this role as a number of jealous and fearful rivals thought it would effectively end his career. But instead of being provoked or despairing at his irrelevance, he took fully to this new job declaring that the distinction of the office isn't brought to the man, the man brings the distinction to the office and with discipline and earnestness Plutarch would write he proceeded to transform that insignificant office into a great and respected honor Even though previously it had involved nothing more than overseeing the clearing of Dung and the diverting of water from the streets The Stokes believe that in the end it's not about what we do, it's about who we are when we do it.

And so it went for Musoneus Rufus in the middle of his horrible exile, digging ditches by order of the Empire. So does it pain you, he supposedly said to a friend if I dig the isthmus for the sake of Greece? What would you have felt if you'd seen me playing like Nero? That you do anything well is noble, no matter how humble or impressive as long as it's the right thing. That greatness is up to you, it's what you bring to everything that you do. Temperance as Cicero claimed can be the fine polish on top of a great life.

Remember, it wasn't the throne that made Marcus Aurelius impressive. It was his kingly behavior, his discipline, his self-control. He wasn't after power or status, he said, a perfection of character to live your last day every day without frenzy or sloth or pretence. He was after becoming the best possible version of himself, putting a fine polish on top of everything he did, no matter how humble or impressive. And to me, that's what discipline is really like. I tell that story about the Greek statesman at the end of discipline, his destiny, about the idea of not just doing your best, but being the best, like being best, right? And this is a really important stoic idea and something I try to practice.

I try to do everything with the sense of pride and commitment in most of all discipline. And I guess that leads me to telling you about the new book, which I'm sure if you've listened to podcasts, you've heard, but discipline is destiny, power self-control is out at the end of the month. We have a bunch of awesome pre-orders, which you can get now, including some bonus chapters, the playlist. They used to write the book. You can even get signed manuscript pages from the book. I'll sign your copy of the book. All you have to do is go to dailystalk.com slash pre-order to get those pre-order bonuses. You can pre-order it on Amazon if you want, you can pre-order it on

audible if you want, you can pre-order it from your local independent bookstore. You just send the receipt over instructions are at dailystilic.com slash discipline. It would mean so much to me if you could support the book. I tried to approach each day with that idea of greatness that greatness was what I was putting in. It was my habits, my practices. That day, not when it comes out, not if people loved or not, but whether I did my best. And I hope you can see that. Check it out, dailystoke.com. Sash, pre-order, discipline,

is destiny, power of self-control. The new book for me, Ryan Holiday. Thank you for listening. A new way to pray. We often pray for things we desire, and in the process, excuse ourselves from the equation. We're hoping that the heavens will magically gift us with the outcome we want, whether it's for a promotion or a speedy recovery of a loved one, the Stokes would urge you to stop doing this.

Marcus Aurelius reminded himself not to present the gods with a list of demands for pleasures or comforts, but instead ask for help not needing those things. In a sense, then, he was really asking for inner strength. He was, in a sense, asking himself. So think about all the things you want that you're praying or hoping for and try turning them around like this. See what you come up with instead. And this is from this week's entry in the Daily Steuert Journal, 366 days of writing and reflection on the art of living by yours truly and my co-writer and translator, Stephen Hanselman. I actually do this journal every single day. There's a question in the

morning, a question in the afternoon, and then there's these sort of weekly meditations. As Epictetus says, every day and night, we keep thoughts like this at hand, write them, read them aloud, and talk to yourself and others about them. You can check out the Daily Stalk Journal anywhere, books are sold. You can also get a signed personalized copy for me in the Daily Stoke store at store.dailystoke.com. Try praying differently, Marcus writes in Meditations 940. See what happens. Instead of asking for a way to sleep with her, try asking for a way to stop desiring to sleep with her. Instead of asking for a way to get rid of him, try asking for a way not to crave his demise. Instead of a way not to lose my child, try asking for

a way to lose my fear of it. And then Epic Titus in Discourse, it says, we cry to God Almighty, how can we escape this agony? Don't you have hands? Or could it be that God forgot to give you a pair? Sit and pray, your nose doesn't run, or rather just wipe your own nose, stop seeking the scapegoat. And then Epic Titus and discourse is for one. He says, but I haven't at any time been hindered in my will and were forced against it. How is that possible? I have bound up my choice to act with the will of God. God, wills that I be sick, such as my will. He wills that I should choose something. So do I.

He wills that I reach for something or something be given to me. I wish for the same. What God doesn't will. I will not wish for. It's the idea of blowing your own nose. That's a great expression from epitetus that I love. I think what the students are talking about here

is self-sufficiency. I was just reading a great expression from epititus that I love. I think what the stilch are talking about here is self-sufficiency. I was just reading a great little biography of Musashi, the samurai swordsman, and I wrote down a line in my commonplace, but from him he says, worship the gods in Buddha, but do not rely on them. He didn't want to go into a sword fight hoping that Buddha would bless him. He trained for it to make that irrelevant, right? He wanted to rely on his sword and his actions. Remember the Stokes talk about what's inner control, what's not in our control. I think what the Stokes are talking about is don't pray for things that are not in your control, that are not up to you.

Don't make yourself dependent on getting lucky on being blessed on your dreams coming true on everything going right. Focus on having a plan that as the Stokes say, is indifferent to all that. Right? There's another great line from Epic Titus where he says, you know, a student's like, how should I do this? He says, you're asking me to show you what to do it. And he says, wouldn't it be better to ask to be adaptable to all circumstances? And so this is really where we're trying to get. A place where there isn't anything we pray for. I take some pride, you know, every year, my wife will go,

what do you want for your birthday? And I go, I don't, nothing, I don't want anything. There's nothing I need, there's nothing I want. It's not because I'm a billionaire. It's that I, I spent more time, you know, just getting the things that I I need, there's nothing I want. It's not because I'm a billionaire. It's that I spent more time just getting the things that I did need, the tools I need for my life, for my happiness. And then for the most part, being indifferent

to all the other things and not needing to wait for my birthday or Christmas or a check to come in to be able to afford this thing. It's better to not want it in the first place. I think this is true for all the kinds of luck or cool experiences or things that we think we want or need. Now, either get it for yourself if it's possible or write it off. I think that's what the third quote,

the final quote from my particular saying is like, look, I'll just align my likes with what happens. If God wants me to have it, or the God's want me to have it, or the logos, or whatever, Stokes obviously had complicated somewhat contradictory views on religion, but what will be, will be, what I get, is what I get. I won't throw a fit, right?

That's where we're trying to get a Stoics, trying to get to this place of self-sufficiency where we blow our own nose, where we're good, whatever happens, and I wish that for you. It's not easy, it doesn't just happen, you gotta work for it, but that's what we're doing here, these meditations that I hope this helps, and I'll talk to you soon.

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