The Daily Stoic - How Prepared Are You To Start Over?

Episode Date: March 12, 2020

The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig experienced both incredible good fortune and misfortune in his life. He was born into wealth; he met some of the great minds of his time, from Freud to Arthur Schnitzler; he traveled extensively and became Europe’s bestselling novelist. And in that span, he also experienced two terrible world wars and was driven from his home by Hitler’s antisemitism; first fleeing to England, then later going to the U.S, before finally starting his life over again in Brazil, where he spent the last two years of his life. One would think that someone who had experienced so many good times in his first fifty years, would be unprepared for difficulty in his final ten. Not so with Zweig. During his many years of delightful and luxurious travel, he liked to play an interesting game—one very similar to a practice that Seneca had. As soon as Zweig arrived in a new city—no matter how distant—he would pretend that he’d just moved there and desperately needed a job. He would go from store to store, checking to see if they were hiring. He’d read the help wanted ads in the newspaper. He would often go all the way through the hiring process until he got an offer. Offer in hand, he would then walk out and enjoy his trip, feeling the pride and comfort of knowing he could handle starting from scratch if he had to. Seneca’s version of this was to practice poverty once per month. He’d wear his worst clothes and eat the cheapest food. He’d sleep on the ground. The point was to get up close and personal with the thing most of us secretly and subconsciously fear: losing everything. Being poor. Having nothing. There is immense value in these practices. For fears that we have faced are less scary than those we can only speculate about. Uncertainties we have practiced are more confidently endured when they come to pass. The less unfamiliar misfortune is, the less power it will have over us. That’s what premeditatio malorum is about. That’s why we must, as Seneca said, keep all the terms of the human lot before our mind—exile, war, torture, grief, pain. Because they happen. They did happen to Zweig, who had his possessions and his livelihood stolen by the Nazis (and yet managed to do some of his best writing in exile). We must be ready. We must know the fear, so that we may not be afraid when the worst finally comes. 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 Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery'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. How prepared are you to start over? The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig experienced both incredible good fortune and misfortune in his life. He was born into wealth and he met some of the greatest minds of his time. From Freud to Arthur Schnitzel, he traveled extensively and became Europe's best-selling novelist. And in that span, he also experienced two horrible world wars, and was driven from his home by Hitler's

anti-Semitism, first fleeing to England, and later going to the U.S. before finally starting his life over again in Brazil, where he spent the last two years of his life. One would think that someone who had experienced so many good times in his first 50 years would be unprepared for the difficulty in his final 10, but not so as Wike. During his many years of delightful and luxurious travel, he liked to play an interesting game, one very similar to a practice that Seneca had. As soon as his wife arrived in a new city no matter how distant, he would pretend that he just moved there and desperately needed a job. He would go from store to store checking to see if they were hiring. He'd

read the help wanted ads in the newspaper. he would go often all the way through to the hiring process until he got an offer, and then offer in hand he would walk out and enjoy his trip, feeling the pride and comfort of knowing that he could handle starting from scratch. If he had to, Seneca's version of this was to practice poverty once per month. He'd wear his worst clothes and eat the cheapest food. He'd sleep on the ground. The point was to get up close and personal with the thing that many of us secretly and subconsciously fear losing everything, being poor, having nothing. There is immense value in these practices. For fears we have faced are less scary than

those we can only speculate about. Uncertainties we have practiced are more confidently endured when they come to pass. The less unfamiliar misfortune is, the less power it will have over us. That's what pre-metatoshio malorum is about. That's why we must, as Seneca said, keep all the terms of the human lot before our eyes. Exile, war, torture, grief, pain, because they happened. They did happen to his wife who had all his possessions and his livelihood stolen by the Nazis, and yet managed to do some of his best writing in exile. We must be ready.

We must know the fear so that we may not be afraid when the worst finally comes. Hey, everyone. We've seen how much you've loved the Daily Stoke challenges challenges and so we released a new product that will help you challenge yourself all year round. It's the Daily Stoke Challenge deck. It's got 30 days of challenges, physical cards, and an awesome box that'll test your strength, your willpower, and help you become better you. Each challenge card comes with a great stoke quote and a cool picture. We know you're going to love it. You can buy the Daily Stoke Challenge deck now at DailyStoke.com slash store.

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 Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts. Hey there listeners, while we take a little break here, I want to tell you about another podcast that I think you'll like. It's called How I Built This, where host Guy Razz 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 Kodopaxi, 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 discuss 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 Wonder yet.