The Daily Stoic - How To Not Be Afraid of Criticism | Marcus Aurelius' Advice For Better Days

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

No one likes to be found at fault. In fact, this is what many of us walk around fearing–that we’ll be exposed as imposters, we’ll be put on the spot in front of people, we’ll have to admit error. This makes us defensive, it makes us play it safe, and in some cases, it even makes us dishonest.It’s a cure, you could say, that’s worse than the disease.---And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan shares what Marcus Aurelius had to say about how best to utilize the 24 that the day presents to all of us. As he says, Marcus was a man of habit—all the Stoics were. They understood, as Aristotle did, that we are what we repeatedly do. That excellence is a habit. You can watch the full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS0gSjrlMJc. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, 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 Stoic Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. On Tuesdays, we take a closer look at these stoic ideas, how we can apply them in our actual lives. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy. How not to be afraid of criticism. No one likes to be found at fault. In fact, this is what many of us walk around fearing that will be exposed as imposterous, that will be put on the spot in front of people that will have to admit air.

This makes us defensive. It makes us play it safe, and in some cases it even makes us dishonest. It's a cure, you could say, that's worse than the disease. Gandhi, once being interviewed by a reporter dispensed with all that, I am very imperfect, he said, before you are gone, you will have discovered a hundred of my faults, and if you don't, I will help you see them. Why would he do such a thing? Perhaps it was because he knew that as a leader, egotism and an outsized sense of one's abilities was dangerous and destructive. Perhaps he was inoculating himself against the fear in advance, taking away the power of the reporter to control Gandhi's fate by disclosing upfront

what might have otherwise been investigated or even misconstrued. There is a line from Epictetus who after being criticized joked, yes, but he doesn't even know the half of it because he could have said more. It's not that Epictetus had a bunch of bodies buried somewhere, it's that he had also inoculated himself against criticism,

being more aware of his flaws and more concerned about addressing them than even his enemies. Why should we be afraid of criticism, as Marcus really is right, if the criticism is correct and we are in error, then the person criticizing us has done a favor by correcting it. If they are wrong, what do we care? More likely, if we are doing our job right, we should be already well aware of the issue that people are raising and already be fixing it. And we should have no sense of ourselves as perfect or above critique,

nor should we be so fragile and vulnerable as to not be able to bear being disliked or disagreed with. Life can get you down. I'm no stranger to that. When I find things are piling up, I'm struggling to deal with something. Obviously, I use my journal, obviously, I turn to stochism, but I also turn to my therapist, which I've had for a long time and has helped me through a bunch of stuff. And because I'm so busy and I live out in the country, I do therapy remote, so I don't have to drive somewhere.

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network with most major insurers. As a listener of this podcast, you can get 80 bucks off your first month with talk space when you go to talkspace.com slash stoic. To match with a license therapist today, go to talkspace.com slash stoic to get 80 bucks off your first month and show your support for the daily stoic that's talkspace.com slash stoic. At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself, I have to go to work. As a human being, what do I have to complain of if I'm going to do what I was born for? The things I was brought into this world to do, or is this what I was created for, to huddle under the blankets and stay warm? But it's nicer here, so you were born to feel nice,

instead of doing things and experiencing them? Do you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order as best they can. And you're not willing to do your job as a human being. Why aren't you running to do with your nature demands?

But we have to sleep sometime. Agreed, but nature set a limit on that, as it did on eating and drinking. In your over the limit, you've had more than enough of that, but not of working. There, you're still below your quota. You don't love yourself enough, or you'd love your nature too. And what a demand of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it. They even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving? The dancer for the dance. When they're really possessed by what they do,

they'd rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts. Is helping others less valuable to you? Not worth your effort? plus in Apple podcasts. I'm just getting started and there's so much I still want to do so I decided I want to be a podcast host I'm proud to introduce you to the baby. This is Kiki Palmer podcast I'm putting my friends family and some of the dopest experts in the hot seat to ask them the questions that have been burning in my mind What will former child stars be if they weren't actors? What happened to sitcoms? It's only fans only bad I want to know so I asked my mom about it These are the questions that keep me up at night

But I'm taking these questions out of my head and I'm bringing them to you because on baby Only bad. I want to know. So I asked my mom about it. These are the questions that keep me up at night. But I'm taking these questions out of my head and I'm bringing them to you. Because on Baby This Is Kiki Palmer, no topic is off limits. Follow Baby This Is Kiki Palmer, whatever you get your podcast. Hey, prime members. You can listen early and app-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. the Amazon Music app today.