The Daily Stoic - Study The Real Secret of Greatness

Episode Date: September 20, 2019

When we think of greatness, we think of success. We think of strength. We think of influence. We think of the man or woman exerting their will over the universe, or dominating on the athletic field, or dazzling us with their creative brilliance. We think of the trappings of this greatness: ornate mansions, peak physical conditioning, confidently strolling the halls of power.Is this really greatness, though? What if the person who has it is actually miserable? If every minute they’re awake they’re driven by demons or insecurities or the need to control and beat other people? How great is greatness if it is constantly on the edge of destroying itself through overreaching or over-doing?Seneca said that “nothing is great unless it’s also at peace.” What he meant was that stillness and greatness—true greatness, that is—are impossible to separate. It’s stillness that allows us to be great, on the court or in the public sphere or on the page. No one is able to push the bounds of accomplishment if they are distracted or disorganized. At the same time, it’s stillness that allows us to enjoy our accomplishments. What good is becoming a billionaire if all you can think about is how much more there is left to earn? If you’re just comparing yourself to richer people?Stillness is the key to greatness and the key to happiness (and it’s the title of Ryan Holiday’s new book!). There is little hope and little point to life without it. Stillness is what Stoicism seeks to instill in us—so that we can be better at our jobs, at our responsibilities, and in our quiet moments alone. Without stillness, we have no greatness. We have only franticness and insatiableness.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. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living 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 dailystoic.com. Study this secret of greatness. When we think of greatness, we think of success, we think of strength, we think of influence,

we think of the man we think of strength, we think of influence, we think of the man or woman exerting their will over the universe or dominating on the athletic field or dazzling us with their creative brilliance. We think of the trappings of this greatness where Nate mentions peak physical conditioning confidently strolling the halls of power. Is this really greatness though? What if the person who has it is actually miserable? If every minute they're awake, they're driven by demons or insecurities or the need to control or beat other people. How great is greatness if it is constantly on the edge of destroying itself through overreaching or overdoing?

reaching or overdoing. Seneca said that nothing is great unless it is also at peace. What he meant was that stillness and greatness, true greatness, that is, are impossible to separate. It's stillness that allows us to be great on the court or in the public square or on the page. No one is able to push the bound of accomplishment if they are distracted or disorganized. At the same time, it's stillness that allows us to enjoy our accomplishments. What good is becoming a billionaire if all you can think about is how much there is left

to earn if you're just comparing yourself to richer people. Stillness is the key to greatness and the key to happiness, and it's also the title of my next book. There is little hope and little and the key to happiness. And it's also the title of my next book. There is little hope and little point to life without it. Stillness is what stoicism seeks to instill in us so that we can be better at our jobs and our responsibilities and in our quiet moments alone. Without stillness, we have no greatness.

We have only franticness and insatiabness. If you want to check out my new book you can pre-order it now. It comes out October 1st everywhere books are sold on Audible, on Amazon, as an e-book. Any form, I hope you check it out. I think it's the best thing I've ever written. It's a sequel to Ego is the Enemy in Obstacles the way. Please check it out if you've gotten anything out of this podcast or anything out of my writing over the years. I would love for you to support me in the book. Stillness is the key out October 1. Thank you.

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 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 Codopaxi, 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 Wondery. 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, Diss 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 feud say about us? The first season is packed with some pretty messy pop culture drama, but none is drawn out in

personal as Brittany and Jamie Lynn Spears. When Brittany's fans form the free Brittany movement dedicated to fraying her from the infamous conservatorship, Jamie Lynn's lack of public support, it angered some fans, a lot of them. It's a story of two young women who had their choices taken away from them

by their controlling parents, but took their anger out on each other. And it's about a movement to save a superstar, which set its sights upon anyone who failed to fight for Brittany. Follow Disenthal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music or The Wondery App.