The Daily Stoic - Texas Rangers' Josh Jung: “Win or Lose, It Can’t Wreck You”

Episode Date: March 29, 2025

In this PT. 2 episode, Josh Jung, professional baseball player for the Texas Rangers, joins Ryan to talk about the mental battles, leadership, and personal growth that come with playing baseball at the highest level. Josh opens up about the pressure of expectations, the dangers of comparison, and the mindset needed to thrive through the ups and downs of a grueling MLB season.Josh Jung is a professional baseball player for the Texas Rangers as a third baseman. A former star for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, he was selected by the Rangers in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft.Follow Josh on Instagram and X @Josh6Jung⚾️ Grab tickets to watch Josh and the Texas Rangers here📚 Pick up a copy of Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey at The Painted Porch: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast🎥 Watch top moments from The Daily Stoic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dailystoicpodcast✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/📱 Follow 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.

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to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com slash WonderyCA. Just go to indeed.com slash WonderyCA right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash WonderyCA. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring? Indeed is all you need. Welcome to the weekend edition of The Daily Stoic.

Each weekday, we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, something to help you live up to those four Stoic virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. And then here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview stoic philosophers. We explore at length how these stoic ideas

can be applied to our actual lives and the challenging issues of our time. Here on the weekend, when you have a little bit more space, when things have slowed down, be sure to take some time to think, to go for a walk, to sit with your journal, and most importantly to prepare

for what the week ahead may bring. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoke Podcast. You know how your phone has the memory thing where it just like, on this day, here's what you did. On this day, 2017, I took my now eight-year-old who was very much not an eight-year-old then. He was a tiny, tiny baby.

I'm looking at this photo now. We went to opening day of Major League Baseball. The Texas Rangers were playing and I had just given a talk to the Rangers at their spring training in Surprise, Arizona. That was a cool experience. The Rangers had been one of the first teams that had read my books and it sort of made its way

through the farm team up to the clubhouse and they'd asked me to come out and do a talk and then they invited us to the game and it was really cool. I am still dealing with the fact that my now eight year old thinks that it's very normal to watch games from the owner's booth. We've got to go to lots of different games

for different teams in different leagues over the years because my books and now stoicism has sort of made its way through professional sports, which certainly was not what I was thinking when I went to write books about an obscure school of ancient philosophy, but it has been a cool and nice perk. And it's been also weird to kind of watch different generations of players

and maybe generations plural sounds is a bit of an exaggeration but not much like it's weird now that many of the players have got most of the players that were reading my books when they first came out are now retired, right? Ten years, the obstacles away, ten years is an eternity in sports. And the athletes that I keep hearing from get younger and younger and younger. That brings us to today's guest, Josh Jung. He is the third baseman for the Texas Rangers. He reached out on Instagram, or maybe I saw an article. We sort of went back and forth and said, hey, I'm gonna be in town. Can I come check out the bookstore?

And so he came out one Saturday. It was very nice. He gave a bunch of baseball cards to my kids. And he signed one of them, a Memento Mori, which was pretty cool. You know, we walked through, we talked books, we shot the shit for a while, and I said, you know what, when does your spring training start?

Would you wanna come out and do the podcast? And he said, yes, he squeezed it in, it was very nice. In this episode, Josh talks about how journaling changes how he shows up on and off the field, what it feels like to be ranked and competed against all these other players, the ruthlessness of the field, what it feels like to be ranked and competed against all these other players, the ruthlessness of the sport, the power of ambition and motivation

without being controlled by it. I think this is a great interview. Josh is, as I said, the third baseman for the Texas Rangers. He played at Texas Tech. He was drafted in the first round. He is the real deal. I really like this interview. That's why we split it up into two parts

because it went a little long. And in this interview, you've got a guy who, you know, really took the obstacle is the way to heart. And I think that comes through in this interview and I can't wait for you to hear it. Enjoy. Well, what's interesting to me about baseball is just how many games, to hear it. Enjoy. Well, what's interesting to me about baseball is just how many games it's a game of failure, not just because you have four or

five at bats or whatever. But like it's a game of failure because it's the longest season of any of the sports. So like, you're going to lose a lot of games like even in a good season just like 500 in basketball versus 500 in baseball. I mean, there's about twice as many games. So like a 500 team in both sports, one's gonna lose twice as many. Football, you're only playing 17 games.

So like a great season, you might only lose like two games. Right? I was gonna think how many games did Lou Gehrig lose? That Yankees team in the thirties was unbelievable. Stupid. This is why AI is not actually. Lou Gehrig retired from baseball in 1939. So there's no information on how many games

he lost after that. Well, yeah, obviously. Yeah, those Yankee teams, they probably won like seven or eight world titles, probably four or five in a row. Hey, Claire, can you look up how many games Lou Gehrig's lost in his career? But yeah, so you played 2100 consecutive games. Okay, so if you're 500, they're obviously better than 500 because they were the Yankees

then, but like that would be a thousand games. That you lost. Lost, can you imagine losing a thousand baseball games? And out of those thousand, he probably performed pretty well. The ones that he lost. Right. But he still lost. It was like dealing with the double emotions, right?

Because you invest in your career, but at the same time, you want to win games. Yeah. I mean, we know sports are team games, but what a team game brings up, like in a movie, you could act the hell out of your role and the star could suck or the marketing department could drop the ball on the promotion of the film or the studio could not put any money behind it. And so one individual has only so much influence over the outcome.

Basketball is probably the team sport where one individual really can, probably has the most influence. Yeah, one person can take over a game, but you even see that like, that's a bad habit to pick up. Like Kobe Bryant won a lot of games and then also tanked a lot of games because he couldn't really be on a team very well.

But yeah, the acceptance tanked a lot of games because he couldn't really be on a team very well, but yeah the acceptance and then just the statistical reality of like not more often than not but Often you're gonna get a shit result. Can you handle that? Right because baseball we kind of say it It's nine individuals that you're trying to get to play together Yeah, especially in a lineup, it's nine individuals that you're trying to get to play together. Especially in a lineup. Like, it's nine individuals.

So if one guy doesn't do their job, next thing you know, the lineup can just get out of whack because they're being able to pitch to a certain part of the lineup a certain way, now you're... There's a hole that they can exploit. Right. Yeah. And then that hole gets exploited, the whole thing just falls apart.

No matter how good the lineup is on paper. So it's very interesting to see how that's just navigated. And if you don't fix or come into the game and do your routines, et cetera, it's like, on your bad day, the team could be going great. We could be up eight runs, but you don't do your job. It's kind of a big Bill Belichick's little time, right? Do your job.

You don't do your job. We's kind of a big Bill Belichick's little time, right? Do your job, you don't do your job. We could end up losing that game somehow. Yeah, because like if there's not a credible thread of a run game in football, the quarterback's not gonna be able to throw well because they're just gonna blitz every time. If the quarterback's not throwing well, then- They can stack the box.

That screws up the run game. Like it's supposed to be this evenly balanced thing or else the opponent knows this is where we direct all of our energy. And then even if it's only slightly out of balance, right? They know, hey, in the first quarter, it's gonna be fine. The second quarter is gonna be fine. But the running back is gonna get tired

by the third or the fourth quarter because they're having to run over and over and over again because the quarterback's out of commission, right? And like, so it's just, and that's really what like great athletes do is they go, okay, this guy is statistically 10% her go left more often than right? And over the course of however many minutes, that will lead to a one and a half point statistical differential, and that's how we win the game. Like it's all stats. It boils down to just these little thing

and you're just running it over and over and over and over again. And then that creates just enough of a gap to separate a win from a loss. Yeah. I think you see that a lot in basketball. Yes. It's like the defense, they're just pounding the rock and it might not still be working, but eventually it'll break. No, at the Spurs, they have this poster that that's like the story of the team

that pound the rock thing. That's cool. Which is that like, it's not one singular blow that opens up the thing. It's thousands and thousands and thousands of them. The consistency of. Well, yeah, and like on a book, like it's not one word or one sentence or one page where someone's like, that's why that book is good.

That's why that sells. And I can't also go, the reason this worked was because on April 3rd, I crushed it. Eventually, by the time it comes out, all the days and time and hours and work has been blurred together because you did stuff and then you undid it and redid it and edited it and moved it and changed it. So there's the distinctions between all the different inputs get blended together into this finished product to the point where like when I sit in this room

and record an audio book, some of it I'm like, did I write this? Where did, like you don't even recognize passages because it's the cumulative result of this process that's kind of not even you at any point. And to me that pounding the rock thing is the idea it's like you show up every day. There might be some pivotal moment where it feels like

it was this blow that did it, but that blow by itself would not have had any significance were it not for 20 years prior to that. Right, that's what's so fascinating just about sports in general, or really anything in life, is like the more consistent you are at doing something, the more you're pushing the needle to, for me, what I say is like being the person you wanna be,

or being the player you wanna be. And I think with that comes like investing in others, especially in the game of individuals, like investing in others, especially in the game of individuals, like investing in my teammates. For one, it helps take the ego part out of it because you have to release that and think about other people. You're not so wound up in your own struggles or performance.

And as the book talks about, like good or bad, because it's so easy to focus on just good or when you're going bad, so easy to focus on just good or when you're going bad, so easy to focus on bad. I think it was Don Mattingly played first base for the Yankees. His quote was like, anytime I struggled, I would invest in other people. And then it was able to clear my conscience because I was trying to help them do their thing that I forgot that I was even- Well, you're by definition getting out of your head and off your problems because you're focusing

on someone else. Yeah, like in basketball, if your shots aren't falling, you can just play really good defense, you know? Baseball, you're a little more passive because you can't will the ball to come to you. And in basketball, you can chase it down, right? You can go get rebounds or block shots or whatever. But yeah, the idea of like when you're kind of stuck in your own shit to focus on someone else, this is why like in sobriety they talk a lot about being of service

because the more you're just ruminating on your own life and how, you know, stuck you are, it becomes a real wicked cycle. But if you're just like I'm gonna help other people I'm gonna go to You you realize other people have it worse than you you also realize that If they're not too far gone if there's something they can do if their problems are solvable or fixable or they can make progress Well, then like the same is true for you Also, if you watch someone who's in a slump get out of a slump because you helped them, of course you You could get yourself out of a slump too. Yeah, it's all perspective, right? At the end of the day It's all how you perceive things and you can control that. Yeah, I think in one of your podcasts

I wrote it down in my notes. When I listen to your podcast, I'll be driving in the car That's mainly when I do it So like I'll like throw a sentence down in my notes and then I go back to it and be like Oh, which podcast was that? So I could try to go back and figure it out. But one of them was the discipline of perception because your perception is something you control, especially on all events.

So that's why I like reading this book, the end of Game of Tits, I know I keep going back to it. It's fresh in my mind because I was reading it yesterday, sitting at the airport. But it's No, no. That's what I gave it to you. Yeah. It's fresh in my mind because I was reading it yesterday, I said at the airport. But it's like, you have the discipline to control everything you think and how you respond to it. And I think that's what you talk about with Marcus a lot is like, he has the ability to respond to everything. Have you ever wondered how a circus performer could become the most powerful woman in the

Byzantine Empire? Even the Royals is a podcast from Wondery that pulls back the curtain on royal families, from ancient empires to modern monarchs, to show you the darker side of what it means to be royalty. Before she ruled an empire, Theodora was a teen sensation in circus shows featuring dancing bears, burlesque performers, and blood soaked chariot races. But when her star came crashing down,

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as the most powerful Byzantine empress in history. Follow Even the Royals on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Even the Royals early and ad-free by joining Wondery+. Every big moment starts with a big dream. But what happens when that big dream turns out to be a big flop? From Wondery and Atwill Media, I'm Misha Brown and this is The Big Flop.

Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time, like Quibi. It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to get other people to do it. And the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats. Like if I'm watching the dancing and I'm noticing the feet aren't touching the ground, there's something wrong with the movie.

Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco? Enjoy the Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Get started with your free trial at Wondery.com slash plus. What Marx is doing in meditation, this isn't like him. What I make up is this isn't him being like here, let me just tell, because he's writing to himself.

So Marcus isn't going like, here's some general observations about the world that I find to be true. It's not, it wasn't a book of philosophical truths. It was more a person working against his assumptions or his issues and trying to sift through them to get to the truth. So when he's saying, you know, like the end of book five is one of my favorite passages. He says, I was once a fortunate man, but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself.

Good fortune, he says, is good character, good intentions and good actions. I think he was first thinking the first part. And then he was like, okay, but what if you thought about it this way? Right, like this isn't an abstract thing. He's like, why is my life so shit right now? What is all this stuff that's happening?

And then he goes, wait, actually I'm not unfortunate. I have the ability to make my own luck by choosing to be good and to think good thoughts and to do good things. And so he doesn't just magically have the right perspective. It's in the journal he is working to get to the right perspective. It's in the journal he is working to get to the right perspective. And not once, but over and over and over again

in different situations when his natural instinct is to not be at that philosophical truth. Yeah, it's so powerful, right? I say I'm very immature in this process. I just started journaling. So is he, it's so powerful, right? I say I'm very immature in this process. I just started journaling. So is he, it's all mine. And I have just started journaling. And it's like, when I'm writing, it's like, am I writing?

In case somebody picks this up. Yeah, that's self-contrast work. Am I trying to be impressive? And it's like, well, I don't need to. But then you're writing, and for me, my mind goes all over the dang place. But it's like his perspective shifted in that moment, and he was reminding himself, no,

no, this is how you should view it. And then for me too, it's like, there is no finish line with any of this, because new situations are gonna pop up, new things are gonna pop up. It could be 50 years from now, and I haven't been tested with this trial or tribulation since I was 20 or whatever. And it's like finding and understanding that,

which is why meditations is so cool because he's truly just going through. Yeah, and you're only there for maybe a moment and then it helps you and then you gotta come back to it. Like I just had this thing happen where someone was like, it's just a real asshole. Like it didn't harm me so much, it had harmed this other person and my wife was like,

you know you would have been like so upset about this, like not that long ago. She was like, you should take this as a sign of progress that you didn't blow this whole thing up. And so I was proud in that moment, but then as time has passed, the more I've thought about it, I'm not like where I would have been originally, but I'm bothered by it more than I let on in that moment.

Okay, I got to where I needed to go. And actually while I was at the airport, like afterwards I sort of wrote a couple of daily Stoke emails. So people, I think sometimes people think I'm like writing the stuff like from some place of expertise. I'm writing it because I'm working my way through, I am angry about this, I want to hold this person accountable

but I need to remember, you know, these are the things I need to remember. So the by-product, the output of that is like the emails. But now I'm like, okay, the first wave of it passed, and I got through that. But now there's like the second and the third waves where, you know, now emails are going back and forth. And I'm like, I'm finding myself getting worked up about it again. I'm like, okay, I have to remember those things. And then here's some other things. I know it intellectually, but then actually feeling it in the moment and not letting

it become a distraction, not letting it blow up a relationship with this person, not letting it spiral into this multi-person back and forth thing, and not letting it be anything more than it was, which is like a person did a shitty thing that had a consequence for a person that I wish hadn't happened, but it did happen. And that's about all the emotion I can have about it because like no amount of getting upset is going to make it unhappen. And then I also understand at some level, this is who they are and they're not changing, not anytime soon. who they are and they're not changing, not anytime soon. And so I don't also have the ability to like use this to get through it. It just it is what it is.

And then the sort of working through that, not just once, but often enough until everything settles back down and it recedes into the past and then some other shit happens. That's the process. It's crazy because there's the theory. There's, like you said, there's the theory of it, but then the action part of it is the hardest part because there's definitely times where you're like,

oh, it shouldn't be this way, or I'm the only one that has to deal with this. And it's like, no, so many people are going through the same stuff, maybe in just different circumstances, but it's kind of the same thing. So it's cool to hear you say like the emails, it's like stuff that I'm reminding myself of or stuff I'm going through,

and this is helping me get through it, but it's also, there could be 10,000 people going through the exact same thing. Totally. And it just like, everyone's like, oh, and it's like a little reminder, just like how Marcus did it there, it's like a little reminder to myself, oh no, perspective shift.

Or whatever it is in that moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel very like what Daily Stoke is, is a way for me to work through shit that's going in my own life, for which the byproduct is like professional output, but I'm doing it as much as I'm talking about it. You know what I mean?

Yeah. I'm sure you experience that too, when you do, like oftentimes the people that are very good at things or very elite at something, it tends to come with a deficiency in other areas and they can be complicated to deal with. Definitely. You know what I mean?

Yeah, because it's almost like they're so good at this, that has taken precedent in their life, right? And they don't have the awareness to, that's when people say they're well-rounded. It's like, no, you probably do something really well and it just outweighs the other stuff and you're not aware enough to actually understand. Yeah. If you were well-rounded, you wouldn't be a professional baseball player. At all. Yeah. There's no way. Yeah. Like I had to be good at something or better at something than somebody else

to get into that position at some point along the road. Yeah. And like maybe in, you see it physically manifest. Like you're like, oh, this person's way taller than a normal person, or this person's jacked more than a regular person. That's the physical manifestation of it. But also you think of the utter disproportionate focus

on a seemingly trivial thing to be able to master it. That came at the neglect of a bunch of other stuff, almost always. Now, you can round that out later once you get comfortable and somewhat secure in the profession, you can be like, oh, hey, actually, I can't afford to be so selfish or so myopically focused because it creates an imbalance

that actually affects the performance. But the other problem is sometimes people are so good at it that other people start to compensate for those deficiencies for them. And then you get more and more unbalanced and less aware of how unbalanced you are. Cause you just take it for granted that like, like there's a quote from Kissinger where he says,

early on in your career, you're worried about boring people. And then as you become successful and important and powerful, they worry about boring you, right? And so there's just like an inherent entitlement that comes from like people going, hey, am I boring you? Like instead of you feeling like you have to carry, it's something as simple as conversations

at a dinner party or whatever, instead of feeling like you have to carry your weight, people are like concerned that they're not doing enough for you and that fucks with you. You know? Yeah, especially sometimes to be able to find that contentment in the game or where you're at,

your career could be over and you didn't even find that contentment. So that's the mental, I think the mental battle of this game is finding that contentment mentally. Physically, you might have to do a couple different things to get where you wanna be, but mentally finding that contentment mentally. Physically, you might have to do a couple different things to get where you wanna be, but mentally finding that contentment to where like, no, just be me.

That's what got me here in the first place. Don't try to be somebody I'm not. Like, I'm not gonna go up there and be Aaron Judge and his 63 homers. That would be awesome. If it happened next year, that would just be insane. But if I go and try to do that, circling back to what we started to the beginning, if I go and try, it'll probably be worse.

If I go and try to force things to happen a certain way, or I start trying mentally, I start trying to make things happen, it's not going to happen. What is interesting that even at that level, in the way that how many people who had the exact same trial that is you, exact same town, exact same drive at you, at some point I had to go, it's just not gonna happen for me. Like, because they were 1% short here,

or didn't get this break here, or had this injury here, and they had to just accept like, hey, I'm not gonna make it, or this is the ceiling for me, that everyone has to make that level of acceptance at some point in what they do. Someone has to go, hey, I'm not Aaron Judge, even though millions of people would trade places with that person.

Immediately. Yes, and even talking like, I've interviewed a bunch of different billionaires over the years, that they're like, no, no, I'm number 80 on the list of the richest people. You know, like, because I'm in real estate, as opposed to tech, it doesn't matter how good I am, the multiples of my kind of business, I'm never gonna get to that level. I

remember I was talking to a football coach, and he was like, I would open it, the sports issue every, you know, every year and be like, if I'm not the highest paid coach, then somebody fucked up. And she's like, at some point I had to accept, no, no, no, I'm getting paid millions of dollars to do this thing, that's great. I should just be happy with that.

But the problem is very few people get to an elite level practicing any form of acceptance. And inevitably we all do have to practice the acceptance and you, that's like a muscle you don't have. It's so hard because your whole life you're dreaming and aspiring to be X, Y and Z. Yes. But at some point it's just like, no, I'm really good because I do these things well. So on a daily basis, do these things well.

Yeah. Don't try and do too much. really good because I do these things well. So on a daily basis, do these things well. Don't try and do too much. And that's where you go back to the flow. If you're able to turn your brain off or turn self one off, you'll probably outperform what you think you can because you're not so wrapped up in, oh, I gotta hit 300 or I gotta hit 40 home runs

or you just let it be. Well, we can see it clearly in sports. If people can see this analogy, it might help them. It's like, okay, centers get paid about X in football, right, running backs get this. And they know this well enough that like, this is what a franchise tag is, right? That's where they go like,

hey, you're gonna get, this is the band of salaries for you. So because you couldn't come to an agreement with your team, this is what we're going to pay you. I imagine this is what they do in arbitration and baseball. It's like, you think you're this super special, unique individual who's worth an unlimited amount, but actually statistically there is a number that you're worth, right?

And there's, so there's games within games that you're playing, right? Just like the average, you know, your career length is gonna be this, on the inside, the outside. And I've had to accept that like as an author, it's like, okay, I can't compare it. Like, I think you left with Atomic Habits last time, right?

It's like, okay, so he wrote a book about habits, which sold 20 million copies. James and I were at a conference where he was thinking about not doing a traditionally published book. And I was like, no, no, you should definitely, and in that conversation, I was the established successful author

who had written multiple books, had bestsellers. And I'm like, no, no, I think you should try it. You know, it might work out. And then he sells on one book, like twice as many, as all of my books combined have sold. But I remember I was talking to someone and he was like, yeah, that's the biggest category. Habits is the biggest category

that you could possibly have a hit in. And so you have to accept that you're playing a different game, that everything has its own band, right? And if you're like, well, he has more than me, so he's better than me. And all of a sudden the thing that you were proud of two seconds ago, you're miserable about.

And so realizing, yeah, you have this band, this kind of narrow band. And in fact, the band is so narrow that it's like you and your unique talents and unique circumstances, and you can only measure yourself against yourself. But just the acceptance of, hey, like you felt called to perform classical music. You can't wonder why you're not selling out stadiums.

Like that's not a thing. There's not 70,000 people in every city who wanna go listen to the fucking cello. And the sooner you accept that, the more excited you can be, and the more surreal it'll feel that there's a thousand people in this beautiful old theater listening

to you play the cello, and you're getting paid an obscene amount considering, and you should be happy with that. And the sooner you can kind of go like, oh yeah, in my given what I brought here and what I do, this is amazing. The sooner you can get there, better you'll feel. Is going back to you talking about the billionaires

like being stuck, like, oh, I'm number 80. You see that in baseball too. You're like, oh, that's where your ego takes over. You're like, oh, I'm better than him, but he's perceived to be higher on this thing than me. And it's like, you control zero percent of what goes into this list. Your stats could be better, you could be X, Y, Z,

but they view him better. Like you can't control. It's because he's from Pittsburgh and so Pittsburgh's gonna overpay him. And it's because he went to this college and this run and their thing. So it was a media thing. So then he has bigger indoor.

There's all these things that have nothing, you can't just will that into existence and you have to accept that you got all these things. And then it's all like the hilarity of being on the Forbes list or being in the league and being comparing yourself to what another player has and being jealous is like, meanwhile, every game, there's tens of thousands of people in the stands

who would kill for one pitch as a professional baseball player or who would kill just to have gone to high school with you. Do you know what I mean? Like just to have the connection of like, I know that person and he signed a Jersey for me, but you're too busy looking at what you don't have. Like Seneca talks about how there's the poverty of having too little,

but most poverty is like wanting more. It's wanting more than you have. And thus you make yourself feel poor instead of incredibly fortunate. Yeah. That's, it's so powerful because you can be in any situation, which is, that's the power perspective, right? Yeah. Being able to take yourself away. I know we do a good job.

Like this is just as the Rangers, like trying to give back to the community and seeing that like I had a charity event the beginning of January for the miracle league, which is kids that don't have the opportunity to play baseball at all. But it's like just doing that one event, it puts everything back into perspective. Yeah. They're like, I'm here and I'm able to do this. This is the 1% of the 1% of baseball players. Like go enjoy what you do. Yeah. Comparison is the death, I think, of athletes because

for one, you're never going to be in the other person's situation. And I always say like comparing swings, right? Like Aaron Judge is six, seven, two, whatever, 280, just chiseled out of his mind. Like I'm six, two, two, 15. That doesn't compare. His environment, he's in New York. Like I'm in Texas, like there's so many different variables. I love watching Mike Trout hit,

but it's like my body's not Mike Trout's body. Comparison is terrible. Well, it's not, the shitty thing with comparison and envy is it thinks it can pick and choose. It's like, oh, you want to be him? Okay, also you're adopted. Who knows? In 13 years, he could find out that he has a congenital heart defect or whatever, right?

You don't get to pick the things that you want and feel insecure about. You'd have to trade for the whole package and almost certainly you wouldn't trade for the whole package. Now that it sucks to be him, and he didn't get amazingly lucky in a bunch of wonderful ways that he's very fortunate in, you don't get to say,

well, I get all the things that I have and I get to say, but I also want these five other things and I've been screwed over because I don't get them. That's not how it works. You know, you gotta make a whole trade and in that case, you probably wouldn't. Right, for me, I believe in baseball, people get opportunities.

Some will get more opportunities than others, but if you're so wrapped up comparing yourself to other people, you might miss the door that was open for you. Sure. Because you're so worried about kind of what other people are doing. And I'm sure that in all walks of life,

that can be said to be true. Just kind of noticed it in baseball, because that's my career, right? But it's like, why do you compare yourself when that really doesn't matter at all? But it's almost innate. Like, it just happens. Well, you can, but it's almost innate. Like it just happens.

Well, you can see why it's good from an evolutionary standpoint, to never be satisfied, to always want more. Look, if Elon Musk was easily satisfied, he would have stopped when he made $20 million on his first company, and then he would have stopped when he made $200 million on the second company. And that would have made it impossible to start Tesla and SpaceX.

And that would have been bad for humanity. That's also why he can't stop now. And look, I think on a sort of historical basis, we know inevitably that insatiability leads to ruin that you overreach. And so there's like some real reason to stop. But I think just on a general level, just knowing like, hey, the force makes sense. That's a good thing. That's propelled the human species forward. It's probably on a net basis, shitty for the individual who can never be like, oh, that was a good run.

I got eight years in professionals. Especially like what it does is it obscures what you thought was on the far end of the possibilities at the beginning. Like I remember going, if I could write one book, that would be, that's what a writer gets to do one time. That's what makes you the thing. And then it was like, immediately you'd sign the book deal and you're like, well, now I hope it's a huge, the number has to be high.

And then the sales have to be high. And then, well, can I follow it up? And then can I follow? And then eventually it becomes, can I do it forever? Can I do it the most? And so your inability to go like, I am playing with house money and I'm way ahead of the curve and it's all gravy from here, that's what deprives you of the ability to enjoy the thing while you're doing it. Yeah, I think that's what, if you're able to get to that place

where you're able to surrender all of that, that's when you're legit playing free. Yeah. And that's where self-worn won't get in the way. Yeah. Because ultimately when you're legit playing free. And that's where self-one won't get in the way. Because ultimately when you put expectations on things or you say, one thing I took away, I mean, I took so much stuff away from you and McConaughey's talk. It was unbelievable. But it was like, if you try to do better, then you're not focusing on the moment.

If I go three for three with three home runs, the next day, I can't outdo that. That was picture perfect. I can't outperform that. And then season to season, it's like, okay, I had a great rookie year. It's like, oh, I gotta outdo that. No, just be you and perform your game, play your game when you try to outdo things

and you put those expectations, you're probably going to fall when it comes to like setting the standard kind of too high. But that's where I kind of talk about having unrealistic expectations, but realistic review of like what you're doing. Like I gotta shoot for the stars, but at the end of the day when I sit down,

it's like, okay, this is what I'm trying to do. Did I achieve that or not? And it's like, okay, I'll do it tomorrow. Most of it probably traces back to childhood. Like if you have a parent whose approval and affection is dependent on how you perform, that's a very hard thing to unlearn. And I think a lot of people that become, like early on that's adaptive because you perform, that's a very hard thing to unlearn. And I think a lot of people that become,

like early on that's adaptive because you are, the other kids are like, yeah, baseball is fun, but also my Gameboy is fun. So like, it's a toss up for me. But if you become the kid where you're like, no, no, no, I wanna do this so my dad notices me, or I wanna do this because when I'm on the field, it's the only part of my life that doesn't suck

because I come from a shitty place. That feeling is going to be a competitive edge when you're playing against regular kids that are just like, oh, it's nice to be outside, you know? And then when you're locked in competition with two people who both wanna be baseball players, but for one, they've transformed it into a matter of life and death.

And the other's like, well, if I don't do this, like business is cool too, that person's gonna win. The problem is that mindset is very hard to turn off. And it feasts on itself. Right, and as a leader, figuring out what makes your teammates click will help the team go forward. Sure. Because if, like you said, someone comes from,

let's say, a worse background than me, and I know that, like there's some sympathy with that. But also, like you know it makes them tick. Yeah. So you know kind makes them tick. So you know kind of like when to push and when to pull back. And other guys, same thing. Everyone goes out there and plays for something,

or at least they should be playing for something, but finding out what that something is helps you as a leader be able to inspire them, especially in the time to struggle. I think that is what makes a true leader, especially in a baseball clubhouse, knowing the other 30 guys that are in there and what makes them tick,

and being able to get their full potential out of them, especially when it means the most, right, which is when we're competing. Yeah, and then knowing, oh, hey, this is what I'm motivated by, and some of that's healthy and I wanna keep that. And then here's the part of it that's not healthy that I gotta sort of cut out and replace

with something that's a little bit more sustainable or a little less corrosive, like a less corrosive form of fuel because like anger is usually bad fuel, proving people wrong is usually bad fuel, like getting your self-worth from accomplishments usually bad fuel, like how do you kind of replace that with slightly more sustainable forms of energy?

Yeah, and I mean, those things can be temporary. Like temporarily, it could help you be successful, but in the long term, it's gonna be detrimental to your performance because you're always playing with that chip. Yeah. And it's like at some point, that chip is gonna weigh you down. Well, yeah, I think you see this in like the guys

that are like about anger or, you know, like it becomes later in their career, they're just like manufacturing shit to be angry about, you know? Yeah, it seems like a miserable way to do it. They're only happy if they're complaining about something. Yeah. Something like that.

And everyone has their edge, and that's great. But, like you said, there are some negative things that could be temporarily good. But if that's what you focus on all the time, you could just create separations between people, which could divide a clubhouse, essentially. And then it's like, okay, now what? When you're winning, we say in baseball,

winning cures everything. You don't realize the crap that's going on in the clubhouse, but as soon as you start losing and everything comes to light kinda all at once, you're like, oh gosh, we got some stuff to work on. But it's like, if we don't correct that stuff, or if we don't acknowledge that stuff early, it could be very detrimental just to the club in general.

Yeah. Which is, it's so very detrimental just to the club in general. Yeah. Which is, it's so fascinating navigating a clubhouse. Yeah. For one, like I'm probably one of the fifth youngest guys, right? So like seeing all of these very successful ballplayers in baseball, you try to get to 10 years of service time. Like that's the pinnacle.

That's like max pension. That's what everyone tries to get to. So seeing all of these guys, I think we had like five or six guys last year, which is incredible. But seeing all these guys at that place where it's like, that's what everyone tries to get to. So seeing all of these guys, I think we had like five or six guys last year, which is incredible. But seeing all these guys at that place where it's like, that's where I wanna get to eventually. What makes them successful, seeing all of that, see this from my brain, just goes crazy.

It's like, does watching them help me get there? Or just seeing how they do things and me kind of creating my own path, is that gonna help me even more? Right. Yeah, baseball, it seems like it has a big age range of players, unlike some sports. Because you can, it's not that it's not physically taxing as it is, but you can play it long. I think you play it longer.

Not like football. Yes, exactly. It's not like chewing you up the same way that maybe the more contact sports are. Right. I mean, yeah, your body, I would say the travel's just a little worse because you are flying every couple days. Yeah. And you're changing time zones

and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. But yeah, from a physical perspective, those guys in football, they beat each other up. Yeah. I know our turf, like turf fields can kind of get to you a little bit more so. Yeah.

Because if basketball running on the hardwood can't be good for your body, especially how big those guys are. Sure. But I'd say that's where the length of our schedule kind of comes into play. Right. Because like I said, like in spring training, you're going to feel phenomenal. Yeah. And then in August, you're like, oh my gosh, I've been hit by a bus.

How do I get my body ready today? Yeah. But yeah, it's a very interesting dynamic to see how guys have navigated it and was it successful? Was it not successful? Have they had to change what they did? It's so interesting. And it's always interesting too

because when someone reaches their 10 years, like we have like a little party essentially, and they always ask them the million dollar question. What do you know now you wish you knew then? And it's just funny to hear like their answers. What do people tend to say the most? To enjoy it, to have a lot of fun. And it's like the cliche, like, OK, I'm

getting out of here quick type of answer. But it's like truly, especially with me, if I went back 10 years from now and told myself, hey, if you do x, y, and z, you'll get to the same spot as if you continue to believe that you have to take a thousand swings or whatever. And like that was my edge at that point, but as we continually grow and learn and adapt,

and there might be days where I need a thousand swings, but it is interesting to see how every single person is just so vastly different. Or they say the same thing in their own way and it seems different but it's actually the same. So it's crazy to see guys and their thought processes and understand that we're all essentially trying to do the same thing.

Some guys are motivated by more stuff like we talked about, whether it's anger, whether it's I wanna be, you know, in the hall of fame or just something. They're all motivated by something. Finding that motivation helps you be a better leader. But then hearing them say it in their own, I get their own definition of what success is, that's what's truly crazy about the whole journey

and trying to understand people and their thought processes. Because as I'm going through this journey and like understanding my own process, it's like, holy cow, bro, turn your brain off. But other guys, it's just fascinating how they've gotten to that point, doing the things they do. Every athlete I've talked to has said some version of like,

because you get there because you're competitive, you're driven, you sweat every fucking thing. But then later they're like, I wish I'd enjoyed it more. And I've tried to be like, yeah, it shouldn't be miserable while I'm doing it. It should be hard, because it's hard. And it's tough to do. And probably not doing it will hopefully at some point be a relief, you know? But while I'm doing it, it shouldn't suck because then the only reason I'm doing it is to get some kind of reward on the other side or I'm doing, I'm only doing it, you know, for some endpoint. It's financial security, okay, well, I'm already there, so why am I still doing it? Or you know, like there's almost no logic in which unless you're

trying to, you know, pay off somebody's medical bills, you should continue doing it, even though you fucking hate it every day and it's torture. Like that's not the right way to do it. At all, because that's the miserable, we call them salty, salty vet, right? That it's like, dude, you don't have to be here. Yeah.

You get to be here. Yeah. and you get the opportunity to do this. And someday you will be sad that you are not here. So why are you making it shitty now? Yeah, and that's what's hard too, right? Like when you're sucking, embracing that suck and still finding a joy through the suck. Yeah, cause you know that thing that's like, show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser?

You know, like it shouldn't be fun to lose and you shouldn't be like, win or lose, I'm good with either. That's like, that's probably a sign it's time for you to go or you don't have any competitive drive. Yeah, but can it not wreck you when it doesn't work out? That's where you're trying to get, I think. The 1000%, can you turn the page, learn from the mistakes, and then wake up the next day and be like, okay, I'm gonna go kick your ass. And if I don't, I'm not gonna get hung up on it. I'm just

gonna come back tomorrow and try to kick your ass again. Basically. Do you wanna go in the bookstore? Yeah, let's do it. All right. ["Sweet Home"] Thanks so much for listening. 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 appreciate it and I'll see you next episode. ["Sweet Home"] If you like The Daily Stoic and thanks for listening, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, would you tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey on Wondery.com slash survey.