The Daily Stoic - The Race To Run Is Against Yourself

Episode Date: April 19, 2019

It can be deceiving to hear the Stoics talk about an indifference to external recognition or rewards. Marcus says that fame is meaningless. Seneca talks about how success or wealth is out of our control and therefore not to be prized. Don’t want what other people want, they say, don’t get sucked into meaningless competition.So does this mean that the Stoic doesn’t try? That the Stoic is resigned to whatever happens to them in life, caring about nothing, uninterested in improving or growing? No, of course not. The Stoic is still incredibly ambitious—only they focus on an internal scorecard versus an external one.A similar sentiment was well-expressed by the entrepreneur Sam Altman, who has helped thousands of startups over the years with his work at Y Combinator, when he was interviewed by Tyler Cowen for the Conversations with Tyler podcast:“I think one thing that is a really important thing to strive for is being internally driven, being driven to compete with yourself, not with other people. If you compete with other people, you end up in this mimetic trap, and you sort of play this tournament, and if you win, you lose. But if you’re competing with yourself, and all you’re trying to do is — for the own self-satisfaction and for also the impact you have on the world and the duty you feel to do that — be the best possible version you can, there is no limit to how far that can drive someone to perform. And I think that is something you see — even though it looks like athletes are competing with each other — when you talk to a really great, absolute top-of-the-field athlete, it’s their own time they’re going against.”Competition, Altman’s friend and mentor Peter Thiel has said, is for losers. When you try to beat other people, you set yourself up to fail. But going against yourself—trying to improve yourself—that’s a competition you have control over. It’s one you can win.A Stoic triumphs over themselves, over their own limitations, and in this—even if the margin is small—is the most important victory of all.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 the 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. The Race to Run is against yourself. It can be deceiving to hear the stoics talk about indifference to external recognition or rewards. Marcus says, for instance, that fame is meaningless. Senaq talks about his success or wealth is out of our control and therefore not to be

prized. Don't want what other people want, they say. Don't get sucked into meaningless competition. So does this mean that the Stoic doesn't try? That the Stoic is resigned to whatever happens to them in life caring about nothing uninterested in improving or growing? No, of course not. The stoic is still incredibly ambitious. Only they focus on an internal scorecard versus an external one. A similar sentiment was well expressed by the entrepreneur Sam Altman, who has

helped thousands of startups over the years with his work at Y Combinator, when he was interviewed by Tyler Cowan for the conversations with Tyler Podcast. I think one thing that is really important, I think to strive for, is being internally driven, so being driven to compete with yourself, not with other people. If you compete with other people, you end up in this mimetic trap, and you sort of play this tournament if you win, you lose. But if you're competing with yourself, and all you're trying to do is like, for the own self-satisfaction, and for also sort of the impact you have on the world and the duty you feel to do that, be the best possible version you can, that there is no limit to how far that can drive someone to perform.

And I think that is something you see, even though it looks like athletes are competing with each other. When you talk to a really great absolute top of the field athlete, it's their own time they're going against. Competition, Altman's friend and mentor Peter Tal has said, is for losers. When you try to beat other people, you set yourself up to fail. But going against yourself,

trying to improve yourself, that's a competition you have control over. It's one, you can win. Aesthetic triumphs over themselves, over their own limitations. And in this, even if the margin is small, is the most important victory of all. If you're liking this podcast, we would love for you to subscribe. Please leave us a review

on iTunes or any of your favorite podcast listening apps. It really helps and tell a friend. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to the Daily Stoic early and ad-free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts. Thanks for watching.