The Daily Stoic - There’s a Time to Make and a Time to Manage

Episode Date: October 28, 2020

"There are lots of things you can pay people to do for you. You can pay them to mow your lawn or do your taxes. You can pay them to drive you from one place to another and you can pay them to sell things for you. But the one thing you cannot pay people to do for you is think."Ryan explains why mental focus is so critical in this current, chaotic moment, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee 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. on music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, 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 dailystowach.com. There's a time to make and a time to manage. There are a lot of things you can pay people to do for you. You can pay them to mow your lawn or do your taxes. You can pay them to drive you from one place to another and you can pay them to sell things for you.

But one thing you cannot pay people to do for you is think. No one can reflect on your behalf. No one can consider the big picture for you. Paul Graham has a great essay on the difference between making and managing. This is another good distinction. You can pay people to manage. You can't pay them to make whatever it is that you make. You can't pay them to have ideas for you. Only you can do that. The Stoics said over and over and over again that we don't control what happens only that we control how we respond. They said that

we had to use our obstacles as fuel and make good out of every situation we find ourselves in. So how do you make good out of an indefinite quarantine? Well, one easy way is to use this time to think like Seneca in his exiles, Musoneus and Epictetus in theirs. They were writing, they were reading, they were thinking and planning. Your employees are not going to come up with your businesses, five year plan for you. Only you can do that. Your publisher is not going to come up with your businesses five year plan for you. Only you can do that.

Your publisher is not going to write your book for you. Your sales assistant isn't going to come up with your next great sales strategy. They're not going to invest in relationships for you. They're not going to help you find inspiration to keep going. You have to do that. And today is a great day to do that.

Now is a time to make, to think, to reflect, to cultivate that stillness, because stillness is the key to insights and creativity and all the things you're going to need to dig yourself out of this hole. None of this is ideal, but you couldn't have chosen to be in a pandemic. But you can choose for this to be the best thing that ever happened to you, you can choose for this to be the most productive period of your life. Hey, just wanted to remind you, if you want to take your practices to listen to the next level, if you want some physical reminders of the ideas we talk about here, check out the Daily Stoic store and go to DailyStoic.com slash store. These products are what help us keep the lights on here at Daily Stoic.

They help grow the business, let us spread the message to more and more people. So if you want to support us, check that out. Go to DailyStoic.com slash store. 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. Raising kids can be one of the greatest rewards of a parent's life. But come on, someday, parenting is unbearable.

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