The Daily Stoic - What Gets The Leftover You? | Wants Make You A Servant

Episode Date: April 28, 2022

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Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance in the Art of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful co-author and collaborator, Stephen Hanselman. And so today we'll give you a quick meditation from one of the Stoics, from Epipetus Markus, really a Seneca, then some analysis for me. And then we send you out into the world to do your best to turn these words into works. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wundery'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. What gets the left over you? We're all busy. We all have things going on. Certainly Marcus Aurelius did, you know, running an empire of some sixty million people. Certainly, Senka did not just writing his plays and his essays, but trying to corral an increasingly uncontrollable neuro.

And Epictetus. All his labor was owned by someone else, and the slaves in Rome were worked hard. And yet, and yet the Stoics thought that this was all no more than a side hustle. Our real profession, our real job they believed was philosophy, was the study in the practice of Stoism. They were forever students and forever employed by it. Seneca reminded himself that Alexander the Great as a conqueror decided how his territories would be distributed, that he chose what got left over the undesirable parts. And so it

ought to go for our time. Seneca said philosophy should not get the leftovers. Marcus really said his day job was like a stepmother. It was his real mother that he loved the most unconditionally and she in turn. As you look at your day, as you look at your life, make sure that you have made this critical distinction too. Make sure that you are prioritizing properly. It's the study and the practice of philosophy

that we were put here for. That is our true occupation. Everything else is a side hustle. Everything else is a hobby. Wants make you a servant. And I'm reading to you today from the Daily Stoic 366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living by yours truly. And my co-author and translator, Steve Enhancelman, you can get signed copies, by the way, in the Daily Stoke store, over a million copies of the Daily Stoke and print now. It's been just such a lovely experience to watch it.

It's been more than 250 weeks, consecutive weeks on the bestseller. It's just an awesome experience. But I hope you check it out. We have a premium leather edition at store.dailystock.com as well. But let's get on with today's reading. The highest power, this is a quote from one of Sena whose most brutal and fascinating plays The Yestys,

which is worth reading. And I've talked about it in a couple of different entries of the podcast. One of my favorites, of course, with James Rom. But here's the quote again, the highest power. The highest power is no power if you desire nothing. In the modern world, our interactions with tyranny are a bit more voluntary than they were in ancient times.

We can put up with our controlling boss, though we put up with our controlling boss, though we put up with our controlling boss, even though we could probably get a different job. If we wanted one, we change how we dress or refrain from saying what we actually think because we want to fit in with some cool group. We put up with the cruel critic or customers because we want their approval or their business. And in these cases, these powers exist because of our wants. You change that, and you're free. The late fashion photographer Bill Cunningham occasionally declined to invoice magazines for his work. When a young Epstar asked him why that was, Cunningham's response was epic.

If you don't take the money, they can't tell you what to do, kid. Remember that taking the money and wanting the money, it makes you a servant to the people who have it. In difference to that, Ascentech puts it, turns the highest power into no power, at least as far as your life is concerned. I've said before that my definition of success is spelled autonomy. I want control over my own life.

If I don't have that, it doesn't matter how much money I have, how respected I am, how powerful I am, I'm not that powerful because I can't do what I want. I don't control my day. My wants control my day. My needs control my day. What I've agreed to, what I've signed up to controls my day. And I don't like that. It doesn't make me feel good and it reminds me that I'm wasting this precious resource. And I love seeing people who have to make this decision

at a much, much bigger level. Rory Mikkoroi actually, I think it was he read this entry of the Daily Stoke and then he was asked to join this new golf league and he quoted that bill cutting hamline that he got from the book and said if they don't, if you don't take the money to can't tell you what to do. You want to find what you want to do in life, the place you want to be, and then you have to be able to say no.

They talk about this idea of fuck you money. Fuck you money is when you have so much money that you get to say what you really think. You get to be rude about it. There's a great line in the first episode of Billion's Brian Cobblin. It's just such a great writer, but the line in that show, he says, what's the point of having fuck you money if you never say fuck you?

And sorry, I know it's a lot of cursing and stuff, but the point is, I actually don't think you need fuck you money. You just need like polite no thanks money. You just need the power of being content with what you have. There's a stoic line we quoted on daily stoics. Sometimes people sometimes don't like it. Sounds very privileged. I believe it's Seneca. He's saying, you know, poverty isn't having little. It's wanting more. I think he's saying that obviously has a very rich,

successful person. What he means is he sees the people who can't say no. Maybe he's even speaking to himself. He wanted to be in the center of things. He wanted to be in the room where it happened. He wanted to throw big parties. He wanted to have beautiful estates. And this puts him in a position where it's hard for him to say, no, he doesn't have as much control over his life as you'd think someone in that position is. So the point is, tyranny is not just slavery. Tyranny is also often self-imposed. Slavery is often self-imposed. We put ourselves on a treadmill. We put ourselves in a position of vulnerability.

We put ourselves in a position of dependency because we want to get this. We want to get there. We want to have access to this. We want to be like these people. And that makes us have to agree to do certain things. That makes us need to spend a certain amount. That makes us need to dress a certain way.

The people who are content with what they have, people who have enough, that's a position of real power. And I tell that story and stillness is the key and we have a pretty viral video about it that you know what, I'll just play it. We have this great story. This is one of the most viewed TikToks we've ever done. It really captures exactly what Cunningham is saying.

Captures exactly what Sena is saying. The ultimate power freedom in life is to have enough. There's an amazing story about Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller who wrote Catch 22 and Slotter House 5. They're at the party, this billionaire. Vonnegut is teasing Heller and he says, this billionaire whose house we're at, he made more money this week than your book will make

it its entire life. And Heller says, but I have something that he doesn't have. Vonnegut says, what's that? And Heller says, I have some idea of what enough is. He says, I have enough. This idea of enough is so powerful. Seneca, who quotes Epicurus, says, if you don't regard what you have as enough,

you will never be happy, even if you rule the entire world. Enough is never enough, the Epicurians in the stoic say, for the person who enough is too little. And if you can get to a place of enough, what I have is good, everything else is extra, then everything you get is a bonus. And the rest of your life is amazing. But if you tell yourself you'll only be happy if,

if I'll feel better when, you'll never get there. The finish line will move, I promise you. Enough is enough. Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Stoke podcast. Again, if you don't know this, you can get these delivered to you via email every day. You just go to dailystoke.com slash email. So check it out.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke early and add 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. I love my kid, but is a new parenting podcast from Wondry that shares a refreshingly honest and insightful take on parenting.

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