The Daily Stoic - What We Do In Life Does Not Echo In Eternity

Episode Date: December 31, 2018

In the movie Gladiator, Maximus, the protege of Marcus Aurelius, says famously, “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.” It’s a powerful, inspiring line, (also tattooed on Lebron James’s arm) one the average viewer might assume that Marcus Aurelius agreed with.Funnily enough, in his actual writings, Marcus Aurelius could not have come out more strongly against this idea. He says at one point, in Meditations, that “People out for posthumous fame forget that the Generations to Come will be the same annoying people they know now. And just as mortal." But even if they weren’t, he asks:“What good would it do you?...You're out of step—neglecting the gifts of nature to hang on someone's words in the future."Indeed, not only do people deprive themselves of the wonder of the present in order to hopefully be remembered in the future, far too many people—especially leaders—do themselves and those they serve a disservice by “performing for history.” Instead of focusing on what they can do right now, what little progress or improvements they can make, they get caught up in the idea of a grand, sweeping legacy. Or they play things safe, not wanting to take risks that could turn out badly...at the expense of possible opportunities they’ll never even know they missed.We should want to do the right thing, today, because it’s the right thing. We should pursue excellence because excellence is intrinsically valuable, not because we want to be admired after we’re dead and gone. Forget echoing in eternity—just speak loudly enough to be heard right now.Or better yet, let your actions do the talking.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 dailystowick.com. What we do in life does not echo in eternity. In the movie Gladiator Maximus, the protégé of Marcus Aurelius, says famously, what we do in life echoes in eternity. In the movie Gladiator Maximus, the protégé of Marcus Aurelius, says famously, what we do in life echoes in eternity. It's a powerful, inspiring

line, one the average viewer might assume that Marcus Aurelius agrees with in real life. Funnily enough, in his actual writings, Marcus Aurelius could not have come out more strongly against this idea. He says at one point in meditations that people out for posthumous fame forget that the generations to come will be the same annoying people they know now, and just as mortal. But even if they weren't, he asks, what good would it do you? You're out of step neglecting the gifts of nature to hang on someone's words in the future. Indeed, not only do people deprive themselves of the wonder of the present in order to hopefully be remembered in the future, far too many people, especially leaders, do themselves and those they serve a disservice by performing for history.

Instead of focusing on what they can do right now, what little progress or improvements they can make, they get caught up in the idea of a grand sweeping legacy, or they play things safe, not wanting to take risks that could turn out badly. At the expense of possible opportunities, they'll never even know they missed. We want to do the right thing today, because it's the right thing. We should pursue excellence because excellence is intrinsically valuable, not because we want to be admired after we're dead and gone. Forget echoing in eternity. Just speak loudly enough to be heard right now, or better yet, let your actions do the talking.

Epic Titus' line was how much longer are you going to wait until you demand the best for yourself? I think he was really saying, how long are you going to wait until you demand the best of yourself? And for that reason, we've created this new 14-day Stoic Challenge. I'm just going to kick off on January 1st. I hope you'll check it out. It's 14 days of awesome Stoic-based challenges.

They're going to make you a better person, a better learner, a better thinker. Whatever it is, I think you'll check it out. It's 14 days of awesome, stoic-based challenges. That can make you a better person, a better learner, a better thinker, whatever it is. I think you'll like it. I'm gonna be doing it. It's an awesome community that goes along with it. If you wanna check it out, you can go to dailystoic.com slash challenge. But remember, this closes on at 11.59 pm on December 31st.

If you wanna kick the year off right, I hope you join us. DailyStoak.com slash challenge. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoak early and ad free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen 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. Celebrity feuds are high stakes. You never know if you're just going to end up on Page Six or Du Moire or in court. I'm Matt Bellesai. And I'm Sydney Battle, and we're the host of Wondery's new podcast, Dis 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 Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears. When Britney's fans form the free Britney 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. Ah, the Bahamas. What if you could live in a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean working during the day and partying at night with your best friends and have it be 100% paid for? FTX Founder Sam Bankman Freed lived that dream life, but it was all funded with other people's money, but he allegedly stole. Many thought Sam Bankman Freed was changing the game as he graced the pages of Forbes

and Vanity Fair. Some involved in crypto saw him as a breath of fresh air, from the usual Wall Street buffs with his casual dress and ability to play League of Legends during boardroom meetings. But in less than a year, his exchange would collapse. An SBF would find himself in a jail cell, with tens of thousands of investors blaming him for their crypto losses. From Bloomberg and Wondery, comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docu-series about the meteoric rise and spectacular fall of FTX and its founder, Sam Beckman-Free. Follow Spellcaster wherever you get your podcast.

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