The Daily Stoic - Which Founder Will You Be?

Episode Date: October 31, 2019

It’s easy to whitewash history, to look back at a group of people who did an incredible thing and assume they were all on the same page when it happened. We forget the egos and the personality flaws. We forget their struggles and infighting.The Founding Fathers of America are a great example of this. They can seem like a unified group of wise superhumans—beyond the passions or tempers that rule our lives—but, of course, they were anything but. According to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams was the kind of guy who “always governed by the feeling of the moment,” and given his fragile, insecure personality, this did not serve him well. Think of Jefferson himself, whose lust and hypocrisy not only tolerated slavery, but allowed him to justify owning a human being, Sally Jennings, he claimed to love. He was also a bit of a coward, and an ungrateful political intriguer. Hamilton was so ruled by his passions he not only cheated on his wife, but got himself killed in a duel that a wiser, more self-controlled man would have been able to avoid.The list goes on and on. Although George Washington was by no means a perfect human being—he too owned slaves—he found a way to rise above these other men, not just on the battlefield but in everyday life. He lived by a system. By a personal code. He put duty above all else. He would have rather died than betray his sense of honor. It was through this that he managed to achieve greatness far beyond what Adams or Jefferson or Hamilton could even approach. It’s why he is probably the greatest American, if not the greatest statesman, to ever live.That’s what Stoicism is about and what it helps us do. We are all flawed people. We have tempers. We have egos. We have selfish desires. What we need is a system, a code that helps us triumph over them. It gives us a Cato—to quote Seneca’s line and to mention Washington’s hero—to model ourselves after. Something to check our behavior against, to guide us in the moments where emotion or temptation would lead us astray.All of the Founders were great in their own way, all of them contributed to the founding of a nation. But Washington got further, did more—he conquered the British as well as himself. He was in his own power, and would have been even had his army faltered and he had been captured. Which founder will you be? Whose example will you follow? Will you be great, or can you aspire to be more like the greatest?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 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. Which founder will you be? It's easy to whitewash history to look back at a group of people who did an incredible thing and assume they were all on the same page when it happened,

we forget the egos and the personality flaws, we forget their struggles and infighting. The founding fathers of America are a great example of this. They can seem like a unified group of wise superhumans, beyond the passions or tempers that rule our lives. But of course, they were anything but. According to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams was the kind of guy who was always governed by the feeling of the moment, and given his fragile insecure personality, this did not serve him well. Think of Jefferson himself who's lust and hypocrisy not only tolerated slavery, but allowed him to justify owning a human being, Sally Jennings, who he claimed to love. He was also a bit of a coward and an ungrateful political intriguer. Hamilton was so ruled by his passions,

he not only cheated on his wife, but he got himself killed in a duel that a wiser, more self-controlled man, would have been able to avoid. The list goes on and on. Although George Washington was by no means a perfect human being, he two own slaves, he found a way to rise above these other men, not just on the battlefield, but in everyday life. He lived by a system, by a personal code. He put duty above all else. He would have rather died than betray his sense of honor. And it was through this that he managed to achieve greatness far beyond what Adams or Jefferson or Hamilton could even approach. It's why he is probably the greatest American, if not the greatest statesman, to ever live. That's what stoicism is about

and what it helps us to do. We are all flawed people. We have tempers, we have egos, we have selfish desires. What we need is a system, a code that helps us triumph over them. It gives us a cato to quote Seneca's line and to mention Washington's hero, to model ourselves after. Something to check our behavior against, to guide us in the moments where emotion or temptation would lead us astray.

All of the founders were great in their own way. All of them contributed to the founding of a nation, but Washington got further, did more. He conquered the British as well as himself. He was in his own power and would have been even had his army faltered and he had been captured. So which founder will you be? Whose example will you follow? Will you be great? Or can you aspire to be more like the greatest? Hey everyone, I wanted to tell you about two new pendants we have in the Daily Stoic store. These are great ways to keep Stoic principles literally on

you close to your heart wherever you go. First we have a brand new ego is the enemy pendant. This is based obviously on my book. Ego is the enemy. We all know that ego is something that is constantly undermining us that's sucking us down like gravity. I think you can wear this, and it can help you keep your ego in check. And then we have an amazing, new gold plated version of our best selling

Memento Mori Pendant. It's Marcus really said, you can leave life right now, so you have to live life to the fullest. The original Silver Memento Mori Pendant is one of our most popular products, and that's why we brought it out in this new gold plated edition. Looks beautiful and it's a great update on the original. You can check both of these out today in the Daily Stoic store. Go to DailyStoic.com slash store. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and add free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery

Plus in Apple Podcasts. Raising kids can be one of the greatest rewards of a parent's life. But come on, some days, 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. Hosted by myself, Megan Galey, Chris Garcia, and Kurt Brown-Oller, we will be your resident not-so-expert experts. Each week we'll share a parenting story

that'll have you laughing, nodding, and thinking, oh yeah, I have absolutely been there. We'll talk about what went right and wrong. What would we do differently? And the next time you step on yet another stray Lego in the middle of the night, you'll feel less alone. So if you like to laugh with us as we talk about the hardest job in the world,

listen to, I love my kid, but wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Hey there listeners, while we take a little break here, I want to tell you about another podcast that I think you'll like. It's called How I Built This, where host Guy Razz talks to founders behind some of the world's biggest and most innovative companies To learn how they built them from the ground up. Guy has sat down with hundreds of founders behind well-known companies like Headspace, Manduke Yoga Mats, Soul Cycle, and Cotopaxi, as well as entrepreneurs working to solve some of the biggest problems of our time. Like developing technology that pulls energy from the ground

to heat in cool homes, or even figuring out how to make drinking water from air and sunlight. Together, they discussed their entire journey from day one, and all the skills they had to learn along the way, like confronting big challenges, and how to lead through uncertainty. So if you want to get inspired

and learn how to think like an entrepreneur, check out how I built this, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon or Wondery app.