The Daily Stoic - You Might Never Be Famous — And That’s O.K.

Episode Date: March 10, 2020

Marcus Aurelius talked a lot about fame. He called it a worthless clacking of tongues and liked to point out things like how few people remember the emperors who preceded him, or how the generations to come will be the same annoying people he knows now. It’s easy to picture him writing these things in times where he caught himself falling for the allure of fame, of power, of how history might remember him. Don’t we all fall for it? It is alluring. But if we’re honest with ourselves, it isn’t the fame we really want. it’s the validation that our lives are meaningful. Praise, recognition, millions of followers on Instagram, we think, are proof that we matter. And until we get those things, we’re not always so sure we do.Emily Esfahani Smith wrote an amazing piece in the New York Times, titled “You’ll Never Be Famous — And That’s O.K.”. Reminding us of Marcus in the way Emily too said that fame is a foolish pursuit and not where meaning lies, we reached out to her for an interview. We asked Emily for advice on finding meaning—and how Stoicism can help us get there. She shared the opinion of the 20th-century psychologist Erik Erikson, who said that a flourishing, meaningful life is one of “generativity”: “When we’re young, we’re supposed to figure out who we are and what our purpose is. As we get older, we’re supposed to shift the focus from ourselves to others and be ‘generative.’ That is, we’re supposed to give back, especially to younger generations, by doing things like raising children, mentoring colleagues, creating things of value for our community or society at large, volunteering, etc. We each have the power to be generative. Fame and glamour are about the self—aggrandizing yourself. But generativity is about connecting and contributing to something bigger, which is the very definition of leading a meaningful life.”It’s the Rick Warren line, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” There’s that silly thing that floats around the internet from time to time about how few people can name a gold medalist from the last Winter Olympics, but everyone can name that third grade teacher, that childhood neighbor, who changed your life. It’s the people we touch singularly. That’s the real test. That’s where you make your mark. Let that be today’s great and simple pursuit: positively impact one person’s day. That’s it. 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 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. music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic. For each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the 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. You might never be famous, and that's okay. Marcus Aurelius talked a lot about fame. He called it a worthless clacking of tongues, and liked to point out things like how few people remember the emperors who preceded him, or how the generations to come will be the same annoying people he knows now. It's easy to picture him writing these things in times where he caught himself

falling for the allure of fame, of power, and of how history might remember him. Don't we all fall for it? It is alluring, but if we're honest with ourselves, it isn't fame we really want. It's the validation that our lives are meaningful. Praise, recognition, millions of followers on Instagram, we think are proof that we matter and until we get those things, we're not always so sure that we do. Emily Esfani Smith wrote an amazing piece in the New York Times titled, You'll Never Be Famous, and that's okay. Reminding us of Marcus Aurelius, Emily too said that fame is a foolish pursuit and not-where-meaning lies, and so we reached out to her for an interview.

We asked Emily for advice on finding meaning and how stoicism can help us get there. She shared the opinion of 20th century psychologist Eric Erickson, who said that a flourishing meaningful life is one of generativity. He said, when we're young, we're supposed to figure out who we are and what our purpose is, as we get older, we're supposed to shift the focus from ourselves to others and be generative. As Emily said, we're supposed to give back, especially to younger generations, by doing things like raising children, mentoring colleagues, creating things of value for our community or society at large, volunteering, etc. We each have the power to be generative.

Fame and glamour are all about the self, a grandizing yourself, but generativity is about connecting and contributing to something bigger, which is the very definition of leading a meaningful life. It's the CS Lewis line, humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking about yourself less. There's that silly thing that floats around the internet from time to time about how few people can name a gold medalist from the last winter Olympics, but everyone can name their third grade teacher,

that childhood neighbor who changed your life. It's the people we touch singularly. That's the real test. That's where you make your mark. So let that be today's great and simple pursuit. Positively impact one person's day. That's it. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every

morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email. 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 add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts. 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's 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 SPF 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-Freed. Follow Spellcaster wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, prime members, you can listen to episodes ad-free on Amazon Music.

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