The Daily Stoic - You Must Seek This Out | Ask Ds

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

It’s sad that when we think of a philosopher we don’t think of somebody tough. We don’t think of a soldier or a skilled professional. We don’t think of a happily married parent raising kids. We don’t think of someone thriving amidst the chaos of the world.No, for some reason, we think of an academic. We think of somebody scrawny. We think of someone whose life is mostly sedentary, mostly spent at a desk with their stacks of books around them and their scrolls in front of them.-In part 2 of today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan talks stoics and answers questions in NYC during Obstacle is the way for 160 Hunter Douglas leaders from across the world. Hunter Douglas is the world’s leading manufacturer of window coverings as well as a major manufacturer of architectural products. For the last five years, we have been doing what we call the Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge—a set of 21 actionable challenges, presented one per day, built around the best, most timeless wisdom in Stoic philosophy. 21 challenges designed to set you up to be able to say, whatever happens in 2024 and beyond, this is precisely what I trained for.. Demand more of yourself in 2024. Prepare for whatever is ahead. Head over todailystoic.com/challengeand sign up NOW!✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I told this story before, but the first Airbnb I stayed in was 15 years ago. I was looking for places to live when I wanted to be a writer and we stayed at this house, I think outside Phoenix. And then when I bought my first house here in Austin, I would rent it out when South by Southwest or F-1 or all these events. My wife and I would go out of town and we'd rent it and it helped pay for the mortgage and it supported me while I was a writer. You've probably had the same experience.

You stayed in an Airbnb and thought, this is doable. Maybe I could rent my place on Airbnb. And it's really that simple. You can start with a spare room or you can rent your whole place when you're away. You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. Maybe you set up a home office during the pandemic

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Download the Coho app today or visit www.coho.ca for more details. Welcome to the DailyStoic podcast where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. Well, on Thursdays, we not only read the Daily Meditation, but we answer some questions from listeners in fellow Stoics, we're trying to apply this philosophy just as you are. Some of these come from my talks.

Some of these come from Zoom sessions that we do with Daily Stoic Life members, or as part of the challenges. Some of them are from interactions I have on the street when there happened to be someone there recording, but thank you for listening. And we hope this is of use to you. It's sad that when we think of a philosopher, we don't think of somebody tough. We don't think of a soldier or a skilled professional.

We don't think of a happily married parent raising kids. We don't think of somebody thriving amidst the chaos of the world. Now, for some reason, we think of an academic. We think of somebody's scrawny. We think of somebody whose life is mostly sedentary, mostly spent at a desk with their stacks of books around them, where there are scrolls in front of them. But now, this is wrong.

In the ancient world, philosophers were warriors and athletes and hunters and boxers and wrestlers and distance runners. They did hard things. They sought out opportunities to push their physical limitations. Socrates was admired for his ability to endure cold weather. Mark Serelyse was a wrestler. Client these was a boxer. Cray Cipis was a runner. Admiral Stockdale played football in high school and at the Naval Academy. This wasn't separate from their philosophy practice. This was their philosophy practice. These were people trained in adversity. They were people who did difficult things because as we've said difficult things are good for you.

We treat the body rigorously, Seneca said, so that it will not be disobedient to the mind. We toughen ourselves up because life is tough. We challenge ourselves so that no matter what life has in store for us, we'll be able to say, as Epic Tita said, we need to be able to say that this is what I trained for. Well are you training? Are you seeking out challenges? Are you getting soft? What picture of a philosopher do you present?

Academic or active? Difficult things are good for you. Seek them out. And I think we should all be kicking 2024 off with a challenge. And that's why we created the Daily Stoke New Year New Year Challenge. I've been talking a ton about. For the last five years, thousands of stokes all over the world have looked forward to this as I look forward to it. Every year, we kick the year off

21 unique actionable stoke challenges built around the most timeless wisdom of stoke philosophy and rise in your inbox each morning. We all do this cool challenge together, some are physical, some are mental, right? Some are you write them down, some are physical, some are mental, right? Some are, you write them down, some involve reading, some involve, some you do alone, some you do with other people, but the point is it helps spark who you are meant to be. It challenges you, gets you out of your comfort zone. I'd really love for you to join us.

You can sign up right now. It's gonna start on January 1st, so there's not that much time left. I'd love to have you join us. Don't delay. Let's start it now. Let's do it together. I'd love to see in there. You can sign up at dailystoic.com slash challenge.

Or remember, if you join daily stoke life, you get this challenge in all the daily stoke challenges for the rest of the year, plus a bunch of other bonuses all totally for free. And you can sign up there at DailyStoicLife.com. I was telling you last week that I gave a cool talk to the folks at Hunter Douglas in New York City. I think it was at the Marriott there in Times Square. I got in super late. I had just enough time to scarf town some food, get a couple hours sleep, do the talk, and then head straight back home to Austin. One of the things I'm trying to do lately, just with the kids being so young, is spend absolutely as a little time on the road as possible,

which means I don't get to do all the things that I used to do in the cities that I would travel to. You know, I like to swim at the New York Athletic Club, I like to run in Central Park. I like to see friends that I know. There's lots of stuff I like to do when I'm in New York, but doing less and less of that these days, it's just what's the, I'm even thinking less like, what's the flight with the best frequent flyer miles? And I think which one's going to give me 30 more minutes at home or whatever. But it was a nice little trip, speaking to different leaders inside the Hunter Douglas organization,

which is an international company that as I said last week, Spinnin' Business for a hundred years. So they had some really cool questions and I'm gonna bring you those now. Enjoy. For me, the... The doubt gets taken.

Yeah, sure. Have you thought about... ...writing about that? A little bit? I talk a lot about the Eastern stuff in my book on stillness. There's such a connection. There is. I think they were drinking from the same source and someone. They were drinking from the same source, right? Or they kind of settled on the same truth.

I think that I'm really into the connection between humility and high performance. Yes, of course. And you sort of like, Marraileus talks about, you know, what is it? Brightest, the great master of deception. Yes, of course. You go as the enemy, right? You go as the enemy. And I think you probably really great people are very humble.

Yes. Because that's makes you better. Yes, and open. Yes, of course. And it's something in the US, like, a river from the origins for like a stud-carry company. Yes. And it's a counterintuitive thing

in how American companies tend to be managed. There's a lot of non-immunity plates in. Yes, that's part of the American spirit. It is, that's it. It is. Well, EpicTitus is line, as you can't learn not what you think you already know. Yeah, which I think is a very Eastern idea also. Yeah, and so you

know there's the Zen story about the cups. You pour the what if it's already full it overfell. Yeah, and so the the empty are you are. I've been meaning to have to just because I think there's something in that concept. I do too. Connection between humility and high performance is actually surprisingly tight. Yeah, of course, if you're focused on how you can get better, then you can get better. If your folks are out great, you are,

then you should say the same. And I think, obviously, back to the beginnings of Western thought, the socratic method is knowing what you don't know. And asking questions versus making statements. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I love that. When did you start?

I was at home, did you pay? When I was in college. It started with Marcus Arrelli, it did, yes, yes. I started with meditations, and I was like, this is the most incredible thing. It was already a start from, it was already a start before like, yeah, Buddhism,

and let's say, that came later, and then you're like wow these are all the same thing and at the same time yes my friends they were all around the same time you could you could have interchangeably sat in on the lectures of any of them and been like I've heard this before yeah you. You did a fantastic job. That's so cool. I mean, I didn't know that they had organized. Yeah, for you to come. Oh, when I saw you on the agenda, I'm like, OK, like, these guys, oh, I love it.

You were thinking like right from the beginning of your apartment ring, but when he picked you, oh, that's so great. That is the sign that we're, I love it, to an unbeatable. Amazing. And in the way you spoke, just like the right thing That is the sign that we're trying to do an unbeatable. Amazing. And in the way you scroll, just like the right thing at the right time.

Oh, I love that. That's amazing. It helps a lot of fans. Awesome. Thank you. Of course, good to meet you. Yeah. Hi.

Hi. Hi. Nice to meet you. Good to meet you too. Big time up to you. Oh, awesome. I'm thinking about the things to keep in mind. Yeah. Do you think the very military goes well with the perception or do you think it's more of an action piece?

Ultimately, it just matters that sticks in your mind and it gives you something to apply. Do you know what I mean? That's kind of how I think about it. Sometimes I need one reminder and sometimes I need the other depending on what I'm going through. That's kind of how I think about it. Besides not kind of rains and coins,

because they, you know, how to weigh you. I just try to write about the stuff all the time. That's what I'm writing about in my journal. It's just like these ideas over and over. Usually in the morning, sometimes at night, it doesn't really matter, but I just try to be writing about the ideas over and over again. That's what brings me back when I drift from it. Yeah.

Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. of course. Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us and it would really help the show. We appreciate it, and I'll see you next episode. 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.

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