The Daily Stoic - You'll Have to Beat Me First

Episode Date: November 18, 2019

There is a famous moment in the history of Sparta, when they were threatened with invasion by Phillip, King of Macedon. Phillip, whose son was Alexander the Great, demanded the submission of the Spartans. It would be better to submit to him now, he said, because "If I conquer your city, I will destroy you all.The Spartans’ reply to this was just one word: “If.”They were not the kind of people who gave up easily, even in the face of incredible odds, because they believed in their own capabilities. If they had even a 1% chance of persevering, they were willing to take it. They weren’t going to lay down their arms without a fight—you were going to have to come and take them.While the Spartans had little time or interest in philosophy, we should see the Stoics as the heirs to this tradition of tenacity and determination. Cato’s impassioned resistance against Caesar was a man giving everything he had to a cause most people thought was lost—and he very nearly won. George Washington and the Stoic founding fathers of America fought a similar cause against the greatest army in the world, and did win. James Stockdale looked at his captors at that prison camp in Vietnam and said, “If.” He said, “You’re going to have to beat me.” And as close as they came at times, they never managed to. Stoicism is not resignation. It is, in fact, a philosophy that shines brightest when the outlook is darkest. It makes that distinction between what is not in our control and what is in our control for a reason—so we can focus 100% of our energy on what is in our control...even if the odds of success are low, even when everyone else thinks the smarter move is submission. If it’s humanly possible, Marcus Aurelius said, know that you can do it. If there is a 1% chance, that means there is a chance. It means you can do it. So do 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 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. You'll have to beat me first. There is a famous moment in the history of Sparta when they were threatened with invasion by Philip, King of Macedon. Philip, whose son was Alexander the Great, demanded the submission of the Spartans,

would be much better to submit to him now, he said, if I conquer your city, I will destroy you all. The Spartans replied to this was just one word, if. They were not the kind of people who gave up easily, even in the face of incredible odds, because they believed in their own capabilities. If they had even 1% chance of persevering, they were willing to take it.

They were not going to lay down their arms without a fight. You were going to have to come and take them. While the Spartans had little time or interest in philosophy, we should see the Stoics as their heirs to this tradition of tenacity and determination. Cato's impassioned resistance against Caesar was a man giving nearly everything he had to a cause most people thought was lost, and he very nearly won. George Washington and the Stoic founding fathers of America fought a similar cause against the greatest army in the world and did win. James Stockdale looked at his

captors at that prison camp in Vietnam and said, if he said, you're going to have to beat me and as close as they came at times they never managed to do so. Stoicism is not resignation. It is in fact a philosophy that shines brightest when the outlook is darkest. It makes that distinction between what is not in our control and what is in our control for a reason. So we can focus 100% of our energy on what's in our control, even if the odds of success or low, even

when everyone else thinks the smarter move is submission. If it's humanly possible, Marcus Aurelius said, know that you can do it. If there's a 1% chance, that means there's a chance. It means you can do it. So do it. Hey everyone, since the Daily Stoke came out more than three years ago and since this email has become one of the biggest newsletters in all of philosophy, we've gotten a lot of requests for a Daily Stoke desk calendar. One of those tarot way calendars, you could have the quote

on your desk, you don't have to carry the book with you to the office every day, or if you want to have it on your bathroom counter, or your kitchen counter, or somewhere in your house. And so we finally made one. And now in the Daily Stoke store is the Daily Stoke 2020 calendar. It lines up perfectly with the book. It has the same original translations of Mark Cerelia's Seneca epictetus that we did for the book. Our store is the only place you can get this awesome calendar.

So check it out at dailystoke.com slash store. Hey, prime members. You can listen to the daily stoke 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 Moir 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.

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 Kodopaxi, 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 Wonder yet. wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon or Wondery app.