Almost everything that’s ever happened in your life has been the result of a choice.
A lot of it has happened because of your own personal choices.
But even those things that have happened to you completely and totally outside of your control have usually resulted from a choice…
Someone else’s choice in that case. And it created circumstances, good or bad, that affected you.
Interesting, and quite sad, to think about.
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Here’s a quote worth writing down:
A Stoic believes they don’t control the world around them, only how they respond—and that they must always respond with courage, temperance, wisdom, and justice.
I believe the same thing applies to all humans, not just those of us who practice Stoicism.
Write it down (and check out the author’s post).
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What’s the purpose of a leader?
If you subscribe to Ryan Holiday’s “Daily Stoic” newsletter, you’ve probably seen he’s done a week-long feature on leadership and Stoic philosophy.
One email he wrote earlier this week stood out to me… I’ve been able to think of little else since. It’s about the sole purpose of being a leader. Here are some of the quotes used in the email:
“Happy is the man who can make others better, not merely when he is in their company, but even when he is in their thoughts. —Seneca
Another one here from Seneca:
“Nobody can live happy [sic] if he cares only for himself, if he turns everything to his own benefit: you have to live for others, if you want to live for yourself.”
Then, near the end of the email, he sums up an idea from Marcus Aurelius:
“As Marcus Aurelius writes in Meditations, people are our proper occupation. ‘[My] job is to do them good.’ When we make others better, he writes elsewhere, ‘we perform our function.’“
Summing up his newsletter, he makes this statement:
Leaders make people better.
We’re all leaders. And we’re all philosophers.
So let’s make other people better.
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https://michaelhyatt.com/shave/
Michael Hyatt put together a crazy in-depth guide with four big parts. If you’re looking to up your productive and get more done while working less, I highly recommend you download this ebook.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-made-simple/id1569923210?i=1000526591946
Donald Miller’s “StoryBrand Framework” is the gold standard in effective marketing, especially for creatives, solopreneurs, and small business folks.
His team recently came out with a new podcast called “Marketing Made Simple” which I’m absolutely DEVOURING. Not only are the hosts incredibly engaging and funny, they give practical advice and step-by-step instructions on how to market your business from beginning to end.
There are five episodes so far, each with a call-to-action to fill out your very own StoryBrand Brandscript (which you can start for free right here).
https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2021/07/21/on-pace-and-productivity/
Last, but not least, this article from Cal Newport shows us that how much time we look at collectively has a big impact on whether or not we look productive.
Scientists like Galileo and Newton had seemingly slow, unproductive days when looked at individually. But when you look at their accomplishments over the span of years, it’s mind-boggling what they did…
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Today’s Daily Stoic email so inspired me, I had to share it with you.
“The Stoic doesn’t believe that any job—any profession or action—is beneath them if it is what life is demanding of them. To the Stoic, a dollar earned honestly is a good one. To a Stoic, a job done well is a good one.
—Ryan Holiday
If you have a job and are able to put food on the table for yourself and your family, you’re incredible. If you’re paying your bills and have a roof over your head, you’re a rockstar.
“I am solving the problem of poverty,” said Ulysses S. Grant when asked why he was selling firewood.
Don’t think of it as demeaning. But also don’t stop striving for something different if that’s what you want.
Sometimes you just have to work.
Criticism sucks. At times, it’s necessary for growth, but it still sucks.
How did you react the last time someone criticized you? I’m guessing you retreated inward, or perhaps you did the opposite and lashed out to defend your actions.
People don’t like to be wrong, and they like it even less when their wrongdoing is pointed out. Criticism only creates a need in others to justify their actions.
Really, when someone does something wrong, the only useful thing to do for either party involved is to respond proactively. On the lowest level of proactivity, this means living by Jesus’ principle of “turning the other cheek.” Simply choose not to react–easier said than done, I know, but it can be developed with practice like any skill or muscle. At a higher level, this might mean never taking offense to the wrongdoing in the first place. This idea is the epitome of stoicism.
As you go about your day, assume that each person you meet is angry, negative, reactive, and will blame everyone and everything he meets for his circumstances…except himself. If you do this, you’ll soon realize that criticizing or reacting to him does nothing except, perhaps, to make you feel better.
It won’t solve the problem; he won’t learn the lesson you want to pound into him; and the only growth anyone makes will be that of resentment and ill will between each party.
Don’t be a critic; be a model of what you wish others to do. It’s the only way to create the change you seek. Learn how right here.
“A society that is callous and indifferent to the weak and the vulnerable destroys itself. A society that betrays its elders—even if those elders have been indifferent and callous themselves—betrays itself.”
–Ryan Holiday
Selfishness wins the day for the individual in the short run; it always comes back to haunt the individual in the long run.
Think of others, not yourself, your desires, or your wants, especially in times of danger or crisis.
The beaches can wait; you can cut your own hair; you can socialize with your church members online during the service.
It’s not about you.
The latest newsletter by Ryan Holiday on Stoicism (feel free to read it here) got me thinking about the difference between stoically, proactively accepting something as it is versus doing so in a passive, resigned way.
Holiday points out that Stoics were once criticized as being “too resigned…[accepting] the status quo.” That particular phrase got me thinking about accepting reality and taking action.
There are plenty of folks in the world who accept things passively, resignedly, like a sad sack – “there’s nothing I can do about it.” However, that isn’t what Stoics, or indeed, any religious or philosophical teaching truly preached.
Jesus told us turn the other cheek.
Epictetus told us to accept the things we can’t control as they are.
However, none of this means we simply roll over and die, accepting our fate. Quite the opposite, in fact. What these teachings tell us to do is face reality, then take action.
Stephen Covey talks about the “Circle of Concern” and “Circle of Influence” in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; these two circles are precisely the ideas about which Jesus, Epictetus, and other Stoic philosophers were trying to teach us.
There are things that we simply cannot change or do anything about. You can’t control whether someone slaps you in the face. You can’t control the economy, the weather, what the politicians in Washington do, or what your boss is like. You have to accept these as reality, or you will waste time and energy banging your head against the wall.
You can control how you respond to the guy who slaps you in the face, how you handle your money in times of crises, or how you dress and prepare when the weather turns nasty.
You can control how you treat other people, whether or not you vote, whether you actively contribute to your community, or whether you make positive deposits into your most important relationships.
You can control what skills you learn, how diligent you are in your job search, whether you give more than you are asked and build more trust with your boss as a result, and how you react when the boss doesn’t change his behavior.
Complaining, comparing, attempting to change things involving other people’s behavior, or changing the way the world works, for the most part, is ridiculously ineffective. You must instead focus your attention on things over which you have actual influence and control; most of the time those are things involve you: your behaviors, your actions, and your views of the world.
Accepting things as they are is the most important first step in changing how things are.
Until you accept reality as it is, there is nothing you can do to make a difference.
That’s my rant for today. Thanks for reading.
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