“Putting things off,” Epictetus said, “and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself…you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.” “Stop drifting,” Marcus wrote. “Sprint…If your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can.”
The New Year is just hours away. If you are ready to attend to yourself, to your well-being, we created this awesome challenge for Daily Stoic: The New Year New You Challenge. It’s designed to get you out of your comfort zone, help you build new habits, take charge, learn new skills, eliminate the inessential, and take real steps towards being the person you are meant to be in 2023. Sprint. Be your own savior. Sign up now!
PASSAGE OF THE WEEK:
Make this the year. This is the year you drive the bad habits out. This is the year you follow through. This is the year you demand the best of and for yourself.
— This Is The Year! (Listen)
YOUTUBE TAKEAWAY OF THE WEEK:
In one of the most watched videos on the Daily Stoic YouTube Channel this week, Ryan Holiday shares some Stoic keys to creating better habits. He talks about the importance of patience and taking the long view. He talks about focusing on the little things, surrounding yourself with the right people, freeing up precious resources, and the double benefit of saying no to the inessential:
“Marcus Aurelius says most of what we do is not essential. When we say no to those inessential things, when we eliminate them, it gives us a double benefit because then we can do the essential things better. So you have to realize that everything you say yes to means you’re saying no to something else. Conversely, and most importantly, when you say no to the things that don’t matter, it gives you the opportunity to say yes to the things that really do matter.”
Watch the full video: The Secret To Better Habits in 2023
PODCAST TAKEAWAY OF THE WEEK:
In a recent episode of the Daily Stoic podcast, Ryan Holiday spoke with authors Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski about their new book When You Wonder, You’re Learning: Mister Rogers’ Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids, the regimen Mr. Rogers followed to become who he became, the enduring lessons from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and the overlap between Mr. Rogers and the Stoics:
“One of Fred’s great quotes was, ‘there’s no normal life that’s free of pain.’ It’s our wrestling with problems that is the impetus for our growth. Which sounds like a very Stoic line to me. I don’t know to what degree Fred studied the Stoics, but I see so much of him in the Stoic works.
Marcus Aurelius saying, ‘be tolerant with others and strict with yourself’—you see Fred being strict with himself and his daily regimen, and then you see him being tolerant with others. What’s more tolerant than telling every single person you encounter, ‘I like you just the way you are’?”
Listen to the full episode: Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski on the Wonder and Discipline of Mr. Rogers
WHAT RYAN HOLIDAY IS READING:
“All that was good in me thrilled in my heart at that moment, all that I hoped for in the profound, obscure meaning of my existence. Here was the endlessly mute placidity of nature, indifferent to the great city; here was the desert beneath these streets, around these streets, waiting for the city to die, to cover it with timeless sand once more. There came over me a terrifying sense of understanding about the meaning and the pathetic destiny of men. The desert was always there, a patient white animal, waiting for men to die, for civilizations to flicker and pass into the darkness. Then men seemed brave to me, and I was proud to be numbered among them. All the evil of the world seemed not evil at all, but inevitable and good and part of that endless struggle to keep the desert down.”
— Ask The Dust by John Fante
YOUR STOIC WEEKEND REMINDER:
Don’t look for the third thing.
In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius writes:
“When you’ve done well and another has benefited by it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top—credit for the good deed or a favor in return?”
Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. You don’t need a pat on the back. You don’t need a thank you. You don’t need a favor back. You don’t need to be repaid. You don’t need to be acknowledged. You don’t need the third thing.
That’s not why you do what you do. You’re good because it’s good to be good, and that’s all you need.
(For more on this idea, watch this video!)
EMAIL OF THE WEEK:
How Much Longer Are You Going To Wait? (Listen)
“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” — Epictetus
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