BONUS | 7 Stoic Rules for Staying Disciplined

0:00Ryan Holiday: We just got back from an amazing vacation in Italy. I'll bring you some clips from it over the next couple weeks. I recorded a bunch of stuff while we were there. Although it was as hot as it has literally ever been. It's one of the best family trips we've ever had. And we stayed in this amazing palazzo that we booked on Airbnb. It was like 500 years old. It had all these Roman funerary headstones in it, which is this crazy memento mori thing. It was like staying in a museum. The hosts were incredible. They lovingly restored this place. They took amazing care of it. And by listing their place on Airbnb, they get to share this amazing experience with people from all over the world and get funds to put towards upkeeping and restoring their place.

0:43Ryan Holiday: If you're planning a trip this summer, it's worth considering listing your place on Airbnb. It can be a great way to help offset the cost of your vacation and earn a little extra money to put towards your next adventure. Your place might be worth more than you think. And all you got to do is go to airbnb.com slash host to find out more. Recording this on a Sunday, just spent a nice lovely day at home, kind of redecorating the house. Just, you know, school is going to start soon. We want to get the space like less stressful, just set up better. And so the first place we checked was Wayfair, because on Wayfair, you'll find the stuff you need.

1:19Ryan Holiday: Stuff that stands up to real life. They've got furniture and decor, all of it built to last. And when you shop with Wayfair Verified, you get pieces that are hand vetted by product specialists using a 10 point quality inspection. They test the materials, the functionality, the features, even how long it takes to build. One of the good things about Wayfair is the reviews. They've got more than 20 million verified five star reviews from real shoppers. You get to see real customer photos and feedback before you buy. right? Sometimes it looks good in the photo, but you've experienced this, like the hotel lobby looks good, but you want to see the actual room from an actual human being.

1:58Ryan Holiday: Well, Wayfair lets you see that with the stuff you're buying for your house and Wayfair rewards members get 5 % back every day, helping you get more value from your Wayfair purchases. Join Wayfair rewards today to get 5 % back on every purchase and start saving on your next home upgrade. Head over to wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's Wayfair, W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. Wayfair, every style, every home. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world.

2:38Seven Stoic Strategies to Be More Disciplined. Number one, it starts in the morning. Mark Shuey says, at dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, you want to huddle under the blankets. He says, ask yourself, is this what you were put here to do? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? No, you were meant to do your duty. You were meant to do your job. You were meant to make a positive difference in this world. Get up and get after it. Two, focus on the little things. Zeno says that well-being is realized by small steps, but it's no small thing.

3:10Ryan Holiday: Sometimes we get intimidated. We get overwhelmed by all the things that we have to do. when really what we have to do is the next right thing. Make the right choice in front of you. Do that little thing, do it well, which is the third one from Mark Civilis. He says, concentrate on this task in front of you like a Roman, do it like it's the last thing you are doing in your life. If it's not worth doing, why are you doing it? And if it is worth doing, it's worth doing well. And three, remember that you are something that is worth doing well. Epictetus said, look, some people try to cultivate their farm.

3:46Some people try to make money. He says, I try to cultivate my own improvement day to day. He saw himself as the canvas. He saw himself as the project. He wanted to be better than he was yesterday. And that should be what we're striving for, right? Again, well-being is realized by small steps, but it's no small thing. But you've got to stop putting this off, which leads us to the next one. Number four, Seneca said that the one thing all fools have in common is they're always getting ready to start, right? They tell themselves the biggest lie in the world, which is I'm going to do it later. I'm going to do it tomorrow.

4:21You could be good today, Mark Sibilius says in meditations. Instead, you choose tomorrow. Why? Don't be good later. Be good now. Number five, Mark Sibilius' self-improvement journey survives to us in the form of meditations. He's writing these little notes to himself every day about how he wants to get better, about trying to hold himself accountable. He's putting himself up for review. And this kind of daily journaling process is itself an important discipline, but it will help make you more disciplined because you're able to track your own progress. You're able to look at yourself with a little bit of distance.

4:56Six, look, life is not easy. It is hard. So it's good to do hard things, to practice voluntary discomfort, as the so say, so that when you are uncomfortable, that's not an unfamiliar feeling. You shouldn't be caught off guard by that. Seneca talks about how we treat the body rigorously so that it's not disobedient to the mind. Challenge yourself, push yourself, do hard things. And finally, number seven, let's use memento mori as fuel, not fear, right? Understanding that you're going to die someday, that life is short, should give you urgency, should give you priority, right? A daily reminder it isn't morbid.

5:31It is the fastest and most effective cure for procrastination. So the stillics have so much to say about discipline, but these are some great ones to start with.