No One Can Hold Anything Over You | Keeping “The News” In Check

0:00You probably heard the headlines about all the different cuts to foreign aid and food benefits. This is having a profound impact on the world's poorest people and the world's poorest communities. But, you know, just hearing about that, that's not what stoicism is about. Stoicism is, to me, what you're going to do about it. And that's where GiveWell comes in. GiveWell is trusted by tens of thousands of donors each year because they provide free and independent research that helps you understand how to have a big impact. GiveWell has spent the last 18 years researching global health and poverty alleviation, and they direct funding to the highest impact opportunities.

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3:00Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast. Each day we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, illustrated with stories from history, current events, and literature to help you be better at what you do. And at the beginning of the week, we try to do a deeper dive, setting a kind of stoic intention for the week, something to meditate on, something to think on, something to leave you with, to journal about, whatever it is you happen to be doing. So let's get into it.

3:40No one can hold anything over you. Many of the Stoics were powerful and privileged. Marcus Aurelius was born to a wealthy family, and then he was given the throne in the empire. Cato came from an old and prestigious family, but not all of the Stoics were so lucky. Epictetus was born a slave. His teacher, Musonius, was exiled multiple times. Admiral James Stockdale, whose heroics we've spoken about often, was from an ordinary American family in Illinois. way. Yet, advantaged or disadvantaged, all the Stoics possessed a certain power, a certain freedom by way of their philosophy. The Stoics, rich and poor alike, were equally independent and defiant.

4:19They were in command of themselves. They knew what was good and what wasn't. They knew what was true and what wasn't. And no one, through force or temptation, could make them think otherwise. If you could read in at least one language, then you have this, the tool to educate yourself, the great LeVar Burton said before receiving a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award last year. No one can hold sway over your mind, your imagination, your dreams, if you can read. Or as Epictetus said a couple centuries earlier, the educated are free. A strong mind, a mind that knows how to learn, that knows how to get to the core of things, this is a mind that is stronger than tyrants, than slave owners, than serpent-tongued manipulators.

5:00They might be able to throw you in jail or bombard you with disinformation, but they can't actually get to what matters within you. That's a power that you have. That's something that can only be relinquished, as Stockdale found. In fact, he was, to the chagrin of his captors, often more informed about communist doctrine than they were, having read Marx in the original. Reading is your reinforcements. Philosophy is freedom. Stoicism is strength. Obviously, you're a little bit of a reader. You wouldn't be listening to this or reading this if you weren't. But if you want to get really into reading this year, we built the Daily Stoic Read to Lead Challenge.

5:38As Truman said, not all readers are leaders, but all leaders have to be readers. And it's just a great deep dive into how to be a reader, how to be a better reader, what to read, some tips and tools and strategies about reading from the Stoics, from me, from my mentors, from all the people we've interviewed here at Daily Stoic over the years, I can't recommend the Read to Lead Challenge enough. I'll link to it in today's show notes. And if you're thinking about joining Daily Stoic Life, this is a great time because you can get all the challenges for free, including the Daily Stoic Read to Lead Challenge, if you sign up for Daily Stoic Life at dailystoiclife.com.

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7:43Keeping the news in check. Even the ancient news felt inundated with gossip and news. This week, you will face a barrage like they couldn't have imagined, from texts, calls, emails, to the incessant grind of the 24-7 news machine. Instead of responding to every status update, every urgent call, or the latest trending incendiary news story, take a moment to remember the three ways that the Stoics use to keep their focus on their purpose and duty in the present moment. Number one, step away from the noise. Two, remember that no news can throw you off the purpose of your present choices. three, don't add something negative or positive to what's being reported.

8:24Here's two quotes from Marcus and one from Epictetus to guide you this week. Are you distracted by breaking news? Then take some leisure time to learn something good and stop bouncing around. But when you do, keep in mind the other mistake, to be so distracted by getting control that you wear yourself out and lose a purpose by which you can direct your thoughts and impulses. That's Meditations 2.7. Epictetus's Discourses 3.8 says, Whenever disturbing news is delivered to you, bear in mind that no news can be relevant to your reasoned choice. Can anyone break news to you that your assumptions or desires are wrong?

8:59No way. But they can tell you someone died. But even so, what is that to you? And then Mark Surreale's Meditations 8.4.9, he says, Don't tell yourself anything more than what the initial impressions report. It's been reported to you that someone is speaking badly about you. This is the report. The report wasn't that you've been harmed. I see that my son is sick, but not that his life is at risk. So always stay within your first impressions and don't add them to your head. This way, nothing can happen to you. Look, I think the number one secret to a good productive routine and personal happiness is to limit your news consumption.

9:37Obviously, I'm biased as an author, but read books. Don't watch the news. Read thoughtful perennial analysis. Don't follow speculative news reports. Limit your news consumption. And like, honestly, if you do feel like you need the distraction, you need like a palate cleanser, don't pull up CNN, pull up ESPN, like read about sports or something, right? Read celebrity gossip. Don't read the latest divisive piece of news. I'm not saying that it's not important to be informed. Of course, it's important to be informed. I would just argue that following the infinite news machine is how one becomes informed.

10:20I think, as I've said before, The Great Influenza, a book that I read at the beginning of the pandemic, taught me much more about how to spend the last 15 months than any breaking news story, because the news story has never really changed anything. It's like, hey, this thing is real. Here's the scientific advice. Take it seriously. Wait for it to be over, right? the latest report is only adding to what we already know for the most part. So step back. Don't consume so much news. A couple of recommendations on this front. Obviously, one, my book, Trust Me, I'm Lying, is about how the news manipulates you.

10:54But there's a great book by Daniel Boorstin called The Image that I suggest people read. There's also Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. These are two eye-opening books that will give you a sense of why you should consume as little news as possible and how manipulative it is and how harmful it is. And then the other book, which inspired my book, trust me, I'm lying. If you read The Jungle as a kid in high school or whatever, Epton Sinclair's expose of the meatpacking industry, then I strongly suggest you read his book, The Brass Check, which is actually an expose of the news industry around the same time.

11:30And sadly, almost nothing has changed. I'm not saying that reporters aren't good people. I'm not saying that they don't do an important public service. I'm not saying I read no news. I'm just saying, look, the most viral emotion is anger. Should it surprise us that the news perpetually makes us angry, right? Should it surprise us that news is always breaking but never fully arrives, that they're always speculating? No, it's an enormous beast trying to capture as much attention as possible to then sell that attention to advertisers. You are the product that's being sold when you consume this free news.

12:06Got to understand that. Listen to podcasts. Podcasts are great conversations. Even this, like I'm recording this, but it has no real date on it. It should be relevant forever. So I'm not as incentivized to rile you up the way that your news is. So I think it's interesting that even 2000 years ago, the Stoics were struggling with it. They'd be appalled at what our information diet is today. So step back, give yourself some space. Don't follow breaking news. Don't let it change who you are. Don't let it rattle your equilibrium. Just keep doing you. Read books, study real wisdom and information that will make you smarter and able to respond to what's happening in the world and make you a better, more informed citizen.

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