Not Who’s Right, What’s Right

0:00I'm recording this on a Monday, and Monday is our grocery store day in our family. I usually pick my kids up from school and we go over to Whole Foods, get all our groceries for the week. Although here very shortly, we're going to go over there to get our Thanksgiving turkey because they've got a bunch of great options. Turkeys start at$1.49 a pound if you have Prime with organic birds at$2.99 a pound. And they only carry no antibiotic ever turkeys that will bring quality to your table at a great price. Whole Foods has great everyday prices on all your Thanksgiving essentials, whether you celebrate with a massive family or just a few close friends.

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1:19Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2 ,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailysteak.com.

1:45Thanks to Toyota Trucks for sponsoring this episode. When I bought my ranch in 2015 out here in Bastro County, I drove my car about halfway down the dirt road that we live on, thought this isn't going to work, stopped, parked it, walked the rest of the way home, borrowed my wife's car, drove in Austin and bought a truck. What I bought was a Toyota Tacoma. And this truck wasn't just transportation getting me to and from my house. It unlocked a whole different style of living for us, not just on the ranch, but in our little Texas towns. There were places I could go now that I couldn't go before, especially out here in the piney forests, through the fields, and on the unpaved roads like the one that I lived in.

2:30We got to go deep into the hill country's wild beauty. We've driven all the way out to East Texas. We've driven across the country. And by we, I mean not just my wife, but both my kids who I drove home from the hospital in that truck. Toyota trucks are built for those who understand that the best adventures happen when you're willing to veer off course, because you never know when you'll end up on a Toyota adventure detour. And of course, this is stoicism, too, because every detour, every obstacle is an opportunity. But it's helpful if you can handle the difficulty inherent in that. If you've got the resilience and the right companion to make it wherever the road takes you, discover your uncharted territory.

3:12Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. You have your views. You have your side of things. You have the team you're on, the group you belong to. So instinctually, naturally, you default there. You started out making your argument, believing that things should go this way or that way. So what are you going to do? Just give in? You're going to let them win? How stoic is that? Well, it depends. Depends on what is right. Remember, Marcus Aurelius believed that there was no shame in being proven wrong. Remember, Seneca sought out the views of the enemy camp and had no problem quoting rival schools over his own.

3:51Remember, most of all, what Marcus Aurelius said about doing what was right, said that nothing else matters. Didn't matter who had the idea first. It doesn't matter how unpleasant or objectionable the other side is. It doesn't matter how tired you are. It doesn't matter what this will cost you. It doesn't matter how bad you'll look changing your mind. A stoic will flip-flop if the facts demand. A stoic will align with the enemy if the enemy is right. Marcus Aurelius famously said he'd hand the kingdom over to Avidius Cassius, his would-be usurper, if it was for the good of Rome. A stoic will accept a controversial or even objectionable view if it's true.

4:30A stoic will give up if they've been going in the wrong direction. We don't care about who is right. We care about the truth. We care about getting things right. That's our job, and that's what counts.

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