Preparation Makes You Brave | Courage is Calling

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2:37Welcome to the weekend edition of The Daily Stoic. Each weekday, we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, something to help you live up to those four Stoic virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. And then here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview Stoic philosophers. We explore at length how these Stoic ideas can be applied to our actual lives and the challenging issues of our time. Here on the weekend, when you have a little bit more space, when things have slowed down, be sure to take some time to think, to go for a walk, to sit with your journal, and most importantly, to prepare for what the week ahead may bring.

3:29Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. Here we are on a Sunday. I just landed. The whole family and I were in Lexington, Kentucky on Friday and Saturday. We flew back this morning just in time for, I guess it'll be a week delayed when you're listening to it, but just in time for the Superbowl. But I was there. I spoke to the Kentucky Wildcats football team and then at a dinner for the basketball team. So that was really cool. The coolest part is we were getting a tour of the Joe Craft Center, which is where the basketball teams, both men's and women's train and practice the weight rooms, all that sort of stuff.

4:12and I'm walking through the hallway and one of the assistant coaches pulls me aside. He goes, Hey, I want to show you something in my office. And he's like, coach Cal makes me do this. And he opens this big file cabinet, but he pulls open the file cabinet and what's in there stacks of ego is the enemy. And then stacks of another awesome book that I was lucky enough to work on letters to a young athlete by Chris Bosh. He was like, coach sends all the recruits. Coach will send the recruits in here or players who are having trouble. And, and he'll specifically was saying, you know, give them this book from Ryan or this book from Chris, or they had some of John Gordon's books in there.

4:45A bunch of great books, actually. But anyways, it was really, really cool. Obviously it was cool to talk to them, but then it was cool to be like, oh, even when I'm not here, like the books are having an impact. And I'll probably bring you that talk actually as a Sunday episode at some point in the future, maybe both of them. It was a really cool experience. Thanks to the hospitality, went to the game on Saturday, which was really cool. I'd never seen a game inside Rupp Arena either. So that was a real treat. My kids had a great time. And it was awesome, which leads me to today's episode. We're running one of my favorite chapters from one of my favorite books that I've written, Courage is Calling, which is about being brave.

5:25It's about dealing with adversity, which is about this core stoic virtue, right? That's actually what I talked to the basketball team about. I did a little riff for about 20, 25 minutes on the four virtues. And it started with courage. And I was saying, you know, courage isn't just running into battle. It's not just running into a burning building. It's not putting yourself in physical danger in most cases, right? It's putting yourself out there. It's doing your best. It's dealing with the blows of fate rather than running away from them. And that's what we're going to talk about in this chapter.

5:56This chapter is called Preparation Makes You Brave. It's in part one of Courage is Calling. And I think you're really going to like it. If you want a signed copy of Courage is Calling, you can grab that at store.dailystoic.com or swing by The Painted Porch. You can grab it on audiobook, grab it as an ebook, you can grab it anywhere books are sold. It's always lovely to support independent bookstores, even if it's not mine. And I hope you like this chapter. It's about training. It's about practice. It's about doing the thing over and over again. So you're not afraid when it happens. And I hope this little meditation or exploration of that theme will do some good for all of you as it did for me to think about it and work on it and practice it in my own life.

6:48You 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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8:02To claim your match, go to GiveWell.org and pick Daily Stoic from the drop-down menu under podcast. That's how they know that you heard about GiveWell from the Daily Stoic, and you'll get your donation matched. That's GiveWell.org, code the Daily Stoic to donate or find out more.

8:27Preparation makes you brave. Are other people naturally braver than you, or are they just better prepared? Know-how is a help opens the Army Life Handbook that the U.S. Army brass handed each of its millions of soldiers in the Second World War. There is more mental comfort, it continues more personal satisfaction in knowing your place and part in this army than in any other single thing you can now do for yourself. Be selfish about it if you like. Learn your job because knowing how to handle yourself will make you feel better. A knowledge of your duties and obligations, your rights and opportunities will one day make you more valuable to the army.

9:10That too will give you a personal satisfaction in the long run. Although fear can be explained away, it's far more effective to replace it. With what? Competence, with training, with tasks, with a job that needs to be done. So it went with the Roman army when they were trapped in the Caudine Forks in 321 BC. Barricaded in a narrow pass by felled trees piled with rocks on one end and by armed men on the heights on the other end, the troops were hopelessly trapped. As the magnitude of their predicament sunk in, surrounded on all sides by insuperable obstacles and a dug-in enemy. They were numb with fear.

9:51Each man looked around at the next, assuming that he might know what to do. The generals too were lost in a stupor. How could this have happened? What could be done? How could they possibly survive? Then one soldier, nameless, anonymous, lost to history, made the first move towards setting up fortifications. Instinctually, without orders, the other men followed. Sure, it seemed utterly pointless to build a stockade given the desperate nature of their position. But doing something was better than nothing. They let their training take over. They found solace and strengthen it. It was mental comfort.

10:28It was something to occupy the time was their job. The enemy watching this strange behavior began to jeer and taunt. The Romans themselves laughed at their own fruitless labor, but continued. Indeed, in fortifying their positions, the Romans fortified themselves. The stupor they found themselves in soon lifted, and their resolve hardened. The enemy soon made terms with the Romans rather than risk attacking such a disciplined foe.

10:59Thanks 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 into 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.

11:39and on the unpaved roads like the one that I lived in. We got to go deep into the hill country's wild beauty. We've driven all the way out to East Texas. We've driven it 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.

12:20If you've got the resilience and the right companion to make it wherever the road takes you, discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours.

12:38Training is not just something that athletes and soldiers do. It is the key to overcoming fear in any and all situations. What we do not expect, what we have not practiced, has an advantage over us. What we have prepared for, what we have anticipated, we will be able to answer. As Epictetus says, the goal when we experience adversity is to be able to say, this is what I've trained for, for this is my discipline. If you do not want to flinch when it comes, Seneca would say around the same time, train before it comes. What we are familiar with, we can manage. Danger can be mitigated by experience and good training.

13:19Fear leads to aversion, aversion to cowardice. Repetition leads to confidence. Confidence leads to courage. The bully who must be confronted, the difficult press conference, the risky bet, the unpopular but ethical stand. being surrounded by enemies on all sides. These are the moments when our training must kick in because if it doesn't, fear will, doubt will. Minding our own business, taking the easy road. That's what we'll instinctively do. To borrow a famous phrase from Allen Iverson, we're talking about practice. Yes, we're talking about practice because it is the most important thing. With practice, you go through the actions in your mind.

13:59You build the muscle memory of what you do in this situation or that one. You learn how to fortify and you are fortified in the process. You run through the drills. You play your scales. You have someone ask you purposely tough questions. You get comfortable with discomfort. You train at your T pace for deliberate intervals, raising your threshold as a runner. You familiarize. You assemble your rifle with a blindfold on. You work out with a weight vest on. You do it a thousand times and then a thousand times more while there is no pressure so that when there is, you'll know exactly what to do.

14:36Know-how is a help, but it's preparation that makes you brave.

14:49The world is full of tours. But you don't choose a Toyota truck to follow the beaten path. you choose it to find the places in between. The detours, where each adventure pulls you toward the next. And wrong turns turn out right. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour? Toyota Trucks. My family owns a 2023 Toyota 4Runner, and honestly, it's my favorite vehicle that I've ever owned. Around town, it's smooth and reliable, but where it really shines is on our trips into the backcountry. We've taken it on backpacking adventures to Colorado and New Mexico, loaded it up with gear, and never had to think twice about whether it could handle the terrain.

15:37That's what Toyota Trucks are built for. Off-road confidence, rugged durability, and the freedom to explore. Toyota has a long history with the outdoor community, and they're committed to helping more people get out there and experience what nature has to offer. From remote trails to scenic byways, Toyota Trucks empowers you to take the detour, roam freely, and discover places that still feel wild and untouched. And they're not just making great trucks. They're working to expand access to adventure so more people can connect with the outdoors and pass that passion on to the next generation. Discover your uncharted territory.

16:06Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. That's toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours.