This Is The Most Valuable Real Estate In The World | Keeping "The News" In Check

0:05Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a Stoic inspired meditation designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life. Each one of these episodes is based on the 2 ,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women to help you learn from them, to follow in their example, and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom. For more, visit dailystoic.com.

1:10For centuries, armies have clashed over territory, some of it valuable, some of it not, willing to pay in blood for control over a piece of dirt. Meanwhile, some of the most valuable real estate in the world sits ignored. What's that? Well, we refer to it in The Girl Who Would Be Free as the empire between your ears. How many people spend an enormous amount to keep up their estates but let their brain fall into disrepair? How many of them protect their property, as Seneca said, but let people waste their time or influence their choices? Yes, land is valuable. They aren't making any more of it after all.

1:43And yes, you want to have a roof over your head. And yes, nations must protect their sovereign territory. But the Stoics remind us that the greatest empire is within us, between our ears, inside that mushy muscle that is our brain. You have inherited an incredibly valuable piece of property. Will you rule it and cultivate it? Will you rule over it? Let's hope so. This is obviously the idea in The Girl Who Would Be Free, which is about Epictetus. Epictetus having so much taken from him, having so little control, in some cases even over his physical body, that the greatest empire, the empire between his years, is really all that's left.

2:20And that's what we've been exploring this July here at Daily Stoic. We're calling it Epictetus Month, a deep dive into the life, the lessons, and the legacy of this incredible teacher. And if you've been curious about Epictetus, well, then we would love for you to join us. We're kicking it off with this course, How to Read Epictetus at Daily Stoic Guide. If you join us before January 26th, you can do this live Q &A. It's going to be awesome. We're going to be answering questions. We're going to be exploring together. We're going to get through Epictetus together. And you can buy a copy of the discourses and this course all together.

2:55It's a great discount. All of that is available at dailystoic.com slash epictetus course. I'll link to that in today's show notes. I'm excited to see you all there. Let's get after it.

3:12Thanks 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, and on the unpaved roads like the one that I lived in.

3:57We 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.

4:37Discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. Look, when you're hiring, you don't want just anyone. You need the right person with the right background who can move your business forward. And when I need candidates who match what we're looking for at Daily Stoic for any of my businesses, we trust Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Because when you're hiring, Indeed is all you need. You can give your job the best chance to be seen with Indeed's Sponsored Jobs. They can help you stand out and hire quality candidates who can drive the results you need.

5:16and according to Indeed data sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 90 % more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs because you reach a bigger pool of quality candidates and you should join the 1.6 million companies that sponsor their jobs with Indeed. People are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute we've been talking, companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results now with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. And listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to help you get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash Daily Stoic.

5:58Just go to Indeed.com slash Daily Stoic right now to support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash Daily Stoic. Terms and conditions apply. If you're hiring, do it the right way with Indeed.

6:13Keeping 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 used 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.

6:54This is from this week's entry in the Daily Stoic Journal, 366 Days of Writing and Reflection on the Art of Living by yours truly and my colleague, Stephen Hanselman, who I also wrote the Daily Stoic with. You can actually get Sign copies of the Daily Stoic Journal in the Daily Stoic store at store.dailystoic.com. Or we've got copies here at The Painted Porch, my bookstore in Bastrop, Texas. Always popular. People ask me to sign them all the time. Anyways, check out the Daily Stoic Journal. I'm on like my fourth year of doing it. You might like it as well. But here's two quotes from Marcus and one from Epictetus to guide you this week.

7:29Are 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? No way. But they can tell you someone died. But even so, what is that to you?

8:05And then Mark Surreale is his Meditations 849. 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. Obviously, I'm biased as an author, but read books.

8:40Don't watch the news. Read thoughtful perennial analysis. Don't follow speculative news reports. Limit your news consumption. 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. Because the news stories never really change anything.

9:20It'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. But 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, how manipulative it is and how harmful it is.

9:57And 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. And 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?

10:31Right. 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. Got to understand that. 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.

11:06Just 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.

11:21Hey, it's Ryan. Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoic podcast. I just wanted to say we so appreciate it. We love serving you. It's amazing to us that over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple years we've been doing it. It's an honor. Please spread the word. tell people about it. And this isn't to sell anything. I just wanted to say thank you.

11:59Look, ads are annoying. They are to be avoided, if at all possible. I understand as a content creator, why they need to exist. That's why I don't begrudge them when they appear on the shows that I listen to. But again, as a person who has to pay a podcast producer and has to pay for equipment and for the studio and the building that the studio is in, it's a lot to keep something like The Daily Stoic going. So if you want to support a show but not listen to ads, well, We have partnered with Supercast to bring you a ad-free version of Daily Stoic. We're calling it Daily Stoic Premium. And with Premium, you can listen to every episode of the Daily Stoic podcast completely ad-free.

12:47No interruptions, just the ideas, just the messages, just the conversations you came here for. And you can also get early access to episodes before they're available to the public. And we're going to have a bunch of exclusive bonus content and extended interviews in there. just for Daily Stoic Premium members as well. If you want to remove distractions, go deeper into Stoicism and support the work we do here. Well, it takes less than a minute to sign up for Daily Stoic Premium, and we are offering a limited time discount of 20 % off your first year. Just go to dailystoic.com slash premium to sign up right now, or click the link in the show descriptions to make those ads go away.