Where Does It Get You? | Keeping "The News" In Check

0:00Ryan Holiday: Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world.

0:15Ryan Holiday: Where does it get you? People have been doing the same things for as long as there have been people. That's what you realize when you walk the streets of Pompeii, which we were just talking about. We have people buying fancy real estate to impress others. We have people chasing trends. We have people writing their names on walls. We have people waiting in line at street vendors. We have people trying to get out of the heat. You have people going to the gym. In short, you have all the things that Marcus Aurelius lists in his haunting passage about the things that happened in the age of Vespasian.

0:49Ryan Holiday: He talks about how back then, just as now, you had people doing the exact same things. Marrying, raising children, getting sick, dying, waging war, throwing parties, doing business, farming, flattering, boasting, distrusting, plotting, hoping others will die, complaining, falling in love, putting away money, seeking high office and power. But the haunted part of that passage, which was an observation about the final third of the first century AD, is the last line. And that life they led is nowhere to be found, he writes. The age of Vespasian ended in June 79 AD. Four months later, so too did Pompeii, when it was buried after the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

1:34Ryan Holiday: So you think about the people who accumulated those impressive states in that pretty little city. You think about the things people argued about or the parties they threw. You think of the offices they sacrificed for, the favors they did and hoped for. and in an instant they disappeared, as they easily can for us too, as they inevitably will for us too. That's the final lesson from Marcus. Survey the record of other eras, he says, and see how many others gave their all and soon died and decomposed into the elements that formed them. But most of all, run through the list of those you knew yourself, those who worked in vain, who failed to do what they should have, what they should have remained fixed on and found satisfaction in.

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5:24Ryan Holiday: Keeping 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.

6:05This is from this week's

6:06Ryan Holiday: 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 signed 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, but here'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.

6:43Ryan Holiday: 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' 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? And then Mark Surreale is his Meditations 849. He says, don't tell yourself anything more than what the initial impressions report.

7:19Ryan Holiday: 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. Don't watch the news. Read thoughtful, perennial analysis. Don't follow speculative news reports. Limit your news consumption.

7:58Ryan Holiday: 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 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.

8:36Ryan Holiday: 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 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.

9:21Ryan Holiday: 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, 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.

9:56Ryan Holiday: Got to understand that. I think it's interesting that even 2 ,000 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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