You Either Are Or You Aren’t | Panic Is Self-Inflicted Harm

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2:58So let's get into it.

3:13You either are or you aren't. It's impossible not to read Marcus Aurelius or Seneca and not sense that they were always working. Not that they were literally always at the office, as we said, they believed in a kind of work-life balance, but they were always working on themselves. They were studying, they were reflecting, they were asking questions. Late at night after his wife went to sleep, Seneca would pull out his journals and evaluate the day, going over what he'd done well and where he didn't live up to his standards. Marcus most famously was seen as an old man picking up his tablets and heading off to attend a lecture by Sextus, a wise teacher.

3:52I found one had to do some work every day, even at midnight, the sculptor Barbara Hepworth explained, because you're either a professional or you aren't. And the same goes for philosophy and self-improvement. You're either putting in the work or you're not. You're either making the time for it or you're not. Marcus Aurelius and Seneca were not too busy, and neither are the powerful people who have come to Stoicism since. They delight in their own improvement day to day. As Epictetus said, they make it a priority. Can you say the same for yourself?

4:37Hey, it's Ryan Holiday. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. Panic is self-inflicted harm. This is from today's entry in the Daily Stoic Journal, where we riff on, we have a weekly meditation and then daily journaling. But let's think about it, right? Name one situation that is improved by panicking. Go ahead, like seriously, can you think of something where panicking makes it better? Seneca mused often about the problem of panic, both in his letters and his essays. The problem with panic is that it creates danger and it limits our ability to function effectively. It prevents us from finding success and seeing objectively.

5:16And worse, it makes us weaker over time because we've never truly faced the danger that we're worried about. We're always running away and then we're weaker as a result. So spend some time today meditating on scary things that might make you panic. Think about them in advance. Think about what's so overwhelming about them. Come to understand them, get familiar with them. One of the chapters I have in Courage is Calling is I talk about this dictum that Napoleon had for his generals. He said, ask yourself three times a day, what would I do if the enemy appeared on my left or my right or the center?

5:50Obviously, the idea here wasn't to create anxiety. It was precisely to prevent panic. By thinking about what scares us in advance, by familiarizing ourself with it, Napoleon was saying, we can respond to it. We can have a plan. A general who has a plan, who has an understanding, who has contingencies, who has backup plans and backup plans for the backup plans. And they understand that no plan survives contact with the enemy. That's the general who can endure things. That's the general who's less afraid. Fear makes us worse. Familiarity makes us less afraid. But we have three quick quotes from Seneca today.

6:23for even peace itself will supply more reason for worry. Not even safe circumstances will bring you confidence once your mind has been shocked, once it gets in the habit of blind panic. It can't provide for its own safety for it doesn't really avoid danger, it just runs away. Yet we are exposed to greater danger with our backs turned. There's another great quote I have in the book from Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut. He says, remember, it's always possible to make a problem worse. Panic does that. Worry does that. Fear does that. It makes us worse. As Seneca says, we're actually more in danger as we're running away than when we face our problems.

7:01Then he says, success comes to the lowly and to the poorly talented, but the special characteristic of a great person is to triumph over the disasters and panics of human life. And then he says, the unprepared are panic-stricken by the smallest things. Another quote I have from Seneca in Courage's Calling that I really love. He says, the only inexcusable thing for an officer to say is, I did not think that could happen. So you can't panic just because it's a surprise, just because it came out of nowhere, just because it's a black swan. In fact, your whole job is to be prepared for exactly this.

7:33Your whole job is, how do you perform under pressure? How do you perform when the enemy is up close? How do you perform when other people are running away, when other people are scared? This is why courage is so important. We have to see panic and fear as something that makes us worse. It's a competitive disadvantage. It's not that we never have fear. It's that we have the fear. We are alert to what it's trying to tell us. Then we try to get to work breaking it down. We try to get to work preparing for it. We try to get to work anticipating it. We try to get to work putting ourselves in a position where if it does happen, and it probably will happen, we'll be able to respond.

8:13We'll know what we can do. will have something. And that's, you know, as Napoleon was saying, you know, what would you do if they were on your left? What would you do in your front? What would you do if they were over here? What would you do if all of these things happened at the same time? I'm not afraid of it anymore. I'm focused instead on solutions. I'm focusing as a stoic must on what you can do about it. That's what confidence and courage gives you. And I hope you spend some time journaling about panic and fear this week. I hope it makes you better, stronger, and braver.

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