You Have To Win The Morning! | with Show, Don't Tell

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.

0:56One of the most relatable moments in Marcus Aurelius' meditations is the argument Marcus has with himself in the opening of Book 5. It's clearly an argument he had with himself many times on many mornings, as many of us had. He knows he has to get out of bed, but so desperately wants to remain under the warm covers. It's relatable, but it's also impressive. Marcus didn't actually have to get out of bed. He didn't really have to do anything. One of his predecessors, Tiberius, basically abandoned the throne for an exotic island. Marcus Aurelius's adopted great-grandfather, Hadrian, hardly spent any time in Rome at all.

1:37The emperor had all sorts of prerogatives, and here Marcus was insisting that he rise early and get to work. Why? Because Marcus knew that winning the morning was key to winning the day and winning at life. He hadn't heard the expression yet that the early bird gets the worm, but he was well aware that a day well begun was half done. By pushing himself to do something uncomfortable and tough, by insisting on doing what he said he knew he was born to do and what he loved to do, Marcus was beginning a process which would lead to a successful day. It's one that we should have to follow today and every day.

2:14We should get up early. We should not delay. We should get the nutrients we need. We should practice good habits. We should go right into whatever the biggest or most important task of the day is. We want to win the morning so that the rest of the day, so much of which will be out of our control, has less power over us. Well begun is half one. So get started.

2:44We just took our kids to an outdoor performance at the Nutcracker. They had a snow cone. And then they went insane in the car ride home. And one of the things I try to remind myself when that's happening is that I don't control my kids' behavior, especially when they're too far gone like that, but I do control how I respond, right? That's stoicism, but it's also what Dr. Becky talks about. Dr. Becky is a clinical psychologist and a best-selling author, and she founded Good Inside, which is there to give parents practical, actionable tools for handling those everyday challenges with confidence.

3:20My wife introduced me to Dr. Becky's books. I love them. I've recommended them a million times. I've had her on the podcast. And as it happens, Dr. Becky is hosting two live Q &A events for good inside members. I am one of them. She signed me up for it about a year and a half ago. I've loved it ever since. On December 1st, you can join Dr. Becky for her How Not to Raise Assholes event, which is about avoiding entitlement and raising kind, empathetic kids. And on December 15th, she's hosting her How Not to Lose It over the holidays event, which I'm sure we could all use. As I said, I'm a big fan of Dr.

3:57Becky. She's been a great influence for me as a parent and just as a human being. And Daily Stoic listeners can join for 15 % off with code STOIC15. You just got to head over to goodinside.com to catch the events. Show, don't tell. This is this week's entry in the Daily Stoic Journal, 366 Days of Writing and Reflection on the Art of Living. The art of living isn't a set of teachings or a formula we can memorize. It's a practice that requires constant work. Epictetus was constantly reminding his students not to parrot back what they learned in the lecture hall or read in books, but to put that work into practice.

4:40He knew that progress you could see was better than any proclaimed. Let your journaling and thinking this week exhibit what you have done and what you are doing, not what you plan to do or think you are. Let it be a catalog of your actions, good actions. As Epictetus says, those who receive the bare theories immediately want to spew them, as an upset stomach does with its food. First, digest your theories and you won't throw up. Otherwise, they will be raw, spoiled, and not nourishing. After you've digested them, show us the changes in your reasoned choices, like the shoulders of gymnasts who display their diet and training, and the craft of artisans show what they have learned.

5:23That's Epictetus' Discourses 321. First, practice not letting people know who you are. Keep your philosophy to yourself for a bit. In just the manner that fruit is produced, the seed is buried for a season, hidden, growing gradually, so it may come to full maturity. But if the grain sprouts before the stalk is fully developed, it will never ripen. That is the kind of plant you are displaying fruit too soon, and the winter will kill you. You know, this is a theme the Stoics talk about quite a bit, the idea of conceit being the impediment to improvement, that ego is the enemy. And I look back at some of my early writings, and I'm doing exactly what Epictetus is talking about.

6:05I'm just regurgitating things that I'd heard. I mean, that exercise itself was educational, but I didn't even begin to comprehend what I was talking about. It took time. It took experience. As Plutarch says, it's not that words that give us the meaning of experiences, but experiences that give us meaning of the words. But I actually wish I'd taken more sort of quiet, reflective time to myself. We do this whenever we discover something. We get some product we like or join a movement or a cause we like, and suddenly we become this evangelist for it. And I think part of that is out of insecurity, right?

6:37we want other people to like it. We're not quite sure what we think of it ourselves. So by bringing other people on, we feel less insecure. We go, see, I'm not crazy. Other people like it too. But let's just slow down a little bit. If you're listening to this podcast for the first time, if you're new to stoicism, let it stew a little bit. Think about it a little bit. Look at it critically. Find out what's wrong. Go read more about it, right? Find people who love stoicism, people who hate stoicism, consume it in different mediums, but just explore it. You don't have to convert. You don't have to identify yet.

7:10You know, just keep thinking. Let it remain underground. Let it germinate. Let it solidify there. And then when it comes out, it'll be in better shape and in better form. And so as you work on your practice, you know, you don't have to put on errors. Epictetus talks about this. Don't put on errors about your self-improvement, he says, be humble about it. I definitely wish there was things that I hadn't said that I thought about longer, that I took time to think about privately more. And that's probably most of my regrets on any social media platform is I leapt out with my opinion instead of sitting on it, stewing on it, thinking, letting it germinate.

7:47And I think that process is just really valuable. So slow down. That's the advice of this week's meditation. Slow down. Think. Really mull it over. Turn it over in your mind. And the plant will be stronger for it. You will be stronger for it. Your wisdom will be better for it. That's what we're working on. Anyways, stay at it. Keep listening. I'll talk to you again next week.

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