You Must Seek This Out | Ask Ds

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1:57Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. Well, on Thursdays, we not only read the daily meditation, but we answer some questions from listeners and fellow Stoics. We're trying to apply this philosophy just as you are. Some of these come from my talks. Some of these come from Zoom sessions that we do with Daily Stoic Life members or as part of the challenges. Some of them are from interactions I have on the street when there happened to be someone there recording. But thank you for listening. And we hope this is of use to you.

2:46it's sad that when we think of a philosopher we don't think of somebody tough we don't think of a soldier or a skilled professional we don't think of a happily married parent raising kids We don't think of somebody thriving amidst the chaos of the world. No, for some reason, we think of an academic. We think of somebody scrawny. We think of somebody whose life is mostly sedentary, mostly spent at a desk with their stacks of books around them or their scrolls in front of them. But no, this is wrong. In the ancient world, philosophers were warriors and athletes and hunters and boxers and wrestlers and distance runners.

3:25They did hard things. They sought out opportunities to push their physical limitations. Socrates was admired for his ability to endure cold weather. Mark Surrelius was a wrestler. Cleanthes was a boxer. Chrysippus was a runner. Admiral Stockdale played football in high school and at the Naval Academy. This wasn't separate from their philosophy practice. This was their philosophy practice. These were people trained in adversity. They were people who did difficult things because as we've said, difficult things are good for you. We treat the body rigorously, Seneca said, so that it will not be disobedient to the mind.

4:03We toughen ourselves up because life is tough. We challenge ourselves so that no matter what life has in store for us, we'll be able to say, as Epictetus said, we need to be able to say, that this is what I trained for. Well, are you training? Are you seeking out challenges? Are you getting soft? What picture of a philosopher do you present? academic or active difficult things are good for you seek them out and i think we should all be kicking 2024 off with a challenge and that's why we created the daily stoic new year new you challenge i've been talking a ton about for the last five years thousands of stoics all over the world have looked forward to this as i look forward to it every year we kick the year off with 21 unique, actionable, stoic challenges built around the most timeless wisdom of stoic philosophy.

4:56It arrives in your inbox each morning. We all do this cool challenge together. Some are physical, some are mental, right? Some are, you write them down, some involve reading, some involve, some you do alone, some you do with other people. But the point is it helps spark who you are meant to be. It challenges you, gets you out of your comfort zone. I'd really love for you to join us. You can sign up right now. It's going to start on January 1st. So there's not that much time left. I'd love to have you join us. Don't delay. Let's start it now. Let's do it together. I'd love to see it in there. You can sign up at dailystoic.com slash challenge.

5:31Or remember, if you join Daily Stoic Life, you get this challenge and all the Daily Stoic challenges for the rest of the year, plus a bunch of other bonuses, all totally for free. And you can sign up there at dailystoiclife.com.

5:51I was telling you last week that I gave a cool talk to the folks at Hunter Douglas in New York City. I think it was at the Marriott there in Times Square. I got in super late. I had just enough time to scarf down some food, get a couple hours sleep, do the talk, and then head straight back home to Austin. One of the things I'm trying to do lately, just with the kids being so young, is spend absolutely as little time on the road as possible. which means I don't get to do all the things that I used to do in the cities that I would travel to. You know, I like to swim at the New York Athletic Club.

6:24I like to run in Central Park. I like to see friends that I know. There's lots of stuff I like to do when I'm in New York, but doing less and less of that these days, it's just what's the, I'm even thinking less like, what's the flight with the best frequent flyer miles? And I think which one's going to give me 30 more minutes at home or whatever. But it was a nice little trip speaking to different leaders inside the Hunter Douglas organization, which is a international company that, as I said last week, has been in business for a hundred years. So they had some really cool questions and I'm going to bring you those now.

6:55Enjoy.

6:58For me, the, um, yeah, sure. Have you thought about writing about that? A little bit. I talk a lot about the Eastern stuff in my book on stillness. There's such a connection. There is. I think they were drinking from the same source in some way. They were drinking from the same source, right? Where they kind of settled on the same truth. What I'm really into is the connection between humility and high performance. Yes, of course. And sort of like Aurelius talks about, you know, what is it? Pride is the great master of deception. Yes, of course. Well, ego is the enemy, right? Ego is the enemy. It gets in the way.

7:35And I think you find really great people are very humble. Yes. because that makes you better. Yes, and open. Yes, of course. And it's something in the U.S., like from the origins for a Dutch European company. Yes. And it's a counterintuitive thing in how American companies tend to be managed. There's a lot of non-humility creeps in. Yes, that's part of the American spirit, I think. It is, it is. Well, Epictetus' line is, you can't learn that which you think you already know, which I think is a very Eastern idea also. And so, you know, there's the Zen story about the cups. You pour the water. If it's already full, it overfills.

8:14Yeah. And so the emptier you are, the more you can take in. I've been meaning to ask you this because I think there's something in that concept. I do too. Connection between humility and high performance is actually surprisingly tight. Yeah, of course. If you're focused on how you can get better, then you can get better. If you're focused on how great you are, then you sort of stay the same. And I think, obviously, you know, back to the beginnings of Western thought, the Socratic method is, you know, knowing what you don't know. And asking questions versus making statements. Yeah, exactly. I love that.

8:46When did you start this path? When I was in college. Did it start with Marcus Aurelius? It did, yes. It started with meditations, and I was like, this is the most incredible thing. Did not start from, it was Aurelius before, like Buddhism and let's say Zen. Yeah. That came later. And then you're like, wow, these are all the same thing. And at the same time. Yes. More or less. 500 beasts. They were all around the same time. You could have interchangeably sat in on the lectures of any of them and been like, I've heard this before. Yeah. You did a fantastic job. That's so cool. I didn't know that they had organized for you to come.

9:27When I saw you on the agenda, I'm like, okay, these guys were thinking alike right from the beginning when we were partnering. But when he picked you, that is a sign that we're totally in tune on people. Amazing. And the way you spoke is just like the right thing at the right time. Oh, I love that. That's amazing. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Of course. Great to meet you. Yeah. Hi. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. Oh, awesome. Thinking about the things to keep in mind. Yeah. Do you think the very military goes well with the perception or do you think it's more of an action piece?

10:08Ultimately, it just matters that it sticks in your mind and it gives you something to apply. Do you know what I mean? That's kind of how I think about it. Sometimes I need one reminder and sometimes I need the other, depending on what I'm going through. That's kind of how I think about it. And besides like, you know, rings and coins. I just try to write about this stuff all the time. That's what I'm writing about in my journals. It's just like these ideas over and over. Usually in the morning, sometimes at night. Yeah, it doesn't really matter. But I just try to be writing about the ideas over and over again.

10:34That's what brings me back when I drift from it. Bring it together. Yeah. Yeah, of course.

10:46Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us and it would really help the show. We appreciate it. And I'll see you next episode.

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