PNTV: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman (#358)

hi this is Brian welcome back to another episode of philosophers notes TV today another great book the daily stoic by Ryan holiday and Steven Hanselman the daily stoic subtitle 366 meditations on wisdom perseverance and the art of living featuring new translations of Seneca Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius so if you follow much of my work you know that I am a big fan of stoicism and of Ryan holiday put the two together you have a very winning combination partner that with Steven Hanselman and his translations of Epictetus Seneca and Marcus Aurelius with Ryan holiday riffing on it and you have literally one of my favorite books ever when I finished this book I went downstairs and I said to Alexandra that might be my favorite book ever period I think I currently put it in the tied for first position along with the tools by Phil Stutz and Barry Michaels and deep work by Cal Newport add the daily stoic and I rarely say I say a lot of books are great because I get so much out of all the different books we feature here I rarely say I think this is a must read I'm never really gonna say it's an absolute must read but if you're into optimizing your life I think you should be by extension into stoicism which is way more influential than you may be aware of everyone from George Washington Thomas Jefferson Ralph Waldo Emerson Teddy Roosevelt were big students of stoicism and practitioners of stoicism to the modern cognitive behavioral therapy movement stoicism permeates our culture in ways a lot of us aren't really familiar with but often we wonder where do we start do I start with Aurelius as meditations or Senecas letters from a stoic or on the shortness of life what about epictetus in his handbook or the discourses they're all awesome but what Brian does here is he synthesized 'as all of the best from each of those different books and he puts him into this 366 day daily stoic guide one page for each day with the fresh translation and then his really great kind of kicking the butt riff on it how do we apply that ancient wisdom to our life today style that I love and you get a book that is as close to a must-read as it can get so highly recommended if you haven't checked it out yet and then the daily stoic I think it's the day we stoic calm they've got a ton of other stuff that you might find interesting as well with that long Prelude we have a philosopher's note a bunch of my favorite Big Ideas six page PDF 20 minute mp3 to go with we now have over 450 of those we have maybe like 12 plus at least 10 a dozen plus notes on all the different stoical books out there that I think you'll enjoy and then of course ancient wisdom modern science etc but for now we have our five Big Ideas I'm excited to riff about talk about in this brief time together so stoicism 101 we actually have a class on that for our members called stoicism 101 my favorite 10 Big Ideas January 1st of this 366 day long or you know each day guide what do we talk about we talk about the most important thing in stoicism it's the distinction between that which was is within our control and that which is outside of our control right so the whole practice of stoicism ultimately or one aspect anyway the central aspect comes down to distinguishing between the things that are within our control and the things that are outside of our control the wise stoic philosopher is always running the math on that is this within my control or not and guess what the only things that are within our control are our thoughts and behaviors our response to what's happening in the world right so we can't change our past we can't create with any 100% certainty the future right and we can't do anything about what's happening right now what we can do and what we can control is whether or not we choose to step forward with virtue whether we choose to do our best moment to moment some moments moment that's the essence of stoicism and it's reflected in the serenity prayer right so the serenity prayer goes something like god grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference that stoicism in a very very very small nutshell but you got a practice at moment to a moment to a moment's moment these guys were not do it once in a while kind of thing we're gonna talk about it down here they were warriors of the mind they weren't librarians of the mind the next episode we're gonna talk about this the philosophy of cognitive behavioral therapy the author of that book makes the point that ancient philosophers weren't cataloguing these ideas right they weren't librarians of the mind like a lot of modern-day academic philosophers are they were warriors of the mind they were striving to embody these ideas moment to moment to moment and no idea was more important than this knowing what's within our control knowing what is not and then choosing to respond optimally moment to moment to moment second big idea one of my favorite words we talked about this I think it was in ego is the enemy we've done in egos the enemy by Ryan and the obstacle is the way as well so check out those notes and episodes but youth amia so Seneca talks about a Greek word youth amia which directly translates as tranquility tranquility so if you want to have a sense of tranquility and I write every single morning I write down my virtues I strive to embody one of them is youth amia and then I write down energized tranquility so this idea of a grounded calm confidence energized tranquility Ryan riffs on Senecas wisdom about how we achieve a state of tranquility there are two things one you need to have a sense of clarity you need to know who you are what's important to you and then you need to have the courage to live it right that's actually the essence of it and there are two things that could get in the way one you second-guessing yourself all the time so you could have clarity look this is my path this is who I am this is what I'm here to do but then you second-guess yourself well guess what your tranquility is gone you're not tranquil you're anxious or you can constantly compare yourself to other people right so you can say this is my path but wait someone so is doing that and this person is doing that why I learnt how come I'm not doing that I'm not keeping up with them right and Ryan goes off on this but we want to ignore what other people are doing don't second-guess ourselves every five seconds stay on our path of course it will evolve but have that confidence the clarity and the courage and the confidence to step forward that's the essence of Tranquility so think about who you are what your gifts are how you are committed to giving them to the world commit to that do the work to get clarity move forward you're just as necessary but don't second-guess yourself all the time and definitely don't compare yourself endlessly that is youth amia which leads us through our third big idea which is one of my favorites ever Ryan quotes Epictetus I think it was epic tedious in this context who basically says you know what you don't need to know everything about everything the philosophers main thing was their mind and their consciousness and whether or not they were living with virtue that first idea that got their best attention right so the modern stoic philosopher would not be blowing up their consciousness following every single push notification and news out article that comes out and living in that echo chamber of that and they wouldn't care whether or not they knew about every single thing that was going on in pop culture or what celebrity was doing what what new TV show was released must-see TV and Ryan brings all that home he says look you got to be willing to say I don't know someone asks you hey what's going on with this or did you see that show and it's like I don't even know who that character is I love saying that I have no idea who that character is is that something I should know and he says the more provocative thing to say is not only do I not know I don't care I don't care what's going on in that show I've got more important things that I'm committed to doing youth inia style so I can give my gifts in service to the world which is another big part of stoicism Aurelius talked about this all the time do your best with others in mind and how you can give back to others in mind moments in moments moment anyway I don't know I don't care it's a really really fun practice I did this to an extent before this book and after this book I just went all in on it so I have fun with I didn't even know who was in the world series and I'd make it an opportunity you know to chat with someone at the park who's running a Dodgers had how the Dodgers doing other in the World Series awesome that's fantastic would a love 2.0 opportunity right Micro moment of positivity resonance but think about what you might be blowing up your mind with and whether or not you might benefit from some I don't know I don't care sauce splashed on that and Ryan makes the point and I've experienced this and it's pretty straightforward do you think about it the amount of energy you get back when you're not dissipating it all that and your unconscious mind isn't chewing on all that stuff from the nonsense pop culture TV must watch shows whatever to the news and the echo-chamber of fear that's created in the world when you separate yourself at a healthy level and of course you choose to engage you're a good citizen and a good participant in society but you draw some bright line boundaries around it you get so much energy back that's astonishing and one of the things you may want to care a lot less about is the social comparison side of what other people are doing maybe a little less Twitter a little less Instagram and a little more of what you're here to do would be a good idea I don't know I don't care forth big idea is another good one life boxing so Ryan shares an Epictetus quote here as well in Epictetus was an old-school intense teacher he was a former slave who then became freed and then it became a prominent stoic philosopher so he had a school where a lot of the young kind of nobility came to training he was a super intense guy you check out this book for more on on his wisdom and he was the greatest influence on Marcus Aurelius so what's interesting is that a Roman Emperor philosopher learned from a former Roman slave the philosophy that he practiced unbelievably diligently right then we have Seneca the third stoic was the era's greatest playwright he was a power broker one of the wealthiest people in Rome fascinating trio right anyway so they used metaphors around fighting rustling and boxing where their big metaphors kind of like how we use basketball and football as metaphors for our life and their sport of choice was something called pankration which literally means all strength it's kind of a more pure form of the UFC right the mixed martial arts of today pan creation full strength and epictetus would counsel his young nobleman and he would say look what kind of boxer are you if you're in the ring you get hit in the face and then you just walk out of the ring he says what kind of boxer are you if you do that that's crazy of course you're gonna get hit that's the whole point of competing in that type of sport it's an opportunity to show up with your full strength and if you walk out of the ring that actually doesn't have any consequence but if you get hit in life which is inevitable the same way you're gonna get hit if you're in a boxing ring and you walk out of life and you give up then what kind of boxer are you right and he says most importantly what are you training for the whole point of your training if you're a boxer or a wrestler or whatever or a human being is to be able to deal with a really strong opponent that's the whole point you want the best opponent you can get you want life to challenge you you set big aggressive exciting goals that are challenging yet doable and meaningful knowing you're gonna have challenges knowing it's gonna force you to rise to your absolute best so when you get hit what kind of box ready to walk out the whole point of these philosophers notes and the optimal living classes and all the other work you do to optimize your life is to be able to deal with life's challenges we've got to remember that right this is why you train that's what you want to say when you face a challenge rub your hands together and say what's the tool and the weapon I need to bring to this battle right now remember this is about being a warrior of the mind not a librarian be a good life boxer and then the fifth big idea is acquiescence so the Stoics had a couple of practices we'll talk more about what they call the reserve clause in the next episode we're gonna do two more episodes in a row on stoicism the next one will talk about the reserve clause which is basically before a stoic does anything they say yeah I want to do this that's my target and I'll do it unless something else intervenes they always know that the outcome is not within their control they call that the reserve clause yes Epictetus or Socrates would say let's use Epictetus or Zeno the founder of of stoicism who actually arrived in Athens via a shipwreck yeah I'll do that I'll sail from here to there unless the ship crashes a storm takes us off track there's a reserve clause involved right so they're never attached to it then the second thing is what they call the art of acquiescence the acquiesce to reality they don't fight reality so if a storm arises while they're at sea where they get hit in the face when they're in the boxing ring they don't moan about that and say oh why is that happening they acquiesced to it they roll with it and although it was it was I don't know how many fifteen sixteen hundred years later or whatever was 1718 hundred years later when Nietzsche wrote a more fatty love of one's fate right that's what Nietzsche said he says not only should you accept what happens to you via acquiescence as the Stoics would say you should love it you should love your fate act as if you wanted that to happen basically rights like you scripted this this negative thing so you can rise up to it amor fati Nietzsche son and anytime you try to get rid of something in your life you just got rid of all of your power so the art of acquiescence is again remembering rule number one which is the only thing you have control over is your response to the situation so you want to love what is as Byron Katie would say and make the most of what is right art of acquiescence so think about anything in your life that you might be fighting and think about if you can look at the lesson in that use it to get a little bit stronger Ryan wrote a whole book on that called the obstacles the way and quit fighting reality and find a way to acquiesce love it and make the most of it as you become an even more skilled life boxer the last episode we did was on Darren Hardy's entrepreneurial rollercoaster that one was all about knocked down well of course he gonna get knocked down doing anything but see how quickly you can get back up he used to get knocked down for two weeks that he could get back up in two days they didn't get back up in two hours then twenty minutes then two minutes right that's what we want to do become better and better rub our hands together a challenges rather than run out of the Ring train ourselves to say I don't know and you know what I don't care about everything that's going on in the world I'll stay reasonably connected but I'm so focused on doing what I'm here to do then I'm gonna unplug and disconnect unsubscribe from a lot of the nonsense and in the process I'm gonna have a lot more youth amia tranquility I'm clear on what I'm here to do I'm not second-guessing myself I'm not constantly comparing myself to other people and I have as a result tranquility unbelievably beautiful virtue energized grounded tranquility and then finally stoicism 101 January 1st of this 366 day manual on the art of living with more wisdom and perseverance etc is to know what's within your control and what's not some things you can change other things you can't we want to get really wise in knowing the difference and practicing living with virtue doing our best influencing our thoughts and our behaviors to the greatest extent and letting the rest flow as it will that is a quick look the daily stoic as I said absolutely love it I think you will too hope you enjoyed and I hope you have another awesome day see you isn't it a bit odd that we went from math to science to history but somehow miss the class on how to live for some whacky reason optimal living 101 never made this schedule of course it's too late to go back and change that and you're too busy to read full-time to catch up but if you're like us you're all about optimizing your life so you can actualize your potential so imagine this imagine having someone read the best books on how to optimize your life and pull out the big ideas they can really change your life you know those sections you underline and asterisks and mark all up then imagine that guy me connecting those awesome ideas to other great books and helping you actually apply the wisdom to your life today well that's what I do is something we call philosophers notes where I've distilled hundreds of great books into 20 minute super practical summaries then imagine me taking the absolute best big ideas from those great books and sharing them with you an hour long optimal living 101 classes on everything from productivity purpose and confidence to nutrition goal-setting and conquering procrastination helping you optimize every facet of your life so you can actualize your potential you've got a personal trainer I'm kind of like your personal philosopher ancient wisdom modern science and practical tools that's what our optimized membership program is all about if you're feeling it we'd love to have you join us

Channel: OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson

Views: 82,646

Rating: 4.8873239 out of 5

Keywords: The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman, Brian Johnson, PhilosophersNotes

Id: uJbK4rlOUHs

Length: 19min 9sec (1149 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 25 2017