The Daily Stoic - How The Powerless Become Powerful | Don't Look For The Third Thing

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome 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 DailyStstoic.com. How the powerless become powerful. Hadrian had everything. He could do anything. He commanded an enormous army.

Starting point is 00:01:07 He had access to the smartest advisors and the most illustrious men in the world. He could send for anyone, summon anyone. And yet here he was traveling more than 500 miles from Rome to the distant Greek city and Roman colony of Nicopolis, to attend the lectures of a former slave? It's pretty incredible and beautiful too, no? There is something poetic about Hadrian, then the emperor, sitting like an eager student

Starting point is 00:01:38 at the foot of a man whose name literally just meant, acquired one. And yet, in this instance, was the slave not then the master? Was that not the powerless conquering the powerful? Marcus Aurelius, a lifelong student of Epictetus and the adopted grandson of Hadrian, contrasted the great conquerors of the world against the wise men of history. And he believed that the thinkers came out the better. Because he explained, the philosophers knew the what, the why, and the how.

Starting point is 00:02:12 Their minds were their own. Isn't that what we're after? How can we seize that power? How can we reverse fortune as Epictetus did? Well, that's what we're talking about this month here at Daily Stoic. We're studying the life of Epictetus did? Well, that's what we're talking about this month here at Daily Stoic. We're studying the life of Epictetus. July is gonna be Epictetus month.

Starting point is 00:02:31 It's gonna be a deep dive into the life, the lessons, the legacy of one of history's greatest philosophers. And if you wanna join us, you wanna go deeper, we'd love to have you. We did this guide on Epictetus and we're doing kind of a book club about him. And I'd love to have you in there. If you wanna learn how to read Epictetus,

Starting point is 00:02:49 sign up right now at dailystoic.com slash epictetuscourse. I'll link to it in today's show notes, of course. But basically it's this structured companion to help you engage with Epictetus the way he's meant to be engaged as a teacher of practical daily tools for living. The same things that Hadrian was trying to incorporate in his life, I'm trying to incorporate in my life

Starting point is 00:03:11 and thousands of stoics all over the world are after as well. I think what we find in Epictetus is action over theory. Right? We find sort of universality. Of course, he's also got his share of modern champions. And so we're going to explore all that in how to read Epictetus at Daily Stoke Digital Guidance Course. And we'll be having a big conversation about it, which I would love to see you in. As I said, dailystoke.com slash Epictetus course,

Starting point is 00:03:40 and you can get your copy of Epictetus at a discount. All that over there at dailystoke.com slash Epictetus course, and you can get your copy of Epictetus at a discount. All that over there at dailystoic.com slash Epictetus course. And remember, if you're a member of Daily Stoic Life, you'll get this course and all our other courses for free. So check all that out and I will see you in there when we get together on July 26th. I've been running a lot and I'm trying to make sure I get the protein that I need. Because my daily routine is not always so routine.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Sometimes I'm here, sometimes I'm there, sometimes I had time for breakfast, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I forget to eat. So whether I'm in the office or on the road, trying to up my protein intake, and that's where today's sponsor comes in, Kachava, their whole body meal shakes keep your mind and body nourished all day. Kachava is a whole body meal of 25 grams of plant-based protein that actually tastes delicious.

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Starting point is 00:05:26 To do the right thing, to see someone helped by it, this is enough. To go around expecting thanks, what Marcus Aurelius describes as the third thing, that is to miss the point. It's being greedy. Keeping score not only misses the purposes of being good, it's foolish.

Starting point is 00:05:43 Sets you up for disappointment. If you're gonna do some accounting, look at it from the other direction. How many people have helped us? What do we owe them in return? Think about clearing some debts this week and consider forgetting any notion of others owing you. This is from this week's entry in the Daily Stoke Journal,

Starting point is 00:06:03 366 days of writing and reflection on the art of living, together by myself and the wonderful Steve Hanselman. You can buy this anywhere books are sold. I sell a bunch of signed copies, personalize it. Usually write, prepare and reflect in the Daily Stoke store. You can buy that at store.dailystoke.com. Then we've got two quotes from Marcus to think about today. 1. One person, on doing well by others, immediately accounts the expected favor in return.

Starting point is 00:06:30 Another is not so quick, but still considers the person a debtor and knows the favor. A third kind of person acts as if not conscious of the deed, rather like a vine producing a cluster of grapes without making further demands, like a horse after its race, or a dog after its walk, or a bee after making its honey. Such a person having done a good deed won't go shouting from rooftops, but simply moves on to the next deed, just like the vine produces another bunch of grapes

Starting point is 00:06:57 in the right season. It's Marcus Aurelius' Meditations 5-6. That's such a beautiful image, like plants produce fruit. They don't even reap the benefits of that fruit. They just do it because that's their nature. That's their job. And then we have one more. When you've done well and another has benefited by it, why like a fool do you look for the

Starting point is 00:07:15 third thing on top? Credit for the good deed or favor in return. That's Marcus Aurelius' Meditations 7.7.3. Anytime Marcus is repeating himself in meditation, I think it's illustrative. And I think he is doing what we all do, right? He did something good, and he was disappointed that it either wasn't recognized, or he was frustrated that it was interpreted incorrectly. Imagine you're Marcus Surreale, you're trying not to be corrupted by power,

Starting point is 00:07:46 you've seen what your horrible predecessors have done and you're being attacked for it. He says that the rewards of being a leader is to do good things and earn a bad reputation, you still get attacked. If you're going through life looking for this third thing, and I do this all the time myself, if you're going through life looking for that third thing, you're gonna be disappointed all the myself. If you're going through life looking for that third thing,

Starting point is 00:08:05 you're gonna be disappointed all the time. And you're gonna question why you were doing the good thing. Cause if you're doing it in this quid pro quo, one hand washes the other, you do a thing, they do a thing. Do you start to go, this is a sucker's payoff. Like I'm doing the right thing and I'm not getting anything for it. I'm gonna stop doing the right thing.

Starting point is 00:08:23 No, the stoics want you to think, no doing the right thing. No, the Stoics want you to think, no, the right thing is your job. You do the right thing because it produces pleasure for you. You do the right thing because that's what you were put here on this planet to do. You do the right thing because it's the right thing. Don't look for the third thing, do the right thing because it's the right thing.

Starting point is 00:08:40 That's this week's lesson. And as we said in the little meditations, forgive the debts that others owe you and be very diligent about paying your debts to all the people who have selflessly done good things for you in this world over the years. Hey, it's Ryan. Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoic podcast. I just wanted to say we so appreciate it. We love serving you. It's amazing to us that over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple years we've been

Starting point is 00:09:14 doing it. It's an honor. Please spread the word, tell people about it, and this isn't to sell anything. I just wanted to say thank you.

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The Daily Stoic - How The Powerless Become Powerful | Don't Look For The Third Thing

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