The Daily Stoic - How To Handle A Bad Call | Anger is Bad Fuel

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

In Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll made a decision that will be remembered in sports history for decades. The headlines called it “the worst play call in NFL history,” the “dumbest call in Super Bowl history,” and a “terrible Super Bowl mistake.”Carroll would of course disagree with this Monday morning quarterbacking, believing it was the right call based on the numbers and his experience. But there is no disputing that the play did not work. So the more interesting question is: What did Carroll do next? How did he respond to this brutal media onslaught?In short, he owned it.---In today's reading from The Daily Stoic, Ryan discusses why anger is a limited resource, and how relying on it as a fuel source may get you somewhere in the short run, but will eventually backfire in the long run.Check out The Daily Stoic Leadership Challenge to mirror the kind of education that produced historically great leaders like Marcus Aurelius.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondering's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target, the new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Friday we do double duty not just reading our daily meditation but also reading a passage from the Daily Stoic, my book 366 Meditations

on Wisdom, Perseverance in the Heart of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful collaborator, translator, and literary agent, Stephen Hanselman. So today, I will give you a quick meditation from the Stoics with some analysis from me, and then we'll send you out into the world to turn these words into works. How to handle a bad call. At the Super Bowl in 2015, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made a decision that will be remembered in sports history for decades. With 26 seconds left in the game and the Seahawks down by four, they had the ball on the New England Patriots' one yard line.

Instead of handing the ball to the running back, Marshawn Lynch, the best running back in the NFL at the time, Carol called the passing play on second down. The Patriots intercepted the ball and they won the game. The headlines called it the worst play call in NFL history and the dumbest call in Superbow History and a terrible Super Bowl mistake. Carol would, of course, disagree with this Monday morning quarterbacking, believing that was the right call based on the numbers and his experience. But there is no disputing that the play did not work.

So the more interesting question is, what did Carol do next? How did he respond to this brutal media onslaught? In short, he owned it. I told those guys that's my fault totally, he said after the game. And then later, when given the chance to pass off some of the blame to his offensive coordinator, Carol refused, saying, I made the decision. This is what a leader does. They make the best decision they can with the information they have fully aware as the Stokes would say that the outcome is outside what is up to us. But while the results of our decision are not in our hands, we pick the ball back up with how we

respond to that corresponding success or failure. Do we own it or run from it, take the blame or share the credit, big or small, a crime or a bad play call, every decision lives in the past. And here and now they no longer exist, can no longer be touched. All that remains is what you do next. You can take responsibility, you can build on the lessons of your mistake, you can move forward. You can make sure that you don't compound the mistake, you can decide how the next part of the story gets written. That is what leadership is all about. And actually, we drawn some lessons from Pete Carroll and a bunch of other coaches.

We talked to the GM, one of the greatest franchises in the history of sports, RC B Buford of the San Antonio Spurs. It's military leaders, business leaders, entrepreneurs, bunch of awesome people in the Daily Stoke Leadership Challenge, which not only did I get a lot out of, I actually just heard from someone on my staff, they're taking the challenge to be better at leading inside Daily Stoke, which I just was total music to my ears. I'd love for you to check leading inside Daily Stoke, which I just was total

music to my ears. I love for you to check out the Daily Stoke Leadership Challenge. It's a six week deep dive into making better decisions, being a better leader, and it's amazing. You can check it out at dailystoke.com slash leadership. You can sign up for Daily Stoke Life at dailystokeLife.com and get that challenge and all our challenges for free. But check out the Daily Stoke Leadership Challenge. I'll link to it in today's show notes and I hope you enjoy the Super Bowl as well. Anger is bad fuel. This is today's message from the Daily Stoic.

There is no more stupifying thing than anger, nothing more bent on its own strength. If successful, none more arrogant, if foiled, none more insane, since it is not driven back by wearingness even in defeat, when fortune removes its adversary, it turns its teeth on itself. Seneca. On anger, 3-1. As the Stoics have said, many times, getting angry almost never solves anything. Usually, makes things worse. When we get upset, then the other person gets upset.

Now everyone is upset, and the problem is no closer to being solved. Many successful people will try to tell you that anger is a powerful fuel in their lives. The desire to prove them all wrong or shove it in their faces has made many a millionaire and a celebrity. The anger at being called fat or stupid is created fine physical specimens in brilliant minds. The anger at being rejected is motivated many to carve their own path. But this is short-sighted. Such stories ignore the pollution produced as a side effect and the wear and tear it puts on the engine. It ignores what happens when the initial anger wears out and how more and more fuel must be generated

to keep the machine going until eventually the only source left, as Sonica said, is anger at oneself. Hate is too great a burden to bear Martin Luther King, Jr. warned his fellow civil rights leaders in 1967, even though he had every reason to respond to hate with hate. And the same is true for anger. In fact, it's true for most extreme emotions. They are toxic fuel. There's plenty of it out in the world, no question,

but it is rarely worth the cost to come along with it. What I've come to say, as I wrote this many years ago, but I talked about anger more as a fuel in my books, Phil The Season Key. Anger is very powerful fuel, but it's very volatile fuel. And it might make the machine go quite fast, but it could also blow up and burn you and everyone around you. And this is what Senaiko was writing about in anger. He saw this with Nero, certainly. And he tried to talk to Nero about this directly where he said,

like, look, other people can afford to be angry, can be afford to be led by their passions, but not you. Too much is at stake here. And I think that's an important way to think about this. Anger is dangerous fuel and people are counting on you. There are people around you. There are innocent people around you. And you don't want to blow up all over them. I tell the story of Michael Jordan and still this is the key. And if you watch his Hall of Fame speech, you can see a guy who manufactured slights, his whole career as a source of fuel, as a source of propulsion.

And there's no question it made him great. But there's this moment in the speech where he calls out like the kid who took his spot, not even really took his spot as I get into in the book is more complicated than that, but the kid who got a spot on the varsity basketball team in high school in front of Jordan. And it's clear that Jordan has been hanging on to this for like 40 years. And he brings the guy to the talk, to the Hall of Fame thing.

And he rubs it in his face. Like, look where I am now. The most accomplished person in the history of that game, and that's what he's doing. And I'm not saying there's a bad person, I'm saying it's sad. That would be a hard way to live. You know, Senka talks about how getting angry is like returning a bite to a dog or a kick to a mule.

But that's what we do. The TV remote isn't cooperating. We smash it to pieces. That'll show the remote. But who are you really punishing, man? First off, the remote is an in-animet object. And now you have to go get a new remote. It just doesn't work.

I just, there's almost no times that I've been glad afterwards, that I lost my temper. And my best work, when I think about it, it didn't come from a place of showing people up. Honestly, most of the things I regret came from wanting to prove people wrong or prove myself right or win. My best work came from a place of love, a place of deep interest, a fascination. It was a puzzle, not a problem to obliterate. Anger is bad fuel.

I'm not saying it's not effective. I'm just saying it's long-term. And I think the metaphor in this chapter of the pollution is right, Even if it works for you, it's going to be bad for your kids. It's going to be bad for the people that you're competing against or with. It's going to be bad for the people that witness it. Ultimately, it will be bad for you. Anger is bad fuel. There's plenty of other things you can find to motivate you. Stokes said to be wary of the passions. Mark's really said to be free of passion, full of love, think working from a place of love, fascination,

commitment. That's a good passion. Anger, not so much. Anyways, that's today's message. I'll talk to you all soon. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and ad-free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts. Celebrity feuds are high stakes. You never know if you're just going to end up on page six or Du Moir or in court. I'm Matt Bellissi. And I'm Sydney Battle, and we're the host of Wonder E's new podcast, Dis and Tell, where each episode we unpack a different iconic celebrity feud. From the buildup, why it happened, and the repercussions. What does our obsession with these feud say about us?

The first season is packed with some pretty messy pop culture drama, but none is drawn out in personal as Brittany and Jamie Lynn Spears. When Brittany's fans form the free Britney movement dedicated to fraying her from the infamous conservatorship, Jamie Lynn's lack of public support, it angered some fans, a lot of them. It's a story of two young women who had their choices taken away from them by their controlling parents, but took their anger out on each other. And it's about a movement to save a superstar, which set its sights upon anyone who failed to fight for Britney. Follow Disenthal wherever you get your podcast. You can listen ad free on Amazon Music or the Wonder

App.