The Daily Stoic - Pursue Excellence, Not Credit

Episode Date: November 2, 2022

Perhaps you remember reading The Odyssey in high school or college (or possibly you picked upEmily Wilson’s fabulous new translation at the Painted Porch). Even if you haven’t, you’re probably familiar with the cyclops scene. Odysseus and his men find themselves trapped in a cave with Polyphemus, the deranged, man-eating, sheep herding, one-eyed beast. Odysseus hatches an ingenious escape plan: they wait for the cyclops to fall asleep and then stab him in the eye with a sharpened log. Enraged and blinded, Polyphemus staggers to remove the stone he had rolled in front of the entrance of the cave, which frees Odysseus and his men.✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook See 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 Stoic Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom every day life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2, old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us dailystowup.com. Perhaps you remember reading the Odyssey in high school or college, or possibly you picked up Emily Wilson's fabulous translation.

Even if you haven't, you're probably familiar with the Cyclops scene. Odysseus and his men find themselves trapped in a cave with polyphemus, the deranged man eating sheep hurting one eye at a beast. Odysseus hatches an ingenious escape plan. They wait for the Cyclops to fall asleep and then stab him in the eye with a sharpened log. Enraged and blinded, polyphemous staggers to remove the stone he had rolled in front of the entrance of the cave, which frees Odysseus and his men. Its brilliant and best of all, Odysseus never having given the Cyclops his real name

is off-Scott free. But then, just out of reach of the bleeding angry shouting Cyclops, he turns back in taunts. Cyclops, if any mortal asks you how your eye was mutilated and made blind, say that Odysseus, the city-sacr, Learchus' son, who lives in Ithaca, destroyed your site. Odysseus couldn't help himself. He wanted the credit, and he stupidly forgot that Polly Femus' father was beside it, and that the Lord of the sea was unlikely to act kindly to someone who had blinded his son. This moment of hubris cost Odysseus something like ten years of his life, as Poseidon threw up countless obstacles, one after

the other, between Odysseus and his wife Penelope, back home in Ithaca. It's a lesson that many people have heated, and plenty of others have painfully forgotten ever since. Marcus Aurelius, for his part, talked often about the worthlessness of credit. So, you did a good thing, he says, what do you need to be thanked for it? It felt good to do, it helped someone else, why do you need the third thing of credit or recognition or gratitude? The same goes for a clever plan or a successful business deal. Do you really need people to know you pulled it off? The answer is that you don't. In fact, it's usually better not to get credit because the right thing isn't always appreciated

because other people might get jealous because it puffs up your ego. Think about that today and remember it always. You don't need credit. That's not what you motivate you. Do the right thing because it's right. Pursue excellence because it's what you do. Leave the recognition and the rewards alone.

Thanks 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. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke early and ad-free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts. Celebrity feuds are high stakes.

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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 Brittany 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 Brittany. Follow Disenthal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music or The Wondery App.

Ah, the Bahamas. What if you could live in a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean working during the day and partying at night with your best friends and have it be 100% paid for. FTX Founder Sam Bankman Freed lived that dream life, but it was all funded with other people's money, but he allegedly stole. Many thought Sam Bankman Freed was changing the game as he graced the pages of Forbes and Banity Fair. Some involved in crypto saw him as a breath of fresh air, from the usual Wall Street buffs with his casual dress and ability to play League of Legends during boardroom meetings.

But in less than a year, his exchange would collapse, and SPF would find himself in a jail cell, with tens of thousands of investors blaming him for their crypto losses. From Bloomberg and Wondery, comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docu-series about the meteoric rise and spectacular fall of FTX, and its founder, Sam Beckman-Freed. Follow Spellcaster wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, prime members, you can listen to episodes Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.