The Daily Stoic - This Is How The Weak Beat The Strong | Ask Daily Stoic

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 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, visitdailystoic.com. You may not have a lot of money or powerful connections or even superior genetics. Does this mean you're at a disadvantage that you're screwed?

Starting point is 00:01:09 Maybe that you're at a disadvantage? Yes. Does it mean you're screwed? No. Because there is a great leveler out there. The famous Princeton basketball coach Pete Carroll would tell his young athletes that his father came from a province in Spain and worked for years in the open hearth, the Bethlehem Steel Company.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Every day before he left for work, Carol would say he would remind my sister and I how important it was to be smart. In this life, he would say, the big, strong guys are always taking from the smaller, weaker guys. But he said, the smart take from the strong. It's simple fatherly wisdom. You've got to use your brain. It is the secret weapon of underdogs everywhere, always available and always free. Think of David deciding to use his sling in the fight against Goliath. Think of the stoic opposition outmatched and outgunned by the many tyrants of their time, and yet they managed to get inside the heads of these tyrants. They managed to win in the long battle history. Think of the wealthiest and most powerful people of antiquities sitting at the feet of Epictetus, former slave. Think of Stockdale and

Starting point is 00:02:25 the Hanoi Hilton getting into long debates with his captors about Marxism and winning. Life is a thinking person's game. If you want to beat the strong, the rich, and the powerful, get smart. The greatest educational fallacy Stockdale would say is that you can get it without stress. The road to wisdom to living of the philosophical life is not an easy one. It takes work. That's my argument in the new book. Wisdom takes work.

Starting point is 00:02:53 It is the work of our. life. And if you want to know how to do that work better, if you want to learn from some of the smartest people who have ever lived, I would love for you to pre-order it. The book is out on October 21st, but you can pre-order signed and numbered first editions. You can actually get a special edition set of all four books in the series, courage, discipline, just wisdom. And it would mean so much to me if you could pre-order it. We only did 1,500 of those. They're almost sold out. You can grab those, that collector set. at daily stoic.com slash stoic virtues. I'll link to that in today's show notes as well.

Starting point is 00:03:33 And I'd really appreciate it. Enjoy and keep doing the work, folks. When you're busy, when you work hard, when you push yourself, one of the things that's really important is recovery. And recovery is not just about rest. It's also what you put in your body. So you take advantage of that rest. So we get what it needs to recover. The creatine is one of the most essential nutrients for your body and brain to do that. It supports strength and power and recovery, even memory and mental sharpness. And now, thanks to Momentous, today's sponsor, is easier and more refreshing. Their new creatine lemon delivers the purest creatine on the planet in a naturally flavored lemonade-style powder. And like

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Starting point is 00:05:08 We've been hiring for some positions at daily stoic lately. And when you have roles you're trying to fill, it can be difficult, right? You want to fill the roles quickly, but you also want to find the right people. So that's really a question. How do you find amazing candidates fast? Well, the answer is just use. Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other job sites. With Indeed's sponsored jobs, you stand out and hire fast. And with

Starting point is 00:05:35 sponsored jobs, your jobs jump to the top of the page to help you find relevant candidates quickly. How fast is Indeed? In the minute we've been talking here, 23 hires were made on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners will get a $75-sponsored job credit to get your job more visibility at Indeed.com slash daily stoic. Just go to Indeed.com slash daily stoic right now to support the show and say you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Deed.com slash daily stoic. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring. Indeed is all you need. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic.

Starting point is 00:06:22 Stoic podcast. So my sort of routine when I do talks is I usually end up getting there the night before, go for run in the morning before the talk, and then I go down and I do my thing. It's not always that way. Back in June, it was the same day talk. So I flew to Virginia Beach, had maybe like an hour and a half to run, grab something to eat, change, go down and do the talk. So I ran along the boardwalk there in Virginia Beach, somewhere I'd never been. And then I gave a talk to a group, you wouldn't think, would be an audience for an obscure school of ancient philosophy, but it was. It was the International Right of Way Association's annual conference. I guess running along a boardwalk is fitting. It was a beautiful, you know, sort of public work that the kinds of engineers and

Starting point is 00:07:09 architects and administrators at something like the International Right of Way's Association would be involved in. So I did a big talk to the group. There was about 1,000 people. And then afterwards, we did sort of a 30-minute meet-and-greet Q&A session. Sometimes at these talks, it's kind of like a little, it's like a post-game conference. So anyways, I did that. And that's what I wanted to bring you today. This is the folks at the International Right of Way Association

Starting point is 00:07:37 asking me some questions afterwards. And hopefully these are matched with some of your questions. And I thought it was really interesting. So thanks to them for having me out. And then I'm going to go give a talk now. in a few minutes downstairs in my hotel. Let's get into it.

Starting point is 00:07:58 Somebody did ask me, like, oh, you're going to meet Brian Holiday, you're like, what are you going to ask it? And I will tell you that my one question is, can you come, like, live with me for 60 years and I can ask you a thousand questions? Because there is no one question. Okay.

Starting point is 00:08:13 So somebody else doesn't want out of it. But thank you again. Thank you, Robert. Sure. Thank you. Awesome. So, ask the question. I don't know what to say.

Starting point is 00:08:22 I'm like, we've read a bunch of your books. And I'll say that we say to each other all the time when something happens, that's pretty like, look, hey, obstacles away. Like we might each other constantly of that. And you're in Austin? Yes. Okay, I live in Fort Worth. Oh, okay.

Starting point is 00:08:34 Cool. Yeah. I saw the vast drop stuff and I'm like, oh, I know all the spots. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My question is, started with obstacles the way and went through the list, and then you came out with conspiracy. Where did you get that idea from? Oh, right.

Starting point is 00:08:47 Yeah. I mean, kind of. similar to the idea in the hospital's way. Someone was sort of telling me about this crazy story, it's about this billionaire who was trying to destroy a media outlet. And it was very different than all my other books. And so it seemed like it would be a challenge to do,

Starting point is 00:09:06 which it was. I mean, like, 20,000. A lot of research. Yeah. And so it's like, I'd love to just try something very different. And even if it didn't work, I would just be better for having tried to do it. it in a different way. It's actually funny. There's a line in meditation's remarks to us

Starting point is 00:09:23 and talking about trying to hold the reins of his horse with his non-dominant hand. Like you're just trying to do it in a way that he doesn't normally do it. And that was kind of how that came about. It's just I loved reading those kind of books. And I wanted to see if I could write one. And so, I mean, the book. Thank you. I'm very proud of it for the reason that I know I got better for having done it and then yeah so I don't know if I'll do another one but it's kind of like when Malcolm Gladwell came out with the bomber mafia it's like yeah this is very different yeah what he normally does and I think he's really messed with the sort of me that the line between book and audiobook and you know he's like kind of messing with the medium which I think

Starting point is 00:10:11 is what you at some point you should be kind of pushing the boundaries of what you do otherwise you're just doing the same thing over and over again. Conspiracy is very different. I don't know if you all have read it, the obstacle is the way still is the key, and ego is the enemy. It's about Hulk Hogan, right? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:10:26 And how this billionaire decided to bring Gawker to its knees and it involved Hulk Hogan and things we won't talk about in mixed company. Yeah. Yeah, it was fascinating. It was. It was. It was very well written. How did you get in the conversation with it?

Starting point is 00:10:43 Yeah, I mean, I think, so someone, recommended that I read the Stoics and I did, and I think what was so striking, which I think is what happened whenever you read something great, is you're like, I didn't know this was out there, you know? And I think when you're reading, you know, books from 2,000 years ago, but it feels like it could be written about, like, the moment you're in right now, that's like a really magical thing. And I think what's always been striking to me about the Stoics is, yeah, sometimes they mention certain things ago, okay, that's very much a product of a time and a place. But, the rest of it feels like it could be just as much about the digital age. And just sort of the timelessness of, yeah, I think that's what really struck me. Yeah, it's, you know, they call philosophy the great conversation. And I think that's what it is.

Starting point is 00:11:32 It's these ideas from thousands of years ago, plus our perspective now. And even though those texts say the same, you know, what we're looking for in them or the problems we're dealing with now, we find new ways of interpreting. be interpreting. I've always loved writing and I'll give me this talk about being true to your word, you know that story, about somebody becoming taken captive. Oh yeah, Regulus? Yes,

Starting point is 00:11:59 yeah, and I love that story. So you just like, can you tell me this? There's a Roman general who's caught prisoner and then he's sent back to negotiate peace on a diplomatic mission, but they make him promise that if it fails, they'll come back. And so he goes and he says, like, hey, I don't think you should make these, I think they're losing. And so the Romans thank you for the advice, whatever. He goes back because he's like, I gave my word that I would come back. And then they torture him to that. And his point, it doesn't matter.

Starting point is 00:12:28 You give you a word when you want to follow through. You got to follow through even when you don't want to. Yeah. And so it's sort of a famous story about, like, let the Romans keep their word. Yeah. I just thought, and that that was why I thought he would be good for our industry. like how important that is for us. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:47 Promise something you can't deliver or go back on your word? Well, yeah, there's also this lie, like, you know, is it, he's not legally obligated to come back, you know? It's like a negotiation with the enemy, but he's like, no, I said I would do it, so I'm going to do it. I mean, I think it's a fascinating sort of ethical quandary, too. Like, what do you owe?

Starting point is 00:13:08 What does he actually need to go? But his point was you've got to be able to trust. if a Roman says something in a negotiation can they trust it and you just realize like the whole even like the international system is set up on these different you know precedents and norms and then it's easy in one individual instance to be like well it's bad for me so I'm not going to follow it but then that creates sort of a wicked feedback group so yeah that's what that's right now well thank you again of course I'm just going to ask yeah journal yeah is definitely one thing that a lot of people do yes I don't do okay

Starting point is 00:13:43 So how do you use that? What do you find is your inhibits you from doing it? Just too busy or you don't like it or you don't know? Not a priority or yeah, I just don't know, I guess maybe what to. Well, I think sometimes people overthink it. They're like, do I have to write everything I did today? Or do I have to, like, dear diary and spill your, you know. It's like.

Starting point is 00:14:04 I had to do your breakfast. Yeah, I tend to think it's like whatever works for you is what you should do. I like to, there's a bunch of different journals of prompts that are a nice way to get sort of build to have it because there's like a question you're answering and then you're like oh that's all i'm doing like like i have one journal that's it's called a one line a day journal and it has one line and five spots and you keep it for five years so you write one thing i usually write like something about the day that just happened but like so

Starting point is 00:14:33 the first year's cool second year's cool third year's really cool fourth and fifth years you're like oh, here's where I was on June 1st, 2024, 23, 22, 21. And so I would, yeah. So you get one sentence. One sentence, but all on one page for that date. Yeah. So I like that, at this point, they're no longer just like,

Starting point is 00:14:56 oh, here's a blank journal to fill it up. There's like lots of different kinds when people, that's sort of technology that's been developed. You think about it that way. But like, journaling is one of those things, I think, that at some future point you're going to wish you had done. And so I would just find some way to do it. And I think if you're like, I've got to do it every day for this long,

Starting point is 00:15:16 then you're making it a chore. It should just be like, when I feel like it, I'd spend some time, putting some thoughts down on paper. Not so much for me right now, but for future me or for who I am after I do it. Like to me, I don't usually go back through my journals other than like the one line a day because you're looking, you're seeing it each day for five years.

Starting point is 00:15:36 But it's more like when I get it down on the page, that it's not in here. That's, yeah, that is the biggest benefit from it. And a lot of times I would get in bed and not. And then like, I gotta get up, I gotta get it out. It calms you down. And you're like, you put it down and you're like, that feels pretty ridiculous now that I've written. Right. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:15:58 Or like I'm, by writing it down, I don't have to say it to this person. Hey, it's Ryan. Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoak 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 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. Look, ads are annoying. They are to be avoided, if at all possible. I understand as a content creator why they need to exist. That's why I don't begrudge them when they appear on the shows that I listen to. But again, as a person who has to pay a podcast producer and has to pay for equipment and for the studio and the building that the studio is in, it's a lot to keep something like the Daily Stoic going. if you want to support a show but not listen to ads, well, we have partnered with Supercast

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The Daily Stoic - This Is How The Weak Beat The Strong | Ask Daily Stoic

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