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Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life.

Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com.

All we control is the beginning of things. Clearly, the Stoics were doers. They ran for public office. They fought in the army. They started business ventures. They created artistic works.

How can this fit, though, with what Marcus Arelius called the art of acquiescence? Isn't this resignation a contradiction? If you believe in a kind of predetermination, why bother? Perhaps the way through this puzzle is best captured in a quote by Democritus, a pre-socratic philosopher, admired by the Stoics.

Democritus said that boldness is the beginning of action, but fortune controls how it ends. What that means is that the Stoic believes it is in their power to say right a book, but not in their power to determine whether people will like it or buy a lot of copies of it.

A Stoic will fight bravely in battle, but know the outcome is determined by so many other things.

They will run for office. They will start a business. They will compete in an athletic event, but whether they win, that's not up to them. Whether they give their best, boldest, or hardest effort, well, that is.

That's the message for today. We control the beginning of things. Whether we say hello to a pretty stranger, but not whether they reciprocate, we can make the pitch or the apology, but fortune controls whether it's accepted.

We can plan the trip, but not win or if we arrive. It's not a lot, but it's enough. So let's do it boldly.

If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email.

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