Author Phillip Barlag on Roman History’s Lessons for Modern Life | This is Where Your Temper Will Take You

The Daily Stoic

Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures

Education, 694393, Daily Stoic, Society & Culture, Stoic, Stoicism, Self-improvement, Business, Stoic Philosophy, Philosophy, Ryan Holiday

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2021

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ryan reads today’s meditation and talks to author Phillip Barlag about the life and reign of the Roman Emperor Nero, the lessons that we can learn from Roman history, why Marcus Aurelius was selected by the emperor Hadrian, and more.

Phillip Barlag is the author of The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar, a book exploring the modern lessons of the life & career of Julius Caesar. His writing has been published in Fast Company, MIT Sloan Management Review, and a number of influential business blogs. He lives in the Atlanta, GA area with his wife and three children.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members. You can listen to the Daily Stoic Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:11.5	Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast where each weekday we bring you a
0:16.5	meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, a short passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength and insight here in everyday life.
0:26.5	And on Wednesdays we talk to some of our fellow students of ancient philosophy, well-known and obscure,
0:33.5	fascinating and powerful. With them we discuss the strategies and habits that have helped them become who they are and also to find peace and wisdom in their actual lives.
0:44.5	But first we've got a quick message from one of our sponsors.
0:48.5	This is where your temper will take you. Aside from the fact that it was fighting for quite possibly the worst cause in human history, the Confederacy was destroyed by its incompetent thin skin generals.
1:05.5	It should not surprise us that people who thought they deserved to own other people would be egotistical, entitled and impossible to command.
1:13.5	But they were. It started from the top. There is a scene from earlier in President Jefferson Davis's life when he was the Secretary of War for the United States.
1:23.5	Davis belligerently pestered the beloved general Winfield Scott repeatedly about some trivial matter. He grew angrier and angrier more and more out of line.
1:32.5	Scott ignored it until finally forced to address him. He wrote that he pitted Davis.
1:37.5	Compassion is always due, he said, to the enraged invasal who lays about him in blows which hurt only himself.
1:45.5	It shouldn't surprise us that Jefferson meddled with his generals during the Civil War, nursed petty grudges and was often impossible to work for. His generals followed his example.
1:55.5	General Braxton Bragg, who lost the Battle of Chikamaga, was famously so disagreeable that the following quip followed him everywhere.
2:03.5	My God, Mr. Bragg, you have quarreled with every officer in the army and now you are quarreling with yourself.
2:11.5	The point is anger is a dangerous emotion. A volatile temper is one of the worst traits a leader can have.
2:18.5	In his essay of anger, Sennaka provides example after example of the waste and destruction that anger causes.
2:24.5	How it ultimately wounds us more than the person we are upset with.
2:28.5	And is this not true in your own life? How many TV remotes have you broken? Who feels it more the wall or your fist?
2:35.5	Do you think that yelling at your subordinate makes them care more about their work or less?
2:40.5	Your temper will not take you to a better place only an ugly one. Even if you do get what you want, you will not enjoy it because you will be bitter and worked up when you get there.
2:50.5	We must conquer our anger, we must master ourselves. If we want to do great things, we must be able to appreciate them when we do.
	...

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