Do Less, Better

The Daily Stoic

Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures

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

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2019

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Here’s the simple recipe for improvement and for happiness. It comes from Marcus Aurelius and the fact that it came from such a busy man with so many obligations and responsibilities should not be forgotten.

“If you seek tranquillity,” he said, “do less.”

And then he follows the note to himself with some clarification. Not nothing, less. Do only what’s essential. “Which brings a double satisfaction,” he writes “to do less, better.”

Follow this advice today and everyday. So much of what we think we must do, so much of what we end up doing is not essential. We do it out of habit. We do it out of guilt. We do it out of laziness or we do it out of greedy ambition. And then we wonder why our performance suffers. We wonder why our heart isn’t really in it.

Of course it isn’t. We know deep down there’s no point.

But if we could do less inessential stuff, we’d be able to better do what is essential. We’d also get a taste of that tranquillity that Marcus was talking about. A double satisfaction.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:13.6	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 the good life.
0:23.3	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.
0:35.3	Do less, better. Here's the simple recipe for improvement and for happiness. It comes from Marcus Aurelius and the fact that it came from such a busy man with so many obligations and responsibilities should not be forgotten.
0:50.3	If you seek tranquility, he said, do less. And then he follows the note to himself with some clarification. Not nothing less. Do only what is essential. He said, which brings a double satisfaction. To do less, better.
1:08.3	Follow this advice today and every day. So much of what we think we must do, so much of what we end up doing is not essential. We do it out of habit, we do it out of guilt, we do it out of laziness, or we do it out of our greedy ambition. And then we wonder why our performance suffers. We wonder why our heart isn't really in it. Of course it isn't. We know deep down, there is no point.
1:32.3	But if we could do less in essential stuff, we'd be able to better do what is essential. We'd also get a taste of that tranquility Marcus was talking about, a double satisfaction.
2:02.3	Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily stoic early and add free on Amazon music, download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondering Plus in Apple podcasts.

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.