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Hey, I'm Cassie Depeckle, the host of Wunderies Against the Odds. In our next season, Amelia

Earhart wants to make history by flying across the Atlantic alone, but brutal weather and

malfunctioning equipment could leave her lost at sea. Listen to Against the Odds on Amazon

music or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to the Daily Stoic, where 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.

It's important to have reminders. It seems crazy now, but amongst the Stoics in the ancient

world, there was once an intense disagreement over whether philosophers should have precepts

or sayings to remind them of their teachings. Stoics like Aristo, who lived around the time

of Xeno, believed that this was cheating. A wise man properly trained, he said, should

just know what to do in any and every situation. Later, Stoics like Senica thought this was

ridiculous, which is why his letters to Lucilius are filled with all sorts of quotes and aphorisms

and rules. Marcus Aurelius, who admittedly was a fan of Aristo, seemed to follow a similar

path to Senica's, laying down those epithets for the self and all sorts of other precepts

for living. In a way, this debate continues today, some people sneer at self-help and

motivational sayings and even the medallions we sell at Daily Stoic. Why do I need a coin

to remind me of that? Isn't all this stuff obvious? But if you walk into a locker room

of any professional sports team or elite D1 level program, you'll see the walls are tattooed

...