There Is No Better Time Than Now | Ask DS
The Daily Stoic
Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures
4.5 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 28 December 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
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Summary
At last the day came and you made a New Year’s resolution that would get rid of the whole base evil. And then the next year came around and you were doing the same old evil thing. Can you remember the surprise and disappointment that gripped you when you discovered that…after all that you had done through your resolutions to get rid of it—the old habit was still there? And out of amazement you found yourself asking, “Why could I not cast it out?”
So we’ll leave you today by putting a challenge in front of you. For the last four years, we have been doing what we call the Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge—a set of 21 actionable challenges, presented one per day, built around the best, most timeless wisdom in Stoic philosophy. These aren’t pie-in-the-sky, theoretical discussions but clear, immediate exercises and methods you can begin right now to spark the reinvention you’ve been trying for. We’ll tell you what to do, how to do it, and why it works.
From these challenges, you will:
✓ Learn to stop procrastinating and avoiding the change you truly desire
✓ Build new habits that form a strong foundation for change
✓ Abandon the harmful habits that are dragging you down
✓ Strengthen your character, becoming a more virtuous version of yourself
And above all: You will find out just how much you are capable of.
Every morning, the email arrives in your inbox, and it presents you with a choice. You can do the harder thing, you can do the challenge. Or you can follow the drift of least resistance—you can open the email and leave it at that. Or worse…you can ignore this call right now and not sign up at all. Which way will you go?
In today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan talks stoics and answers questions in part 2 of 3 Q&A for 60 students at The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army. West Point is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City. It is the oldest of the five American service academies and educates cadets for commissioning into the United States Army.
The 2024 New Year New You Challenge officially begins on Monday, January 1st. Stop delaying. Head over to dailystoic.com/challenge and sign up NOW! Let’s go.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. |
| 0:14.0 | Well, on Thursdays, we not only read the daily meditation, |
| 0:17.0 | but we answer some questions from listeners and fellow Stoics. |
| 0:20.0 | We're trying to apply this philosophy just as you are. Some of these come from my talks, some of these come |
| 0:26.7 | from Zoom sessions that we do with Daily Stoic Life members or as part of the challenges. |
| 0:33.6 | Some of them are from interactions I have on the street |
| 0:36.4 | when there happened to be someone there recording. |
| 0:39.0 | But thank you for listening, and we hope this is of use to you. |
| 0:43.0 | There is no better. |
| 0:44.0 | There is no better time than now. We all have vices, we all have flaws, we all have things we know we want to change, but what happens? Nothing happens. This is true for everyone, even Martin Luther King Jr. One day, King said, |
| 1:06.7 | we tell ourselves, I'm going to rise up and try this evil out. I know it's wrong. It's destroying my character |
| 1:10.8 | and embarrassing my family. |
| 1:12.6 | But then he says, at last the day came |
| 1:15.2 | and you made a New Year's resolution |
| 1:16.9 | that would get rid of that evil. |
| 1:18.5 | And then the next year came around |
| 1:19.8 | and you were still doing the same old thing. Can you remember the surprise and disappointment that gripped |
| 1:25.4 | you when you discovered that? After all that you had done through your resolutions to get rid of it, |
| 1:29.9 | the old habit was still there, he said. And out of amazement you found yourself asking why should I not why |
| 1:36.2 | could I not cast it out. Seneca reminds us that all fools have one thing in common |
| 1:41.4 | they're always getting ready to start They're always getting ready to start. |
| 1:43.1 | They're always getting ready to change. |
... |
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