These Are Life Choices You Control

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

🗓️ 30 November 2018

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you haven’t heard of George Raveling, you should. This a guy that Michael Jordan addresses as “coach” even though Raveling never coached the Bulls or the Tar Heels. He’s also been retired from coaching for more than two decades.

In fact, most people who know him call him Coach Rav, not because he’s got a great sense of the game, but because his wisdom about life. On Coach’s website, there’s a tab titled Life Lessons. It’s full of wonderful lessons. But it’s one post in particular that the aspiring Stoic should consider, because it deals with what Epictetus said is our chief task in life--discerning what’s inside our control and what isn’t and then, having made the distinction, focus all our energy on making the right choices in regards to what’s ours to decide.

Rav’s post is titled 23 Life Choices That Are In Your Control.

Here are all 23 of them:

1. Be YOU, not them.

2. Do more, expect less.

3. Be positive, not negative.

4. Be the solution, not the problem.

5. Be a starter, not a stopper.

6. Question more, believe less.

7. Be a somebody, never a nobody.

8. Love more, hate less.

9. Give more, take less.

10. See more, look less.

11. Save more, spend less.

12. Listen more, talk less.

13. Walk more, sit less.

14. Read more, watch less.

15. Build more, destroy less.

16. Praise more, criticize less.

17. Clean more, dirty less.

18. Live more, do not just exist.

19. Be the answer, not the question.

20. Be a lover, not a hater.

21. Be a painkiller, not a pain giver.

22. Think more, react less.

23. Be more uncommon, less common.

And now that we have been given 23 choices that are up to us, let’s start making them.

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Transcript

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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.
0:37.3	These are life choices you control. If you haven't heard of George Ravling, you should. This is a guy that Michael Jordan addresses as coach, even though Ravling never coached the bulls or the Tartios.
0:49.3	He's also been retired from coaching for more than two decades. In fact, most people who know him still call him coach Rav, not because he's got a great sense of the game, but because of his wisdom about life.
1:04.3	On Coach's website, there's a tab titled Life Lessons. It's full of wonderful lessons, but there is one post in particular that the aspiring Stoke should consider because it deals with what Epic Titus said is our chief task in life.
1:17.3	Discerning what's inside our control and what isn't, and then having made the distinction, focusing all our energy on making the right choices in regards to what's ours to decide.
1:29.3	Rav's post is titled 23 Life Choices that are in your control, and here they are. Number one, BU and not them. Two, do more and expect less. Three, be positive, not negative.
1:44.3	Four, be the solution, not the problem. Five, be a starter, not a stopper. Six, question more, believe less. Seven, be a somebody, never a nobody. Eight, love more and hate less.
2:00.3	Nine, give more and take less. Ten, see more and look less. Eleven, save more and spend less. Twelve, listen more and talk less.
2:12.3	Thirteen, walk more and sit less. Fourteen, read more and watch less. Fifteen, build more and destroy less. Sixteen, praise more, criticize less. Seventeen, clean more, dirty less.
2:28.3	Eighteen, live more, do not just exist. Nineteen, be the answer, not the question. Twenty, be a lover and not a hater. Twenty-one, be a pain killer and not a pain giver. Twenty-two, think more, react less. Twenty-three, be more uncommon, less uncommon.
2:48.3	Now that we have been given twenty-three choices that are up to us, we should start making them. I'd also encourage everyone who wants to learn more about CoTrav to listen to his podcast with Tim Ferris. It's like a three-hour interview that I think is sort of vintage CoTrav. He's a wonderful guy, he's a mentor to me.
3:08.3	He's a great mentor of mine, fascinating guy, hope you check it out. And again, today's message is to focus on what you control. And there is so much that is up to you, so many choices that you can make. And I think Rav's List of twenty-three is a great place to start.
3:25.3	If you're liking this podcast, we would love for you to subscribe. Please leave us a review on iTunes or any of your favorite podcast listening apps. It really helps and tell a friend.
3:38.3	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 Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.

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