We’re All Playing a Part | 11 Ways Stoicism Can Improve Your Business
The Daily Stoic
Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures
4.5 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It can be hard to remember this when you see them on the news, lying through their teeth. It can be hard to remember when they cut you off in traffic. It can be hard to remember when they try to stop progress. It can be hard to remember when they say or do abhorrent things.
But we do have to remember, we have to remember, as Marcus Aurelius writes in Meditations that “all of us are working on the same project. Some consciously, with understanding; some without knowing it. Some of us work in one way, some in others. And those who complain and try to obstruct and thwart things—they help as much as anyone. The world needs them as well.”
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And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan outlines 11 ways stoicism can improve your business. Very few ancient philosophies can be traced back to an entrepreneur, but one can: Stoicism. Around 304 BC, a merchant named Zeno was shipwrecked on a trading voyage. He lost nearly everything. Making his way to Athens, he was introduced to philosophy by Crates of Thebes, a famous Cynic, which changed his life. Within a few years, Stoic philosophy would be born. As Zeno later joked, “I made a prosperous voyage when I suffered shipwreck.”
Since then, Stoicism has been a source of guidance, wisdom and practical advice for millions. It’s been used by everyone from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca (one of the richest men in Rome), to Theodore Roosevelt, Frederick the Great and Michel de Montaigne. More recently, Stoicism has been cited by investors like Tim Ferriss and executives like Jonathan Newhouse, the CEO of Condé Nast International. Even football coaches like Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks and baseball managers like Jeff Banister of the Texas Rangers have recommended Stoicism to their players.
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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. |
| 0:11.0 | On Tuesdays we take a closer look at these stoic ideas, how we can apply them in our |
| 0:16.1 | actual lives. Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy. We are all playing a part. It can be hard to remember this when you see them on the news line through their teeth. It can be hard to remember this when you see them on the news, |
| 0:32.9 | lying through their teeth. |
| 0:34.1 | Can be hard to remember when they cut you off in traffic. |
| 0:36.5 | It can be hard to remember when they try to stop progress. |
| 0:39.5 | It can be hard to remember when they say or do abhorrent things. But we have to remember, |
| 0:43.0 | we have to remember. |
| 0:45.0 | We have to remember, it's Marcus Aurelius' rights and meditations that all of us are |
| 0:49.3 | working on the same project, some consciously with understanding, some without knowing it. |
| 0:54.8 | Some of us work in one way, some in others. |
| 0:57.3 | And those who complain and try to obstruct and thwart things, they help as much as anyone. The world needs them as well. |
| 1:05.0 | As Emperor, a man trying to lead through a plague and a war and an empire in decline, |
| 1:09.0 | Marcus Aurelius would have had to deal with his fair share of obstructors and liars and cheats and the |
| 1:14.5 | selfish and the annoying. He experienced a coup. He had political fights. He saw war. |
| 1:18.2 | He had to preside over tough cases that showed people at their worst. |
| 1:24.9 | Yet still he said he tried to make up his mind to work with them with everyone in every situation. |
| 1:28.1 | He quoted Heraclitus in that same passage you pointed out that those who are |
| 1:31.8 | those who sleep or hard at work |
| 1:34.6 | meaning that everyone was collaborating contributing so to speak to the butterfly |
| 1:38.8 | flapping its wings and making the world what it is. We've said before here that everyone has a job. All the |
| 1:44.8 | people you meet are doing their job, like the Zen master was once asked why evil |
... |
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