But what I think is interesting in stoicism is that there's this tension between like the ambition and the values right so you know if you're not an ambitious person you're not feeling that tension but if you are it really hits you because it's giving you a sense of

of like what being great at something really is being great at something is not just being talented like when you read meditations you're reading this guy who's the ruler of the known world like the most powerful person on the planet and he's having this conversation with himself about all the ways that he needs to constrain himself don't do this do this you know what's important you know he says just that you do the right thing the rest doesn't matter you know he says no one's going to remember you you know 100 years from now none of that matters like what matters

is what you do and so there's this kind of like self talk element this kind of self regulation that I think anyone who is going places or is is watching their life trajectory take off it really helps root you like I remember my 20s having this sense of like okay I've been chosen for these things I'm in I mean rooms or meetings or have responsibilities that are totally inappropriate for my age.

So if I don't have some counterbalance I remember thinking like I'm going to spin off the planet and and most young people with potential whether they're number one draft picks or you know start up CEOs most people crash and burn if you get those things early and I think stoicism really helped me as a as a sort of a guiding philosophy kind of an even keel which I needed because I was it naturally that way at all.

Okay welcome back or if you're new welcome to the finding mastery podcast I am Michael Jurve and by trade and training I'm a sport and performance psychologist now what does that mean that means that these conversations are about the inner life and it's really about people who are committed

to both their craft and their inner life those that are on the path of mastery so that we can better understand what they're searching for how they use their mind how they develop a psychological framework to excel in life both from a meaning and purpose and flourishing standpoint as well as how they sharpen those mental skills to be able to perform in the most exact the most stressful environments.

And if you want to learn more about how you can train your mind in a disciplined organized thoughtful way this is just a quick little reminder here to check out the online psychological skills training course that I created with the head coach of the Seattle sea hawks peak Carol and what we did we just pull back the curtain and show you all the best practices to help you train your mind not only to flourish.

But to be able to live a purposeful meaningful life and then also those same skills how they apply in the most stressful high pressured environments so that you can live towards your very best now with that being said all you got to do is punch over to finding mastery dot net for slash course check out what we built.

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Now this week's conversation is with Ryan holiday the best selling author of the obstacle is the way ego is the enemy conspiracy and a handful of other books about marketing culture and the human condition and his work has been translated into over 30 languages.

Very cool and it's appeared everywhere from the New York Times to fast company and his company brass check as advice company such as Google and taser and complex as well as multi platinum musicians and some of the biggest authors in the world.

You may already be familiar with Ryan from either reading his books or from his previous appearance on finding mastery a few years ago it's episode 43 if you want to go check that out.

And Ryan is a proponent of stoicism and in this conversation we discuss what led him down that philosophy and why the underlying principles are so important to him and as Ryan puts it a stoic doesn't control the world but they control always how they respond to the world.

So it's a really great philosophy if you're doing something ambitious if you're a leader or an athlete or a poet or politician.

It's there for the stresses of life and with that let's jump right into this week's conversation with a legend Ryan holiday what's good Ryan not much how are you yeah where are you on the on the planet.

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