Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues,

courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world.

You have to be both these things. You have your principles. You have your ways, you made your decision, you set the rules.

This is what you do. This is what you think Stoicism is. And it is, no question, it is a philosophy

of firmness of unwavering commitment of steadfastness and strictness. But there is a risk to that,

as we see in the life of Cato, which I talk about

in lives of the Stoics. Cato was a man of principle. He was a man of courage and conviction.

It was also incredibly difficult to deal with and ultimately fell short of preserving the Roman

Republic in part because he lacked the ability to compromise or collaborate. He was lowercase conservative, meaning that he tried always to keep things as they were,

which made it hard for him to accept things that were new or different.

Marcus Aurelius seems to have learned from this.

He had convictions and principles.

He was unyielding with himself.

Yet he also had a pragmatic streak. He was tolerant of others. He met people where they were. He said that he learned from his teacher Apollonius that a man can both show strength and flexibility. What a great combination. And it's one that we have to cultivate too. There will be times when we have to bend. There will be times when we have to collaborate. There will be times when we have

to adjust, times when we have to meet someone where they are. And what wisdom is ultimately is

knowing when to stand firm and when to be flexible. That's obviously something we talk a lot about

in Wisdom Takes Work, which you can grab now. That's obviously something we talk a lot about in Wisdom Takes

Work, which you can grab now. It's available everywhere. We've got signed copies at the

Painted Porch or in the Daily Stoic store. Wisdom takes work is that wisdom isn't this thing that you

have. It is work that you do. It is a timeless path that we are all trying to walk, one that Marcus walked, one that Lincoln

walked, one that Cato did, despite his shortcomings.

And I think you'll really like it.

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