What becomes easy once you live a Stoic mindset?
Nothing.
Your internal achievement is fleeting and self-adulation is inherently destructive. Those around you don't give a shit. Ease lasts a moment. Ease is dependent on holistic awareness, wisdom, and constant implementation.
So….I'll say again…. Nothing.
The escapes are failures. The platitudes are failures. Discipline is success. But discipline doesn’t feel like success. Discipline is not giving in. Discipline is fighting. So again, discipline doesn’t feel like success.
If discipline is success but discipline isn’t easy, then success isn’t easy. If that was my email, “listen up kids, ‘success isn’t easy’” then you would say “duh”.
But where is easy success? Do we even really want that? A home run every at bat gets you suspended for steroids. A child that eats his peas probably doesn't put on too many wacky performances. A prospect that closes itself...gives you money faster....hmmm.....
We become bored and devoid of purpose if we have no challenges. So we keep pushing ourselves to where we find the challenges. And then things get hard again.
So how do we feel success? When we are more disciplined than our challengers. Consistently. Over a long period. So success is pride in our achievements. An internal feeling that we did the right thing. "I did the best I could while I was stuck in this place" to channel some Dazed and Confused.
And that’s why we must enjoy the journey. We must be committed to our goal. Have our eyes on the prize.
Lifting the weights. Doing the math problems. An intentional mindset will bring us there.
Do we need to deceive ourselves? I know the first workout after 5 days off ain’t fun. Doesn't feel like success or pride. So I need some deception. Start with the light weights. Say "this ain't so bad." Build an on-ramp to doing what you gotta do.
Oh -- check out my new Resources page. This, for full disclosure, I did create with AI (gasp!!!). I created 40 2-page PDFs that are built with the quote Library and all of my previous Newsletters. Just another way to digest some good knowledge.
Proper perception isolates the obstacle and exposes it for what it is.
— -- Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is the Way
Rebuttals and responses:
“I wasted last year partying" is anchored in the past. Focus on your studies and work hard so that you’ll do well right now.
“I’ll never find the right guy" is anchored in the future. How do you know the love of your life isn’t sitting alone at a café just around the corner? Enjoy yourself in this moment and you’ll find lots of people who would like to join you for the ride.
“I’ve got stage four cancer and I have six months to live." While you work for the best treatment, live right now and save every second. Anyone and everyone you know could leave this earth within the next 18 months for the next 18 days. The only difference is that the rest of us aren’t thinking about it, so we’re not suffering.
— -- Mo Gawdat, Solve for Happy
A true man is revealed in difficult times.
— -- Epictetus, Discourses & Selected Writings
Rads Take
Perception is a key aspect of Stoicism. When we recognize that we control our perception of the externals, we gain more control over our responses. The underlying one sentence of Stoicism is an acknowledgement that there are things in our control and things outside of our control. We want to do our best to increase the things under our control while still being in balance with Courage, Justice, Temperance and Wisdom. Perception is in our control.
Onto #2, the way Mo dismisses a terminal diagnosis is a bit much. But it is rooted in memento mori - remember that you are mortal. The Stoics would say that we are all terminal as soon as we are born. I am reading On the Shortness of Life right now (I should be reading it over one cup of coffee - it is 40 pages - maybe it should be called On the Shortness of This Book -- but I digress) and while you could look at it as "this book is all about death and the Stoics are all about death," the fact is that it is just a wake up call to use the time that we have to the fullest. Don't covet. Don't pine. Don't look at the grass on the other side and lament.
So the obstacle from quote 1 are peppered in quote 2. The power of perception from quote 1 is spoon fed to us in quote 2. Gotta love the random quote generator! What about quote 3?
"Difficult times"....sounds like an obstacle. What is the "true man" (yes, or woman)? Someone that is in control of their perceptions and responses.
Are we sensing a theme here?
All the things that are simple but not easy. Like noted in my first section above. It won't get easier. If it does, you are doing something wrong. So when it is tough, like it is now, embrace it. The "easy" is the grass on the other side. Why is it green? Because the work has been consistently put in to keep it that way. Marcus said "Stay on the path rather than being kept on it."
Take accountability. Be the one people look to as steady and resolved. But that doesn't come easy.