The Daily Stoic1 Mai 2019

You’ll Never Get To Perfect

Rosanne Cash tells a story in her memoir, Composed about a performance she did with George Harrison. Dress rehearsal had gone wonderfully but the performance didn’t go quite as well. Seeing she was disappointed by that, Harrison walked over and consoled her. “It’s never as good as the rehearsal,” he said.

As with music, so with life.

Even when we do a premeditatio malorum, even when we get everything set just right, we’re still surprised by how things go. We eliminate all the big things that can go wrong, and then it turns out that a couple little things still didn’t go right. It’s just never perfect.

That’s one lesson. The other lesson is that even as we study and rehearse this philosophy, as we plan out the people we want to be, we’re still always going to fall short. And so are other people. Marcus talked about how we can’t go around expecting the world to be Plato’s Republic. He also talked about picking ourselves up when we fall—because we will fall. Epictetus said that he never expected to meet a full sage—he just wanted to meet someone trying to get better. (Confucius, as it happens, said something very similar).

So don’t expect to be perfect today. Don’t expect things to be as good as they were in your head or how you practiced them. Be content to be as good as you can be, while still trying to get a little bit better next time. Because that’s how progress is made and improvement is banked—and it’s the only thing we can count on for sure.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(3073)

Pause and Reflect…Before You Regret | When Someone Is Rude, Respond Like This

We have an impulse. We have a provocation…and before we act, we should consider it. How is this really going to go?🪙 Carry The Daily Stoic Pause & Reflect Medallion as a reminder to pause. A pause cr...

30 Jul 15min

You Have This Freedom (If You Take It)

Marcus Aurelius lacked a freedom that we so readily take for granted...🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/🎙️ AD-FREE...

29 Jul 1min

How To Think For Yourself In A World Full Of Lies | David Pakman

When false information spreads faster than the truth, knowing how to think matters more than knowing what to think. In this episode, Ryan talks with David Pakman, host of The David Pakman Show, about ...

29 Jul 34min

If Money Could Talk, What Would It Say? | What Would the Stoics Tell Us Today?

Money isn’t evil. It can do real good. But it is a tool, not a measure of life. It can tell you what something costs, but not what it is worth.💡The Wealthy Stoic: A Daily Stoic Guide to Being Rich, H...

28 Jul 11min

BONUS | Are You Measuring Wealth Wrong? (with Sahil Bloom)

Some people have everything they thought they wanted and still feel like they’re losing. In this bonus episode, hear an excerpt from Ryan’s conversation with Sahil Bloom, author of The 5 Types of Weal...

27 Jul 11min

Where Does It Get You? | Keeping "The News" In Check

People have been doing the same things for as long as there have been people. 📕 Turn off the news and read these books instead:Trust Me I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Po...

27 Jul 7min

Kate Bowler Challenges Stoicism’s Most Famous Idea

One of Stoicism’s most famous ideas does not sit right with bestselling author Kate Bowler. In this episode, Ryan and Kate discuss the pressure this idea can place on people facing illness, grief, and...

26 Jul 17min

9 Stoic Habits For A Better Life

Virtue is like any other skill. It’s not something you either have or you don’t. It’s something you practice, and the more you practice it, the better you become. This was Aristotle’s fundamental insi...

25 Jul 18min