Life Will Go On. What’s Your Plan?

"Today is a day that Americans, as well as interested observers around the world, have been anticipating for some time. One of the most important elections in American history. November 3rd. For more than a year now, we’ve collectively been referring to this Election Day just by its month and day, not unlike September 11th in the US or 7/7 in the UK, for its consequential nature and the dread it creates in us. It’s a day we’ve been holding our breath for, wondering, worrying, speculating. Now it’s here. Now what?"Ryan explains what we know and don't know about Election Day 2020 on today's Daily Stoic Podcast. Remember to go vote if you haven't already—22 states and the District of Columbia offer same-day voter registration.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  Life will go on. What's your plan? Today is a day that Americans, as well as interested observers around the world, have been anticipating for some time: one of the most important elections in American history, November 3rd. For more than a year now, we've been collectively referring to this as Election Day, just by its month and day, not unlike September 11th in the US or 7/7 in the UK, for its consequential nature and the dread it creates in us. It's a day we've been holding our breath for, wondering, worrying, speculating. Now it's here. Now what?

• 1:12Ryan Holiday?

  No one can tell you what the results will bring, that's true, but we are assured of one thing: tomorrow, the sun will rise, life will go on. Besides that, there is a spectrum of possibilities. Trump could be re-elected, he could be defeated in a startling bipartisan rebuke, he could lose a tight race and contest the results or refuse to concede, plunging the country into a constitutional crisis. Agitators from extremist groups on both sides of the political spectrum could riot and fight in the streets. World leaders could exploit the chaos. There could be months of uncertainty. 2020 might, totally independent

• 1:52Ryan Holiday?

  of the election, have some other surprise in store, as if a pandemic and hurricanes and murder hornets and UFOs and fires were not enough. The question the Stoics ask, as always, is this: what are you going to do? What's your plan? You have to have one. You can't just wing it. You can't just expect to know what you'll do if you've never considered it. As Seneca said, "All of the terms of the human law must be before our eyes, even the bad ones, especially the bad ones." So whoever you are, whatever you're doing, whether you're a sitting senator, or a high school student taking remote classes,

• 2:33Ryan Holiday?

  a senior citizen, or a concerned citizen, take a minute to think about the range of possibilities that the next few days might bring. The purpose of this exercise is not to worry, but rather to prepare, to reaffirm your principles, and to come up with a plan for how you will respond to what fate has placed in front of you. "It's the unexpected blow that lands most heavily," the Stoics remind us. Don't let the unpleasant or the unlikely banish a potential outcome from your mind. Mole them over. Think about what the right responses will be. Consider your obligations and your duties. Anticipate the emotions you're likely to feel. Anticipate how to prevent yourself from being overcome

• 3:17Ryan Holiday?

  by them, whether they are triumphant adulation, or righteous rage, or something in between. And then, like a Stoic, like Cato meeting Caesar, like Stockdale parachuting down to indefinite imprisonment, be ready to meet your responsibilities like a hero. Because whatever tomorrow brings, major or minor, it will be what you've been training for, responding to what life throws at us. That's what this philosophy is about. And of course, if you haven't voted yet, and you can, please do. Do so safely. Godspeed, and I'll see you on the other side. Hey, just wanted to remind you, if you want to take your practice as Stoicism to

• 3:59Ryan Holiday?

  the next level, if you want some physical reminders of the ideas we talk about here, check out the Daily Stoic store. You can go to dailystoic.com/store. These products are what help us keep the lights on here at Daily Stoic. They help grow the business, let us spread the message to more and more people. So if you want to support us, check that out. Go to dailystoic.com/store.