Labels Make You Worse

“It’s an interesting fact. Not once in any of his writings or speeches, let alone Meditations, does Marcus Aurelius call himself a Stoic. Other people may have applied the label to him, but he never identified with it. Never saw the need. ”Ryan discusses why you must take things as they are. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and FacebookSee 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.

• 0:04Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom, designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday 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.

• 0:26Ryan Holiday?

  Labels make you worse. It's an interesting fact, not once in any of his writings or speeches, let alone meditations, does Marcus Aurelius call himself a stoic. Other people might have applied this label to him, but he never identified with it. He never saw the need. This is often a distinguishing feature between foolishness and wisdom. It's easy to put the world and other people in tiny little boxes, to come up with names and stereotypes for them. But when you accept those names and labels for yourself, when you begin to self-identify, all that is really doing is limiting your perception and creating the illusion of clarity when in truth nuance reigns. As Paul Graham would write,

• 1:09Ryan Holiday?

  "The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you." Not just for yourself, but for other people too. Liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat, entrepreneur, writer, elite. Great leaders know that you have to take things as they are, for what they are. They know black and white is the exception, not the rule. They know that there are good people on every side of every issue, that truth is not partisan, and that insight is not limited to one religion, or school, or persuasion. FDR, as he filled his administration, explained, "I am trying to get across the idea that if we have the right kind of people, the party label doesn't mean much." Whether you want to call yourself a stoic or not, is not really the point. Actually, that is the point.

• 1:54Ryan Holiday?

  Labels are pointless. They close your mind. They close you off to opportunities. They close you off to other people. And worst of all, with time, they close you off from the very things you identify with. That's why Marcus avoided them, and Paul Graham, and FDR, and why you must as well.

• 2:13Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, it's Ryan. Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. I just wanted to say we so appreciate it. We love serving you. It's amazing to us that over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple of years we've been doing it. It's an honor. Please, spread the word. Tell people about it. And this isn't to sell anything. I just wanted to say thank you.