Alive Time or Dead Time. What Will It Be?

Here you are, stuck indoors, stuck somewhere you don’t want to be. Maybe also you’re stuck because you’re 17 going on 30. Maybe also you’re stuck because you’ve got another two years left on your enlistment or because you’re waiting for a position to open up at a new company. Or you’re stuck because there is a global pandemic and, like a good Stoic, you’re listening to the authorities, and staying home, and helping to flatten the curve. You can’t help that, the Stoics would say. But you can help what you do with this time. As we talked about recently, just because you’re stuck is not an excuse for killing time. More than two thousand years ago, Cato the Elder advised that in rainy weather, farmers must “try to find something to do indoors. Clean up, rather than be idle. Remember that even though work stops, expenses run on nonetheless.” Robert Greene says we always have a choice between alive time and dead time. What will it be? The answer determines the course of our life, whether what we face is an obstacle or an opportunity. Issac Newton did some of his best research when Cambridge closed due to the plague. Shakespeare wrote King Lear while he hid out from the plague as well. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, while he was laid up in the hospital, expressly forbidden from working on something as tough as a novel. Malcolm X educated himself in prison and turned himself into the activist the world needed. So we get it, you’re stuck. That’s not your fault. But what you do while you’re stuck? That’s on you. That’s what the Stoics meant when they said you don’t control what has happened, but you control how you respond. That’s what Marcus was talking about when he said we can turn everything that happens into fuel, and that the impediment to action can actually advance actionSo that’s where we are right now. Faced with a choice. A choice to use this or not. Make something of it or not. It’s the only potential silver lining...and it’s totally up to you. Check out the Daily Stoic Alive Time Challenge! It starts Monday 3/30, and is the perfect way to turn your quarantine into productive "alive time."See 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.

• 0:28Speaker 00

  Alive time or dead time, what will it be? Here you are, stuck indoors, stuck somewhere you don't want to be. Maybe you're stuck because you're 17 going on 30. Maybe you're stuck because you've got another two years left on your enlistment, or because you're waiting for your papers to come in so you can apply for a new job. Or you're stuck because there is a global pandemic and, like a good Stoic, you're listening to the authorities and staying home and helping to flatten the curve. You couldn't have prevented this, the Stoics say, but you can help what you do with this time. As we talked about recently, just because you're stuck is not an excuse for killing time. More than 2,000 years ago, Cato the Elder advised that in rainy weather,

• 1:13Speaker 00

  farmers must try to find something to do indoors. Clean up rather than be idle, he said. Remember that even though work stops, expenses run on nonetheless. Robert Greene says we always have the choice between alive time and dead time. What will it be? The answer determines the course of our life, whether what we face is an obstacle or an opportunity. Isaac Newton did some of his best research when his university was closed due to the plague. Shakespeare wrote King Lear while he hid out from the plague as well. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang while he was laid up in the hospital, expressly forbidden from working on something as tough

• 1:56Speaker 00

  as a novel. Malcolm X educated himself in prison and turned himself into the activist the world needed. So we get it, you're stuck. That's not your fault. But what you do while you're stuck, that's on you. That's what the Stoics meant when they said that you don't control what has happened, you control how you respond. That's what Marcus was talking about when he said that we can turn everything that happens into fuel. Use this. Make something of it. It's the only potential silver lining, and it's totally. Up to you.

• 2:31Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, everyone. If you're like me, you're stuck at home right now, trying to do our best to flatten the curve of COVID-19. Maybe you've been furloughed, maybe you are just working from home because you can. But what we're stuck with is this sort of classic potential dead time scenario, as Robert Greene would call it. And we contrast dead time with what he calls alive time, when instead of being passive and resigned, you seize the moment in front of you. And that's why we've been hard at work at what we're calling the Daily Stoic Alive Time Challenge. It's going to start Monday, March 30. I'm urging you to sign up and do it with us. You can sign up at dailystoic.com/alive time. But it's 14 days, that's the length of the quarantine window, 14 days of Stoic-inspired wisdom

• 3:16Ryan Holiday?

  that will help make you better, get the most out of this time, help you be of use to other people, help you take your mind off all the uncertainty that's going on in the world. I'm really proud of this. You can check it out at dailystoic.com/alive time.