Try To Be Less Like Yourself

A classic episode of Seinfeld begins with George Costanza having a revelation. "Every decision I've ever made in my entire life has been wrong," George says. "Every instinct I have in every aspect of life...is often wrong." Then just do the opposite, Jerry says. "Yes," Costanza says with excitement, "I will do the opposite!" For the rest of the episode, George has great success doing the opposite of what his instincts tell him to do. This is now known as The Costanza Principle. And it turns out to be scientifically-sound advice.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, 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.

• 0:03Ryan 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, dailystoic.com.

• 0:30Ryan Holiday?

  "Try to be less like yourself." A classic episode of Seinfeld begins with George Costanza having a revelation. "Every decision I have ever made in my entire life has been wrong," George says. "Every instinct I have in every aspect of life is often wrong." "Then just do the opposite," Jerry says. "Yes," George says with excitement, "I will do the opposite." And for the rest of the episode, George has great success doing the opposite of what his instincts tell him to do. And this is now known as the Costanza Principle. And it turns out to be scientifically sound advice. On a recent episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast, the positive psychiatrist, Dr. Samantha Boardman, said...

• 1:10Speaker 01

  There's so much messaging today about, like, you've always got to be yourself and trust your feelings. And so I ask people, be on you. Like, what is the opposite you feel like doing right now? Or who is somebody you really admire? Like, what would they do in this moment? And I think that that can get us closer to that version of ourselves we would like to be, separating oneself from one's impulse, you know, taking that healthy step back and breathing for a moment and gaining some distance between what you feel like doing and what's actually going to help you feel strong and better and to make a better choice.

• 1:45Ryan Holiday?

  As we've talked about before, this is ancient advice. In his essay on clemency, Seneca tells the story of Emperor Augustus's wife advising him, "Do what doctors do when the usual prescriptions have no effect. Try the opposite remedies." "Strictness has gotten you nowhere," she says. "Now try and see how far clemency gets you." And Epictetus's line was, "What assistance can we find in the fight against habit? Try the opposite." When the Stoics win science, when a wise wife and a sitcom agree on something, only a fool would decline to listen. Try the opposite today. Be un-you.