Are You Being a Good Steward?

Ryan discusses how to think about your responsibilities, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/emailFollow 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.

• 0:05Ryan 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.

• 0:27Ryan Holiday?

  Are you being a good steward? Marcus Aurelius was adopted into an imperial family much larger than the one defined by his blood relations. By assuming the purple in 160 AD, he became the last link in a chain of the so-called "good emperors", in which we now refer to as the Pax Romana. 250 years prior to Marcus's ascension, Cato the Younger would be born into a similar legacy, this one of great Roman statesmen. His great-grandfather, Cato the Elder, made his name fighting for ancestral customs against the modernizing influences of a budding empire. His father was serving as a tribune of the plebes and a candidate for office

• 1:09Ryan Holiday?

  when his ascendant career was cut short by a sudden death. His grandfather did attain that office, but died in his first year. And Cato came to see himself as a successor to a long line of protectors of Rome's old ways, the ways of his ancestors against decay and destruction. These men, from Cato the Elder to Marcus, whose lives spanned more than four centuries, woke up each day aware of the obligations that their positions placed upon them. They tried to be good stewards, not to let their ancestors down and to leave Rome better than they found it. And each of us has been entrusted with something similar, not just in our roles as citizens, but in whatever responsibilities we have in our work,

• 1:54Ryan Holiday?

  our businesses, our families, even the environment. The question we should always be asking ourselves then is, are we being good stewards? Are we improving things? Making decisions with the long view, trying not to be selfish? Treating what we own or oversee as something we hold on behalf of someone else, like guardians rather than possessors? Let this standard guide you, like Cato and Marcus. Let it keep you honest. Let it make you great.

• 2:26Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. Again, if you don't know this, you can get these delivered to you via email every day. So check it out at dailystoic.com/email.

• 2:43Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast.