It’s Possible To Tune These Things Out

“We have so many strong opinions. Especially about things we don’t like. We don’t like it, and we want you to know that we don’t like it—that musician, that politician, that restaurant, the way that so-and-so talks.”Ryan discusses the importance of having the ability to stick to your own path, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast.***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.

• 0:04Ryan 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, dailystoic.com.

• 0:27Ryan Holiday?

  It's possible to tune these things out. "We have so many strong opinions, especially about things we don't like. We don't like it, and we want you to know that we don't like it, that musician, that politician, that restaurant, that way that so-and-so talks. It's almost like we take pleasure in the misery those things cause us. And needless to say, this is not Stoic. You think that Marcus Aurelius didn't have things he didn't like? Of course he did. Seneca, too. They worked to get from a place of hate or dislike to what the Stoics called indifference, almost a Zen-like nothingness towards what displeased them." Recently, Malcolm Gladwell asked Joe Rogan in their epic interview on Rogan's podcast, what kind of comics he didn't like.

• 1:10Ryan Holiday?

  And Rogan responded that he didn't actually have any. "One of the things I've gotten really good at as I've gotten older," he said, "is not paying any attention to things I don't like, just letting it slide right out of my brain and onto the floor. I'm not interested. It's just, I spent so much time when I was younger and stupider worrying about things I don't like, being upset at things I don't like. Well, that sucks. Why do people like that? What's wrong with them? And then I realized what a gigantic waste of resources that is, just a huge waste of energy. I don't care anymore," he said. "You know, as long as they're not stealing material, as long as they're not, you know, doing something terrible to other comics, victimizing, as long as they're not doing that, I really don't care. They're doing well. Good luck."

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  "We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing," Marcus Aurelius wrote, "and to not let it upset our state of mind, for things have no natural power to shape our judgment." Beautiful. As Rogan would say, "It's difficult to get to this place 100% of the time. It's closer to a work in progress, but we can try. Our energy is limited in this life. How are we going to spend it? Getting upset, thinking about what we say we don't care about? It's ridiculous. To have no opinion is humbler, too. As Rogan concluded, "You might not like someone's music, but they'll have a full Staples Center of people rocking out. Well, I must be wrong. It's not me. It's not them. Maybe it's you. So tune it out.

• 2:40Ryan Holiday?

  Shut up."

• 2:43Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. And if you didn't know, I also have another podcast and daily email. Every day, I write something at DailyDad.com, which gets delivered to thousands of people all over the world. I record the meditations, just like this one, on the podcast for free. So if you're a parent, if you know a parent, if you're an expecting parent, I think you'd really like it. It's called Daily Dad, but it has nothing to do with gender. I'm a dad, that's why it's called that. We'd love to have you over at DailyDad.com. And of course, subscribe to the Daily Dad Podcast.