How Much White Space Do You Have?

"Most of us internalize the wrong lesson. We think success = busy. We think that being busy is a sign of a good leader, an important person. Of course this is not true. A full calendar is the sign of someone who agrees to a lot of things, no more, no less."Ryan describes why we must not keep ourselves overly busy, or view a lack of free time as a virtue, 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.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  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.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  How much white space do you have? Most of us internalize the wrong lesson. We think success equals busy. We think that being busy is a sign of a good leader of an important person. Of course, this is not true. A full calendar is the sign of someone who agrees to a lot of things, no more, no less, which is why the philosopher in us needs to always remember that the goal of life is not to do as much as possible, but to do what matters. Marcus Aurelius struggled with this himself, just as you struggle. He had to constantly review his commitments and his impulses and ask, is this essential? Is this really what I am trading my life for? Am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?

• 1:13Ryan Holiday?

  Seneca and Marcus both talk about the need for carving out space and time in our lives for study, for reflection, for philosophy. They knew that we needed white space in our calendar. We needed stillness if we were ever going to think and be our best. And without this stillness, we become reactive. We become overwhelmed. Our compass becomes uncalibrated. We lose track, the voice inside. Being busy is not success. In fact, it's usually the opposite. Autonomy, white space, the ability to be deliberate, to choose your shots, that's success. That's power. Stillness, that's where happiness and insight and truth comes from. So make room for it, prioritize, fight for it.

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  And look, as a writer, obviously, stillness is essential to what I do. As a father, it's something I'm always looking for more of. And stillness isn't being off by yourself. It's, to me, all my best, most still moments were with my family. So the idea of that, this concept of stillness, which pervades Marcus Aurelius's work, was the inspiration for my book, Stillness is the Key. It debuted at number one on the New York Times Bestseller List. Heard from all different people around the world who have loved it. I think you would like it if you're looking for a book, especially right now, as we're social distancing, as the world is this crazy, topsy-turvy place. I think it's a book for you. Check it out, Stillness is the Key, anywhere books are sold. Let me know what you think.