This Is Who We Have To Be | A Garden Is Not For Show

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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 Stoic-inspired meditation, designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life. Each one of these episodes is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women, help you learn from them, to follow in their example, and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom. For more, visit DailyStoic.com.

• 0:56Ryan Holiday?

  This is who we have to be. Look, if we were in charge, we would do it differently. We would be honest. We would be fair. We would look out for the little guy. We would stick to our values and not be captured by powerful interests. We would communicate better. We would collaborate better. Oh, if only we were in charge, if we were president or emperor. But we are not, and likely never will be. But you know what we are in charge of? We are in charge of our own lives. Musonius Rufus said that while it was important for every king to be a philosopher, he also believed that all of us needed to be kingly people. That is to say that we can, and indeed urgently must, be honest in our own lives.

• 1:40Ryan Holiday?

  We can be fair. We can look out for the little guy. We can stick to our values and not be captured by the incentives of our sphere or industry. We can communicate. We can collaborate. It would be wonderful if we had more Stoic heads of state, but a far more attainable goal is Stoic heads of companies, of families, of communities, of organizations and institutions. Not just heads, but members too. And the good news is that you already are in one, or perhaps in many of those positions. So get to work. Be what you want to see. Be what we need.

• 2:29Ryan Holiday?

  A garden is not for show. This is today's entry, September 15th, in the Daily Stoic. 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living, holding a cloth edition here, but quote today is from Epictetus's Discourses 4:8. He says, "First, practice not letting people know who you are. Keep your philosophy to yourself for a bit, in just the manner that fruit is produced, the seed buried for a season, hidden, growing gradually, so that it may come for full maturity. But if the grain sprouts before the stalk is fully developed, it will never ripen. That's the kind of plant you are, displaying

• 3:12Ryan Holiday?

  fruit too soon, and the winter will kill you." You know, after you listen to this podcast for a while, or follow us on Instagram, you might be tempted to say, "Oh, this is great. I get it. I'm a Stoic. I've always been that way." But it's not that easy. Just because you agree with the philosophy doesn't mean the roots have fully taken hold. Fooling around with books so you can sound smart or have an intimidating library is like tending a garden to impress your neighbors. Growing one to feed someone, that's a pure and profitable use of your time. The seeds of Stoicism are long underground. Do the work required to nurture and tend to them, so that they and you are prepared and sturdy for the hard winters of life.

• 3:56Ryan Holiday?

  The idea is not that we get credit for working on a book, that we get credit for doing this or that. It's that we are actually doing it, right? The doing is important. And I deeply believe this, that, that talking and doing fight for the same resources. And you have to cultivate... A willingness to be misunderstood, to be not fully appreciated, to just be like, I'm working on my stuff, man. I'm developing. I don't need your approval. I don't need your recognition. Nobody likes it when they're not appreciated, when they don't get a thank you, they don't get credit. But it's like that scene in Mad Men where Peggy's complaining that Don doesn't appreciate her. He never says, "Thank you."

• 4:41Ryan Holiday?

  And he goes, "That's what the money is for." But the reality is sometimes the money's not there either. And this is why the Stoics talk about not asking for the third thing. Mark Schurle says, "You've done something good and someone has benefited from it." That's the whole exchange. He says, "Don't ask for the third thing on top." Recognition, credit, the thank you, because it's not coming and it shouldn't have been why you did it in the first place. He says, "You've done well and someone else has benefited from it." He says, "Why, like a fool, do you expect the third thing? For someone to thank you for it or to do a favor for you in return? That's not why you did it." And look, the basis of Stoicism is let's focus on what we control. We control the act. We don't control the outcome of the act,

• 5:25Ryan Holiday?

  the recognition of the act, the appreciation of the act. And we're setting ourselves up for disappointment, frustration and resentment. We don't control what other people do. We don't control the thank you. We don't control whether they appreciate it. We don't control whether they even notice it. Epictetus also says, you know, if you want to improve, be content to be misunderstood and unappreciated. Be content to be foolish. Say, "I don't know about that." You know, he means to not talk about being a Stoic, not to identify with being a Stoic, but to quietly work on being one, to quietly get to work on that project, to put in the hours, to put your butt where it should be. Do the work. Leave the recognition, the understanding, the appreciation to someone or something else. That's not why you're doing it.

• 6:10Ryan Holiday?

  That's not what's motivating you. That's not what is important. So I'm going to leave you here today. Let you get after it, get to work. Turn this off. Go after it. Make some progress.

• 6:30Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, it's Ryan. Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. I just wanted to say we so appreciate it. We love serving you. It's amazing to us that over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple of years we've been doing it. It's an honor. Please, spread the word. Tell people about it. And this isn't to sell anything. I just wanted to say thank you.