There's Two Ways To Go | Doing The Right Thing Is Enough

“As Caesar overwhelmed and destroyed the Roman Republic, the Romans had a choice. Neither choice was good, but it was all they had. They could allow it to happen or they could fight. They could ‘accept the bridle,’ as Plutarch put it, and with some humiliation, keep their estates and their status and their life...or they could fight, desperately, hopelessly, against overwhelming odds.”Ryan explains why standing up for what matters is so important, and reads The Daily Stoic’s entry of the day, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast. Athletic Greens is a custom formulation of 75 vitamins, minerals, and other whole-food sourced ingredients that make it easier for you to maintain nutrition in just a single scoop. It tastes great and gets you the nutrients you need, whether you're working on the go, fueling an active lifestyle, or just maintaining your good health. Visit athleticgreens.com/stoic to get a FREE year supply of Liquid Vitamin D + 5 FREE Travel Packs with subscription. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow 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 another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Thursdays, we do double duty, not just reading our daily meditation, but also reading a passage from the book The Daily Stoic, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living, which I wrote with my wonderful co-author and collaborator Stephen Hanselman. And so today, we'll give you a quick meditation from one of the Stoics, from Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, then some analysis from me. And then we send you out into the world to do your best to turn these words into works.

• 0:41Ryan Holiday?

  There are two ways to go. As Caesar overwhelmed and destroyed the Roman Republic, the Romans had a choice. Neither choice was good, but it was all they had. They could allow it to happen, or they could fight. They could accept the bridle, as Plutarch put it, and with some humiliation, keep their estates and their status and their life. Or they could fight desperately, hopelessly, against overwhelming odds. It's like the lyrics to the Mount Joy song. There's two ways it goes now, as our love comes crashing down. You could be the flame that burns out, or you could turn and burn it down. Cicero chose to go quietly along. Cato refused.

• 1:26Ryan Holiday?

  Both were powerless, turns out, to effect much change at that moment. Caesar was too powerful. The Republic had already fallen. But Cato chose to lay down his life to make the ultimate sacrifice and a statement of resistance. In so doing, he sealed Caesar's fate and made a statement about freedom and liberty loud enough that the founders of America heard it 17 years later.

• 1:51Ryan Holiday?

  And formed a new nation around it. A Stoic doesn't always win, but they never go quietly along. Keeping their stuff, keeping their fancy position at the cost of being a slave or a sellout. They'd rather be dead. They'd rather lose it all if there was a 1% chance of making a difference, not for themselves than for future generations. A Stoic fights, whether it's against a hedge fund looting the great company they've worked for, for the last decade, or if it's against an illegitimate Vichy state. A Stoic doesn't go quietly into the good night like Cicero. They rage like Cato. They say what needs to be said. They don't let the light go out. They'd rather burn it down than give in because the republic,

• 2:35Ryan Holiday?

  literal, metaphorical, it matters. What you stand for, what you believe in, it's worth fighting for.

• 2:46Ryan Holiday?

  Doing the right thing is enough. When you've done well and another has benefited by it, why, like a fool, do you look for a third thing on top? Credit for the good deed or favor in return? Marcus Aurelius's Meditations 773. The answer to the question, why did you do the right thing? Should always be because it was the right thing to do. After all, when you see, when you hear or see another person do that, especially when they might have endured some hardship or difficulty as a consequence for doing the right thing, do you not think, well, that is a human being at their finest? So why on earth do you need thanks or recognition for having done the right thing? After all, you're only doing your job.

• 3:30Ryan Holiday?

  This idea, Marcus Aurelius talks about the third thing, and I know I have another episode about this this week, but this idea of the third thing is the recognition, the credit, the gratitude, the reciprocation. But the Stoics would say, we don't control any of that. It's not a given. It depends on other people. And to only do the right thing because you want to be rewarded for it, because you want to be recognized for it, is to put your heart out of your body on a platter for someone to stomp all over. The reality is most things are not recognized.

• 4:03Ryan Holiday?

  Good deeds go, rarely does a good deed go unpunished, as the expression goes. So that can't be why we do it. We have to do the right thing because it's the right thing. There's a quote from Marcus I love, he says, "What is a kingship? It's to earn a bad reputation by good deeds." Right? It doesn't matter how hard you work, how many people you help, what you do. There's gonna be people who just plain reject it, don't see it, get angry for you at it. I, like, every once in a while, I'll check like a YouTube video that we posted, or I'll, someone will show me an Amazon review. And it's like, you know objectively overwhelmingly, this was good for people. They liked it. It was done from the right place. You provided real value.

• 4:48Ryan Holiday?

  And there'll be someone saying, you know, "Screw that guy. I hate him. How dare you," or whatever, right? But that, so if that's why you did it, you're gonna be disappointed. But if you did it because it was pleasurable to you, because you wanted to do it, because you knew it needed to happen, and if you didn't do it, it might not have happened. Well, then, who gives a crap? So I want you to get to a place where you do the right thing because it's the right thing, because you're trying to live up to the standards you set for yourself, you're trying to be an example for your kids, you're trying to make a difference, you're trying to right some wrongs you've done in the past. You gotta get there.

• 5:29Ryan Holiday?

  I think about this, you know, in recovery, they talk about making amends. Right? You have to go and apologize and, and, you know, try to make it right with someone. But that person can give you the middle finger. They don't have to accept your apology. Right? They don't have to appreciate what you're going through. They don't have to help you. And so you have to get to a place too, where you're doing it because it's the right thing, because it's part of your journey, for instance. But you have to come to terms with the fact that you don't control other people, your gesture's not always gonna be received the way you want it to be received, you're not always gonna make the progress you wanna, you wanna make. So, you have to detach from the results, focus on the why, focus on the how, focus on the what. Everything else is extra.

• 6:14Ryan Holiday?

  Do the right thing because it's your job. Do the right thing because it's the right thing. That's a human being at their finest. That's you at your finest. That's you being your best. That's what we gotta do today.

• 6:27Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks so much for listening. If you could leave a review for the podcast, we'd really appreciate it. The reviews make a difference, and of course, every nice review from a nice person helps balance out the crazy people who get triggered and angry anytime we say something they disagree with. So if you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us, and it would really help the show. We appreciate it, and I'll see you next episode.