Does It Measure Up?

Ryan explains why you must always stop and check yourself, 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.

• 0:26Ryan Holiday?

  Does it measure up? Alexander the Great, like so many talented people, wanted to be the best. He wanted to have the most. He could not be satisfied, and this propelled him to great heights, great lengths, and greatness. It quite literally took him to the ends of the earth. And then, as the poet Juvenal writes, "When Alexander the Great was alive, the world was not big enough to contain his ambition. But while Alexander chafed at the confines of the world and life, in death, coffin was enough." To the Stoics, to Marcus Aurelius in particular, this was a cautionary tale. We have to resist the delusion that our specialness makes us immune from criticism or consequences.

• 1:11Ryan Holiday?

  We can't let our accomplishments fool us into thinking we are immortal, that we can outthink, outrun, outwork death, that we are exempted from the rules or from simply being a decent person. Now, of course, today, few of us actually desire to conquer the world. Few of us truly think we are descended from the gods. But that doesn't mean that our egos can't get the best of us. It doesn't mean that our drives can't get ahead of us, which is why we have to stop and check ourselves. The great Iron Maiden lyric is worth thinking about every so often. "Measure your coffin," they say. "Does it measure up to your lust? This thing that you're chasing, that you want so badly, can you take it with you when you die? This thing you're spending every waking moment on, is it worth, as Seneca asks,

• 1:56Ryan Holiday?

  "the cost of your life? Because that's what you're using to pay for it." Time, time that you can never get back. In the end, we all fit in the same small pine box or the same urn. So remember that. Let it humble you. Let it put things in perspective.

• 2:15Ryan 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, dailystoic.com/email.