Don’t Self Deter

Ryan talks about how to follow through with what you know if right on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast. Ryan Holiday’s new book Courage Is Calling: Fortune Favors The Brave is out now! Pick up a copy in the Daily Stoic Store: https://dailystoic.com/courageiscallingSign 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?

  Don't self-deter. The answer is usually obvious. The necessary response is clear, but we don't do it. Why? Why does the stronger country back down over a matter of principle, giving the bully or the strong man what they want? Why does the witness to corruption not try to put a stop to it? Why does the politician refuse to speak up about the mistake that they believe their country is about to make? Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the courageous whistleblower, and if that weren't enough, a Purple Heart recipient, he talked recently on the Daily Stoic Podcast about what he calls self-deterrence. Even though we know what we ought to do, we talk ourselves out of it.

• 1:11Ryan Holiday?

  We think only of the potential negative consequences and in the process, forget not only our obligations and duties, but lose confidence in our abilities to push through and make things work. This was something that Marcus Aurelius struggled with too. One could argue that much of meditation's is his effort to work through those struggles and make sure he always did what was right. Because we all have doubts, we all have fears, we all wonder, "What if?" But you have to remind yourself, he said, that you can meet tomorrow's problems with the same tools you met yesterday's difficulties with. "Remind yourself of what you've been through," he said,

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  "and what you've had the strength to endure." You have to believe in yourself. You have to have courage. Don't self-deter. Don't let the actions of the enemy, of the mob, of the naysayers and intimidators work on you or against what is right. Don't let them make you overthink this. Don't let them get in your head and get you to do their work for them. Be brave. Do the right thing, as Marcus said. The rest doesn't matter.

• 2:26Ryan Holiday?

  And that's the idea in the new book Courage is Calling as well, because the call is there. It's coming from inside the house. There's that voice inside us that's telling us what to do. But then we convince ourselves not to answer. We convince ourselves that it won't matter if we answer. We self-deter. We're lucky as a society, as a planet, that Vindman didn't self-deter. And we're going to be unlucky if you self-deter, if you convince yourself not to do it. Courage is Calling: You've Got to Be Brave Enough to Answer.