Here Are Signs You’re Making Progress

Ok, you’ve been doing your reading and your journaling. You’re trying to be conscious of your thoughts and your actions. In short, you’re putting in the work. The question is, how do you know if it’s working? The journey to becoming a “sage” is one that takes a lifetime. No one hands you a certificate. Wisdom accumulates and builds on itself until one day, well, there you are. If that feels a little too inexact, we empathize, but such is life. Still, there has to be something we can look for to see whether we are making progress. Whether we are getting better as opposed to simply feeling better (or more dangerously, feeling self-satisfied?)According to Epictetus, these are signs that someone is making progress:-criticizing nobody-praising nobody-blaming nobody-accusing nobody-saying nothing about themselves to indicate being someone or knowing something-when frustrated or impeded, they blame themselves-if complimented, they laugh-if criticized, they ignore-relaxed in motivation-banishing harmful desire-they watch themselves as though they were an enemy plotting an attackIf you’re really doing the work, you will see yourself improve in these areas. Not all the time and certainly not in all of them all at once. But you will blame others less, ignore criticism more readily (and ignore leveling it at others). You will be humbler and desire less. You will take responsibility. You will examine yourself. That’s progress. The question for you today is: Are you making any? See 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. Here are signs you're making progress. Okay, you've been doing your reading and your journaling. You're trying to be conscious of your thoughts and actions. In short, you're putting in the work. The question is, how do you know if it's working? The journey to become a sage is one that takes a lifetime. No one hands you a certificate. Wisdom accumulates and

• 0:50Ryan Holiday?

  builds on itself until one day, well, there you are. If that feels a little too exact, we empathize, but such is life. Still, there has to be something we can look for to see whether we are making progress, whether we are getting better as opposed to simply feeling better, or more dangerously, feeling self-satisfied. According to Epictetus, these are the signs that someone is making progress: that we're criticizing nobody, praising nobody, blaming nobody, accusing nobody, saying nothing about ourselves, to indicate being someone or knowing something. When frustrated or impeded, we blame ourselves. If complimented,

• 1:30Ryan Holiday?

  we laugh. If criticized, we ignore. Relaxed in our motivations, banishing harmful desires. And they watch themselves as though they were an enemy plotting an attack. If you're really doing the work, you will see yourself improve in these areas. Not all the time, and certainly not in all of them at once, but you will blame others less, ignore criticism more readily, and ignore leveling at others, and you will be humbler and desire less. You will take responsibility. You will examine yourself. That is progress. The question is, are you making it?

• 2:10Ryan Holiday?

  Hey there. It's the holidays and with Daily Stoic, we have a gift guide that might be helpful. You can see all the products we make, all the books that we'd recommend to the aspiring Stoic, or to someone in your life that might be going through a hard time. You can just go to dailystoic.com/gift. Hope you check it out and happy holidays.