It All Turns on Concentration

“We often think that greatness is a synonym for brilliance. That great leadership is all about magnetism and communication. For which we need vision and boldness, allies and luck. And of course, to be successful in any field, but particularly in leadership, all of those things are true. But we also need something far simpler that is yet even more rare.”Ryan explains why everything hinges on your ability to do this one thing, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee 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.

• 0:04Ryan 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.

• 0:27Ryan Holiday?

  It all turns on concentration. We think that greatness is about brilliance. We think that great leadership is about communication. We think we need vision, we need boldness, that we need allies and luck. And of course, to be successful in any field, and especially leadership, we do need those things. But we also need something simpler, yet even more rare. We need the ability to focus, to lock in, to do what has been termed "deep work." As one of Churchill's political contemporaries would observe of that great man, "concentration was one of the keys to his character. It was not always obvious, but he never really thought of anything else but the job at hand." Indeed, this is something that all great leaders,

• 1:11Ryan Holiday?

  and artists, and thinkers have shared. Because when so much is being thrown at you, when there is so much you could be thinking or doing, the strength of character to be able to tune it out and do the one thing that must be done in the moment is essential. To give everything you have to the task at hand, what other hope does one have to solve tough or difficult problems? And if you aren't doing it, who do you think will do it for you? Remember what Marcus Aurelius commanded himself: "Concentrate every moment like a Roman, like a man, on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, and with justice." It all turns on that today and every day, for every task, big or small.

• 1:57Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, it's Ryan. Thanks for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. Just a reminder, we've got signed copies of all my books in the Daily Stoic store. You can get them personalized, you can get them sent to a friend. If you'd like a signed copy of The Obstacle's Way, Ego is the Enemy, Stillness is the Key, the leather-bound edition of the Daily Stoic, we have them all in the Daily Stoic store, which you can check out at store.dailystoic.com.