These Are Life Choices You Control

If you haven’t heard of George Raveling, you should. This a guy that Michael Jordan addresses as “coach” even though Raveling never coached the Bulls or the Tar Heels. He’s also been retired from coaching for more than two decades. In fact, most people who know him call him Coach Rav, not because he’s got a great sense of the game, but because his wisdom about life. On Coach’s website, there’s a tab titled Life Lessons. It’s full of wonderful lessons. But it’s one post in particular that the aspiring Stoic should consider, because it deals with what Epictetus said is our chief task in life--discerning what’s inside our control and what isn’t and then, having made the distinction, focus all our energy on making the right choices in regards to what’s ours to decide. Rav’s post is titled 23 Life Choices That Are In Your Control. Here are all 23 of them: 1. Be YOU, not them.2. Do more, expect less.3. Be positive, not negative.4. Be the solution, not the problem.5. Be a starter, not a stopper.6. Question more, believe less.7. Be a somebody, never a nobody.8. Love more, hate less.9. Give more, take less.10. See more, look less.11. Save more, spend less.12. Listen more, talk less.13. Walk more, sit less.14. Read more, watch less.15. Build more, destroy less.16. Praise more, criticize less.17. Clean more, dirty less.18. Live more, do not just exist.19. Be the answer, not the question.20. Be a lover, not a hater.21. Be a painkiller, not a pain giver.22. Think more, react less.23. Be more uncommon, less common. And now that we have been given 23 choices that are up to us, let’s start making them. 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. These are life choices you control. If you haven't heard of George Raveling, you should. This is a guy that Michael Jordan addresses as coach, even though Raveling never coached the Bulls or the Tar Heels. He's also been retired from coaching for more than two decades.

• 0:47Ryan Holiday?

  In fact, most people who know him still call him Coach Raff, not because he's got a great sense of the game, but because of his wisdom about life. On Coach's website, there's a tab titled "Life Lessons." It's full of wonderful lessons, but there is one post in particular that the aspiring Stoics should consider, because it deals with what Epictetus said is our chief task in life: discerning what's inside our control and what isn't, and then, having made the distinction, focusing all our energy on making the right choices in regards to what's ours to decide. Raff's post is titled "23 Life Choices That Are In Your Control," and here they are. Number one: Be you and not them. Two: Do more and

• 1:32Ryan Holiday?

  expect less. Three: Be positive, not negative. Four: Be the solution, not the problem. Five: Be a starter, not a stopper. Six: Question more, believe less. Seven: Be a somebody, never a nobody. Eight: Love more and hate less. Nine: Give more and take less. Ten: See more and look less. Eleven: Save more and spend less. Twelve: Listen more and talk less. Thirteen: Walk more and sit less. Fourteen: Read more and watch less.

• 2:10Ryan Holiday?

  Less, 15, build more and destroy less. 16, praise more, criticize less. 17, clean more, dirty less. 18, live more, do not just exist. 19, be the answer, not the question. 20, be a lover and not a hater. 21, be a painkiller and not a pain giver. 22, think more, react less. 23, be more uncommon, less uncommon. And now that we have been given 23 choices that are up to us, we should start making them. I'd also encourage everyone who wants to learn more about Coach RAV to listen to his podcast with Tim Ferriss.

• 2:53Ryan Holiday?

  It's like a three-hour interview that I think is sort of vintage Coach RAV. He's a wonderful guy. He's a mentor to me, a hero of mine, fascinating guy. Hope you check it out. And again, today's message is to focus on what you control. And there is so much that is up to you, so many choices that you can make. And I think RAV's list of 23 is a great place to start.

• 3:17Ryan Holiday?

  If you're liking this podcast, we would love for you to subscribe. Please leave us a review on iTunes or any of your favorite podcast listening apps. It really helps and tell a friend.