How To Be The MVP

Yet again, Nick Foles has been called up to start at quarterback for the Eagles. After spending another heartbreaking season on the bench behind first round draft pick and star of the future, Carson Wentz—this time despite having won the Superbowl MVP (and the championship) for the Eagles the previous year—Nick Foles is back due to a surprise, late season injury. How did he respond to this opportunity? The same way he responded to losing the starting job when Wentz returned from injury earlier in the season—with poise and self-control. As Michele Tafoya, NBC’s sideline reporter and also a practicing Stoic, explained on Sunday Night Football, “Last night, Foles told us he had not unexpected to play again with Philadelphia and wanted to finish his time with the Eagles simply being a good teammate and helping out the team in any way he could. But on Friday when he learned for certain that he'd be the starter tonight, he immediately thought about last year and all the emotions that came with it. He said he had to, ‘Fight the human side of it all’ and remind himself, “this is a different team and a very different situation” and after an open, honest conversation with his wife, he re-centered and decided to play with the mentality of not looking at the clock or scoreboard and simply hone in on what he’s supposed to do.” There is a story about Cato being given an army command during the Roman Civil War and then having it stripped from him days later by some backstabbing enemies. It’s the same narrative as Foles, only in reverse, yet they both took the news the same way: By focusing on what they could control, on what was up to them. They didn’t let either the benching or the promotion affect them personally—they just did the best they could with both opportunities. They focused on contributing as much as they could—on being a good teammate—in both circumstances. That’s what an MVP does. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• 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. How to be the MVP. Yet again, Nick Foles has been called up to start at quarterback for the Eagles. After spending another heartbreaking season on the bench behind first-round draft pick and star of the future Carson Wentz, this time despite having won the Super Bowl

• 0:48Ryan Holiday?

  MVP and the championship for the Eagles the previous year, Nick Foles is back due to a surprise late-season injury. How did he respond to this opportunity? The same way he responded to losing the starting job when Wentz returned from injury earlier in the season, with poise and self-control, as Michelle Tafoya, NBC's sideline reporter and also a practicing stoic, explained on Sunday Night Football. "Last night, Foles told us that he had not expected to play again with Philadelphia and wanted to finish his time with the Eagles simply being a good teammate and helping out the team in any way he could. But on Friday, when he learned for certain that he'd be the starter tonight,

• 1:31Ryan Holiday?

  he immediately thought about last year and all the emotions that came with it. He said he had to fight the human side of it all and remind himself, this is a different team and a very different situation. And after an open, honest conversation with his wife, he recentered and decided to play with the mentality of not looking at the clock or scoreboard and simply hone in on what he's supposed to do." There is a story about Cato being given an army command during the Roman Civil War and then having it stripped from him days later by some backstabbing enemies. It's the same narrative as Foles, only in reverse. Yet they They both took the news the same way, by focusing on what they could control,

• 2:14Ryan Holiday?

  on what was up to them. They didn't let either the benching or the promotion affect them personally. They just did the best they could with both opportunities. They focused on contributing as much as they could, on being a good teammate in both circumstances. That's what an MVP does.

• 2:34Ryan Holiday?

  Epictetus's line was, "How much longer are you going to wait until you demand the best for yourself?" I think he was really saying, "How long are you going to wait until you demand the best of yourself?" And for that reason, we've created this new 14-day Stoic Challenge. It's going to kick off on January 1st. I hope you'll check it out. It's 14 days of awesome Stoic-based challenges that can make you a better person, a better learner, a better thinker, whatever it is. I think you'll like it. I'm going to be doing it. It's an awesome community that goes along with it. If you want to check it out, you can go to dailystoic.com/challenge. But remember, this closes on at 11:59 PM

• 3:14Ryan Holiday?

  on December 31st. If you want to kick the year off right, I hope you join us, dailystoic.com/challenge.