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The Moonshots Podcast goes behind the scenes of the world's greatest superstars, thinkers and entrepreneurs to discover the secrets to their success. We deconstruct their success from mindset to daily habits so that we can apply it to our lives. Join us as we 'learn out loud' from Elon Musk, Brene Brown to emerging talents like David Goggins.
Hello and welcome to the moonshots podcast. It's episode one, one, one. I'm your co-host Mike Parsons. And as always I'm joined by the man. Who's rather stoic himself. Mr. Mark Pearson Freeland. Good morning, Mark. Hey, good morning, Mike. What a lucky number? To beginning a new series on 111. I love that century one, one, one, and it is going to be a real, a real knock out this one, because we're going to go into our practice that when we planned this show, I don't think.
We realize how perfect it would be to start a brand new series in January, 2021. Mark, where are we going in the world of mindsets today? Marks [00:01:00] episode of one of four. With our, uh, one of our favorite authors and original thinkers, as well as historians, I'd say Mr. Ryan holiday, Mr. Holiday has become pretty globally renowned.
Um, mostly, uh, or at least originally from the book that we're covering today, Mike, which is called the daily stoic. And what a, what an amazing introduction to stoicism. I think that the daily stoic really is. Mm. Yeah. And what's, what's, uh, really impressive about Ryan holiday is he had a very, um, you know, successful, uh, Korea before writing.
Uh, so he, uh, was a very famous, uh, marketing guy and, um, He actually wrote a book called trust me, I'm lying confessions of a media manipulator, which is just great. So he's got, uh, there's a real, uh, [00:02:00] creativity in, in not only the stories, the details, but how he tells them. And he's gone from talking about his media and marketing days.
To the very heart of an ancient practice, which is called stoicism. And how good is it when you get into this whole idea of stoicism? I mean, it's like you said a second ago, it couldn't be more perfect timing for all of us to pick up the book, to listen to the show, to really dig into Ron holiday's work, but also stoicism as a general genre.
To uncover, we'll be reminded of some of these key practices and lessons that fundamentally are absolutely timeless. I can't think of a more appropriate word there Mike, than the word timeless they've been around for thousands of years. I know. And so it stems from our ancient Greece way, way, way back in the day.
Like, so we're talking BC here, [00:03:00] ladies and gentlemen, so a long time ago. Um, but. It has had the devotion of some great, uh, philosophers, uh, some great men of history, such as Marcus or really us. And we not only have a show today that is going to be full of stoic thinking ideas and pragmatic things that you can do to improve your day.
But we're going into a four-part series. Thanks to the hard work of Ryan holiday, who has truly. Gone back a few, a few millennia and re a Polish to recontextualized stoicism for a modern world. And it added its root is all about enduring hardship. Or as we often say here on moonshots, embracing the discomfort.
I'm fired up, Mark, where are we going to start this journey with Ryan holiday? Let's look to the [00:04:00] man himself, the well-known marketer, and now appreciator of the timeless art stoicism. Let's hear from Ryan holiday, introduce us to Stoics and philosophy. It's easy to think that philosophy is this sort of abstract thing that it's just exercises or thought exercises are just big words, but the truth is an ancient philosophy.
Philosophers were just regular people. They had day jobs. Marcus really is, is the emperor of Rome's, you know, was a merchant. One of the Stoics was a manual labor. They had normalize lots of responsibilities. And so philosophy was a way for them to get through life and to get through life effectively, happily.
Productively. And so what we see in stoicism is all sorts of really awesome exercises that help us live the best life that we can. How cool is that? That we are diving into a world of [00:05:00] thoughts originating from two, 3000 years ago, and we are finding them to be perfectly of the moment. Um, Um, I'm interested, Matt, before we started studying, uh, Ryan holiday and stoicism.
How much had you been, uh, aware of stoicism and what it meant? Like how, how new it was it for you? Well, actually here's a, uh, almost an Easter egg or perhaps a surprise to the listeners. I studied, uh, classical studies and ancient history, um, at university. So over 10 years ago now, but a lot of my modules apart from, you know, genuinely looking up pottery from the ancient Romans and the ancient Greeks and, uh, imagining myself as Indiana Jones, it actually was quite literature based.
So I had a pretty good introduction to Mark's really is, um, Seneca, Cicero, you know, I don't think [00:06:00] at the time though, When I was, you know, my teens early twenties, I fully appreciated how substantial their exercises were in day-to-day life. I considered it much more. Oh yeah. This is what the emperor of Rome was doing.
He wrote meditations. That's kind of cool, but I don't think I fully grasped how impressive again, timeless to overuse that word. Uh, Those exercises actually are in our lives nowadays within the business. I, I was a little bit the same and I would go even further to saying, you know, I had often thought of when someone was being stoic, they were just battling on despite the hardship and.
That's kind of before I was introduced to the idea how I thought about it, but what we have in front of us, uh, in this show is really great. Um, packaging from Ryan holiday in very [00:07:00] simple, powerful advice on how we can be the best version of ourselves and. I love stoic thinking because it accepts that if we're going to go out into the world and try and do something, it ain't going to be easy.
And that is so true. If we were to think about the last year, it ain't been easy, has it? No, it hasn't been easy. And the next. 45 minutes an hour. Mike, we're going to learn these exercises that are perfectly timed following a pretty rough year. And it's the beginning of a new one. Let's look ahead, positive mindset.
Let's learn from the Stoics with how we can maximize our time and to your point be the best version of ourselves. So I'm really excited about this show, Mike, because we're going to hear. As Ron's just introduced us a reminder of some exercises that you and I and our listeners can do every day. So starting ourself, I think we should get straight into the next clip.
Mike, what do you say? [00:08:00] Yes. And, uh, you're, you're not wasting time and I'm pretty sure Ryan holiday doesn't want us to either. So let's have a listen to what he's got to say about time. The first lesson from the Stokes is that you have to guard your time. Seneca talks about how, even though time is the only non-renewable resource on the planet.
It's the one we are the most frivolous with. If someone stole some of your property, he said, you'd fight to get it back, but we let people steal our time or worse. We waste our own time. Right. And you have to be able to guard your time carefully. You have to know, Hey. This is my most valuable resource. I cannot waste it.
I cannot afford to fritter it away because I'm not getting any of it back. And so I think the Stokes would be avid protectors of their inbox. They wouldn't frivolously agree to things they would say no to things. They would guard their time. I mean, straight off the bat, this [00:09:00] is one of my real challenges.
I think Mike, that I faced day to day. I'm very, I don't think. Throughout 2020, or maybe even, uh, the rest of my career. I've really. Considered my time as a non-renewable energy source or does it does really, uh, uh, challenge you that thought, because he said, if someone came along and stole some of your property, you'd be up in arms.
But that's replaceable, but actually your time isn't yet we give it away so easily. I mean that, that little twist right there has my mind going. Boom. Yeah, you totally take it for granted, you know, and there's many, many things that, you know, you kind of waste your time with whether it's silly, um, frustrations with a colleague or a project or whatever it is.
We're also willing to sort of give that away and. It's it's a great reminder that, you know, okay, well, let's take a step back. [00:10:00] Mike, let's have a bit of breathing space. Let's put our time against those things that we love, whether it's creating a new product, talking to customers or just grabbing a coffee together.
Yeah. So here's the thing. I mean, if, if, if it's being a bit frivolous and, uh, careless with your time, the other side of it is just over. Um, over promising your time in an effort to be productive or to contribute. We might agree to be in a lot of meetings. And I mean, just this morning, someone was trying to sneak into my calendar at 9:00 PM in the evening.
And I was like, look, here's, here's my feedback and thoughts. You guys don't need me. You go for it. Like. Just do it without me, but I know in my career I have found [00:11:00] myself of trying to show up so much and not protecting my time or. Thinking about the question, what else would I do with that time? I sleep.
So, so the, the thing here is that it can be carelessness, but it can be just overcoming it. It's like if we only had so much food, we wouldn't be wasting it so much water. We wouldn't be wasting it yet. Sometimes we can give up so much of our time too. Secondary not important things. And so I like to always think of, do I really have to be there?
Um, or can I provide feedback, um, via email or some other means, so that. They can do their thing, but I am not over committing my time because I only have so much of it. So I think the scarcity and it's a one-time occasion a one time occasion, you know, it's, [00:12:00] it's a non-renewable resource. It's very powerful thinking.
And I think it almost, um, Mark. Once you think of it like that, you really are much tougher, um, whether it's being careless or over-committing with your time, don't you? Yeah, I, I, I do agree. And it reminds me of Patrick Lencioni who, when he was breaking down the, uh, team player profiles and thinking about how.
Your role in a meeting might change depending on what sort of character or sort of behavior that you have. And he reminded us, you know, some people turn up just to say something, and this is a great reminder, how you, if you can provide written feedback, It's your point or, you know, call out, Hey, you don't really need me for this.
I it's unnecessary of my time as well as yours. That's a great demonstration of being a considerate team player, I believe. Cause you're saying to them, Hey, I trust you. Here's [00:13:00] my thoughts. You guys go on ahead. And we've got another, uh, thought from Ryan holiday, uh, author of the daily stoic, which is very time-related as well.
And it is one of my favorite ones. And we're about to listen to Ryan holiday talking about one of my absolute favorite mantras, which is waking up early. The next lesson we get from the Stokes is to just wake up earlier, right? Mark is really has this fascinating dialogue with himself in book five of meditations, where he talks about how he can't stay under the covers and be warm all day.
He goes, ah, but it's so nice here. And he says, but you weren't put on this planet to feel nice. You were put on this planet to do what you were put on this planet to do. He said, people who love their work. Have no trouble getting out of bed, they throw themselves into it and he's like, you should be that kind of person.
When you wake up earlier, there's less distractions. You've got to jump on the [00:14:00] day. You can win the day early by getting up. And that's what I try to do in my life. I want to know that by 10 or 11, I've done most of what I need for the day. And then the rest of the day, I have some freedom I can take my time.
I can make decisions on the fly, but you wake up early and just start the day with a win starting the day with a win. I mean, just hearing Ryan tell us about how he begins his day. I actually feel relaxed. Right? You've got everything done by 10 or 11. What a, what a perfect dream. Well, yeah, nuance that the most important things got done.
Right. And, and this is. If we unpack this for a second, there's a two things here. I chose sleep. The reason why you feel relaxed, Mark is because if you win the morning, chances are you win the day. Right. And to put this in the inverse, you know, when you've had an unexpected morning with interruptions, distractions, things going wrong and you kind of get to a level.
Yeah. And you're like, I haven't done anything where you may have been yeah. Doing stuff, but you haven't [00:15:00] done anything important. And you know how you, it's almost a sense of. Oh, I can't believe, I feel like I've dispensed it this energy, but I've got nothing out of it. Like I haven't really worked on something important, I think is really sort of from a momentum perspective.
You know, if you win the morning, you win the day doing it. Yeah. It's the momentum of productivity. And at the same time, I loved the reminder that, and this has been consistent with some of our other moonshots is you can't always feel nice. You know, lying in bed is cozy, but even Marcus really just knew, Hey, I can't lie in bed all the time.
I can't be emperor of Rome from the bed. Uh, I think this, I think this is a nice reminder for us again, you know, not only is it all about being productive with time, but also we're starting to see from the Stoics. That level of discomfort. And we're going to dig into that a little bit more later, but I think this is a great [00:16:00] demonstration of stoic thinking, how there's a lot of interconnected and linking thoughts and approaches that makes services so significant.
Well, you know, it's funny, isn't it? Because it's, it's almost like if you were to take, uh, Joe Rogan embracing the discomfort, Jaco willing, uh, you know, when the morning when the day, um, you actually really do start to see how many successful people have different flavors and versions, different takes of stoicism.
Um, and I liked this idea that, you know, if you can accept. That it's all about finding your real purpose, then you should want to jump out of bed. Um, you want to go after it, um, and sure. When you're having a vacation, maybe on one of the weekends, you know, you take it easy a bit, but I think it's a reminder to us that.
There should be a certain magnetism, almost like a tractor beam that [00:17:00] pulls you out of bed. And that will indicate to you that you're doing something that is really true to who you should be. And I mean, the first thing you do once you've woken up early, uh, this is where we start to explore, um, some thoughts from another great contemporary moonshot, which is Cal Newport.
And this is this idea of once you're up. Time to get focused. Are you ready for a bit of focus, Mark? Totally ready. Let's hear this next clip from Ron holiday on directing your efforts to things one at a time. You've got to focus on the task at hand. So people are trying to do a million things at once.
And of course they don't do any of it. Well, Marcus really is talks about focusing like a Roman doing this thing in front of you. Like it's the last thing that you're doing in your life. He says, let all your efforts be directed at one thing, do that. Well, Then move on to the next thing we think we're good at [00:18:00] multitasking.
We are not good at multitasking. Do one thing. Do it well, move on to the next thing. Repeat ad nauseum. That's how people are successful. That's how you'll have the best time like effort focus, focus as well. We, as I said, we have celebrated Cal Newport who has really brought to life and advocated the idea of deep work.
And, uh, really taking all distractions away and really going deep. Like I'm talking a two, three hour session in the morning. No distraction. Just the work. And I love, I love the saying focus like erosion. I think this just feels right. Absolutely appropriate when the risk is. I think that we all could easily spend the day in and out of calls, meetings, and emails, and never [00:19:00] really have that time of focus where we set our agenda and work on the things that truly do matter.
To us. Yeah. It's something that we all contend with every day. You know, if, if you're in back to back meetings and calls the work, that's going to make a difference to the business or to your, uh, line of work isn't necessarily going to be completed as successfully or as good as possible. You know, if you're, if you're distracted by notifications, emails or jumping from topic to topic, every.
Half an hour or so, how gives you work, going to be, it's going to feel a little bit half baked. So this idea that you're talking about might with deep work. I mean, I know that you and I we've said it before. I know we're real advocates for it. Don't we? Well, yeah. And, and it's, it's, um, it's important to understand that, uh, deep work matters because you are working on what's important for [00:20:00] you.
Rather than if you are running your day by your inbox, then it's the inbound messages of others are running your day. I mean, I think a lot of people are using inboxes as task lists. Yeah, but if you think about it, those are inbound messages from others. So you are working on the things that others have said as a priority.
And I'm all I'm saying is take the time. Preferably for me, it's in the morning, get a good slab of time where you truly go deep. And for me, deep is. Like not just reading some stuff, but reading stuff, taking comprehensive notes and then doing, producing, writing, creating the work that I wanted to create.
So if I was working on a. Course, for example, if I said, Hey, I really want to do a course on a particular subject. I would have [00:21:00] my readings. I would write up my notes and I would challenge myself that at a minimum, from the deep session, I would have a full outline. At a bullet level of the different areas in subjects, I'd be covering end-to-end completely in the course and I'll get all the folders set up and get everything organized.
That would be at a minimum what I'd like to get out of a deep work effort. Um, it's really, for me, important to nominate a really important objective from your deep work, because if you do that in the morning, All these good things happen. You will feel in to use this example. Oh, I'm really on track. I've made a good headway into delivering this course.
You'll feel deeply satisfied because you met an objective that you set. Nobody else you set, and you could find yourself at 10, 11 in the morning. You've done it. You spent that two or three hours [00:22:00] and then you're good to go for the rest of the day. I mean, that sounds pretty good. Doesn't it? Uh, it does. And I think it stems from, uh, being honest with yourself, you know, setting that objective and being, uh, you know, focused around it.
You know, it's very easy for, from my own perspective here. So set yourself that objective and then maybe loosely keep an eye on your emails or. Occasionally send a text, you know, that's you breaking that promise to yourself, your objective, and you know, it is a real challenge. You know, that the Stoics and Ron's reminding us of here, uh, that you're already doing, which is turn everything off, go and take those notes and say stuff and objective, go and meet that objective.
And then look back and say, Hey, I did pretty well. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think what, isn't it great. I mean, look so far, so far from this ancient thinking of stoicism with the [00:23:00] thanks to Ryan holiday, and he's kind of re Polish and reboot of a stoicism, he's reminded us don't waste your time. I mean, this idea that it's the most.
You know, non-renewable resource, like it only occurs. It's a once in a lifetime moment and then it's gone. Right. It's pretty good. Isn't it? That's great. It's a good reminder. Just make the most of your time and do what's right for you. Yep. Get your ass out of bed. Focus like a Roman. I mean, these are really, really good pragmatic practices.
Now coming up in the show, we have a lot of stuff where we're going to amp it up a bit and get into some really powerful, stoic thinking. But before we do that, I think, um, You know, it's a new year and market was so great to get, um, feedback from all of our listeners starting the new year. But I think there's, there's one of our listeners that we want to shine a light on.
Who's been adopting [00:24:00] the very best of habits for the new year. Yeah. Talking about habits and getting into a brand new behaviors. Uh, I want to call out, uh, Jackie Brown who got in touch with us and mentioned us on, on Facebook. Hi, Jackie from Mark Mike, we love, uh, we love hearing from all of our listeners, but Jackie, in particular, she has caught out that we've, um, reminded her or suggested this idea of taking cold showers as a habit every morning.
And look from a person who's who's. Done it a few times. I've got to say it can be pretty tricky, Mike. I know you seem to do it a lot as well. I, I, I love it. I honestly it's. Um, it's my can-do in fact, my only complaint of the summer is that the water is not cold enough. It's not cold enough. You're channeling a real VIM Hof here.
You've got to go out there for the coldest coldest water, but, and Jackie, you're doing just that. You're going out, you're [00:25:00] experiencing that cold and we love hearing that you're loving it. Um, and how energized and awake you feel afterwards. So congratulations to you. What a great start to 2021. Absolutely.
And look, you know, It's so important. Uh, if we just talked about winning the day, right. Uh, focusing like around, and I tell you what, if you want to get focused in the morning and be awake, take a cold shower. It is it's breakthrough breakthrough stuff. Yeah. Well, for me, uh, and I know we'll, we'll get back into stoic in a second, but for me it does feel pretty familiar or sorry, connected with this idea of your time, you know, your.
Very instantly aware of your body. You know, everything's firing, you can feel your, your back, your arms, your feet. Everything's suddenly, Whoa, it's cold. And it's a great reminder. Hey, okay. I am alive. I can feel things I'm present in the moment. And as we're going to find out later in the show, this is [00:26:00] a real.
Um, stoic approach actually, you know, being present and thinking about yourself in time and space. Yes, certainly. So certainly so a big hi to, to Jackie and a big high to all of our listeners in Japan. We've been rocketing up the charts, uh, in Japan and, uh, it's so great to see so many people tuning into us, uh, from Japan.
So hi to all of you. And I think. For everybody listening to the show. I mean, Mark, what's your call to action. If they're sitting there, maybe they're, uh, enjoying the show. Maybe they're commuting. Maybe they've got a moment and you'd like them to do just one thing to be part of the moonshots universe.
What would you ask them to? I suggest doing a couple of things. There's, there's a wonderful destination that, uh, I highly recommend everybody to go and check out, which is. Www.moonshots.io, which is moonshots learning from innovate is [00:27:00] a hub, our home online as it, where you can find all of our 110 shows prior to today's daily stoic, you can find all of our show notes, relevant URL links, like our episode on Kyle Maynard last week, we've uploaded load of extra extracurriculars, reading that all of our listeners can go and check out.
You can see all of our upcoming shows some great mantras that you and I live by. And we've also got a special new feature. That's been around for a couple of weeks called the feedback area. If you navigate on the top of the page, you can leave us your thoughts, your recommendations, as well as the shows, you'd like us to cover.
We love hearing from our listeners, particularly when they're taking cold showers and being inspired, but we also like receiving recommendations on who to cover next, Mike. You know, we, we love having a good plethora and a variety of, of innovators in our library, right? So I think [00:28:00] now it's time to turn up the heat in the kitchen.
Mark. I think it's time to get into some of the core thinking, um, of stoicism and in a world where we're all told to be positive and be optimistic. This is a real turn. To the world and a twist, an unexpected pivot where stoicism invites us to practice negative visualization. The more interesting lessons from the Stokes is this idea of premeditation malorum that's negative visualization instead of.
Imagining everything going exactly how you want it to go, what can go wrong? How can you be prepared for it? Marcus really is talks about starting the day and thinking about all the frustrating, annoying, selfish, rude, stupid people he's going to meet. And then he knows when he meets them that that's who he's meeting.
He's not upset by this. He's not surprised by it. He's prepared for it. So you [00:29:00] prepare yourself in advance for what's going to happen today. This week, this month, and then you're able to prepare for the worst case scenarios. You're able to prepare for success as well, but you want to know what can happen.
You want to visualize it all and be ready for it. Oh, the worst case scenario, the prepared for it to happen for me, Mike, actually, this is kind of confronting, you know, you touched on it. Introducing the clip nowadays. We're all about positive mindsets. Um, visualizing success. And this is kind of interesting, challenging ourselves to actually imagine, who am I going to run into that might cause a headache, a cue in the coffee shop, or a bad email, you know, or a rough phone call.
Once you visualize that negativity, you sort of reset your expectations and think, okay, well, if that's the worst that I can imagine, I'm now ready to deal with whatever comes to me. Yeah. And [00:30:00] I think, I think where it picks up from is, um, you know, we've heard a lot from people like David Goggins, which is don't give up, keep going, keep going and building on that is that as you keep going, as you don't give up, you will be confronted with things not working out.
Now, I think from personal experience that we are too quick to run away. We're too quick to give up on things when things don't work out, particularly when it doesn't feel just when it doesn't feel fair, things like I worked really hard and I did this great effort, but it still didn't work out or somebody else let the side down.
It's so unfair. I hate this. I quit I'm out. Right. I think that line of thinking is something we all experience. What do you think? Yeah. I mean, there's so many moments of my career in life where I've worked really, really [00:31:00] hard at something, and maybe it hasn't been received as well. Maybe it was dismissed.
Maybe it was, you know, put in the bin and you kind of just think, well, Oh, well, That's it then that's me. That was my hardest work I'm out. I'm done. And this is a great reminder. Isn't it? So what happens though is when you, when you face those moments is if you know that it's natural to want to stop and give up, but you train yourself not to give up the way you set that foundation is by really exploring.
The negative visualizations. What's the worst that could happen so that you are prepared that when it happens, because Hey, that's life, as they say that, rather than you're like, I've I visualize this perfect scenario and this is not perfect. And so therefore I quit that. You go, I have a vision of where I [00:32:00] want to get to, but I know it's going to be insanely messy all the way there.
And I now experiencing some serious. Hardship disappointment, but I'm prepared. Yeah, because I have visually, I have seen that things might not work out. I have seen in fact the worst that could happen because that's the thing. Once you visualize, once you create a clear picture of the worst case scenario, you no longer fear it.
Because you have faced it. Secondly, you're also ready that when it does happen, it doesn't catch it by such a surprise. It's not such a shock and thirdly, anything better than the worst that could happen is actually an upsell it's better than expected. And I think this is a really good balance between show.
Be [00:33:00] positive, but also be positive and enthusiastic even when it's hurting, because you know that that's part of doing something special because as they say, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. So it's all about balancing. Your reality and your vision, knowing that in order to achieve your vision, reality is going to get painful, messy, and it's not going to be elegant.
And if you want to keep going like a David Goggins, you've got to be prepared for like on kilometer 20, it's really gonna hurt. And your, you might consider quitting. You might consider it. You may have faced this in your preparation, but you are knowing that that is just part of the journey and that gives you the capacity to go further.
It's amazing to think that a lot of these thoughts were coming from such a timeless [00:34:00] source. And it's a great moment to, uh, you know, when we dig into Ron holiday. To expand our vision. You know, it always feels like it's happening to me, but as you've just said, when you do put it into context of, you know, waking up, assuming the worst, thinking about projects, thinking about your life, thinking about history, isn't it great.
And pretty liberating for me at least, um, to think, okay, well, if it works for some of these. Uh, you know, ancient philosophers as well as some of the moonshots and the innovators that you and I have covered before. If it works for them, maybe it'll work for me. It's quite empowering. I think this, this approach.
Yeah. And I think that it's all about. Have vision, but actually explore what's plan B plan C plan D know that it's going to get messy, know that it's not going to work, work out exactly as you think it will or would like it to [00:35:00] and be prepared to go with that. Right. Cause I think what we do is we ignore the thought of failure.
But if you actually look at Michael Jordan, for example, he thought so much about failure. This was his energy source to train harder than anybody else. And this next clip, Mike, um, building on this idea of, of innovators, Michael Jordan, and the use of energy, uh, I think is perfect. Perfect. Um, Consideration when we're coming off the back of 2020, thinking about this new year, and it's all about knowing our energy and how we respond to things.
So this next clip that we're going to hear from Mr. Ron holiday is all about asking whether something, an opportunity or a challenge is in your control. The next lesson from the [00:36:00] Stoics is actually what Epictetus says is probably the most important thing in the whole philosophy. He says separate things into two categories.
What's in your control, what's outside your control. So the person who starts their week off by thinking. Here's all the things that I need to do. Here's the part of that I control. Here's the part of it. I don't control. I'm flying from New York to Phoenix. Okay. I control that. I bought the ticket. I control that.
I got myself to the airport. I don't control when the plane takes off. I don't control the weather. I don't control whether there's a malfunction with the plane. I don't control who I sit next to on the plane. So by focusing on what we control on, not wasting time in an energy. And what we don't control.
We have an advantage over the people who they hear that the flight is 30 minutes delayed and they throw a temper tantrum and then they go stuff themselves with a Cinnabon. The stoic sits down and starts answering emails or sits down and writes an article or makes a sales call. The stoic tries to use the time that they [00:37:00] have the stoic tries to focus on what they control, which is how they respond to things and not on what they don't control.
Mm, the sooner bond. Oh, the cinnamon ROMAC. Oh, those things are so good and just so bad, but at the same time I loved it. This one is really big. I mean, I actually think that the, the preparing for things not going your way in the previous clip and this one could be at the very heart of stoicism and, um, I think we all put a lot of stress into things that we don't control, the perfect antidote to things being crazy outside of your control is to focus your energy on the things that you do control and the wellbeing that you, um, Experience as a result of this is tremendous and it's a very stoic.
So, I mean, this is where I think the time timely nature [00:38:00] of getting into stoicism is really, really powerful because there are things that have happened in 2020 and continue in 2021 on a macro global level where we might be thinking to ourselves, it's all a bit crazy. Brian holiday in the stoic say, well, okay, you might not control, uh, geopolitical macroeconomic trends of the world, but you do control your breath.
You do control your sleep. You do control your exercise, your work, your effort, the time that you wake, these are all wins, potential wins in your day. According to the Stoics. You control them. Totally. So focus upon them. Pretty good stuff, Mark. Yes. Essential for all of us to remember. I mean, it's, it's kind of a little bit of a [00:39:00] challenge when you, when you follow it as an exercise and put it into practice.
I think. You know, there's plenty of times when I will react to something that is out of my control, whether it's a queue or as, as Ron holiday calls out there. A great visual example of waiting for a plane and it's delayed. I mean, what immediately comes to my mind, Mike, that I can control is my time, you know, as we were discussing earlier in the show, how I utilize it and make the most of it, I think how I react as, as Ron holiday calls out in that clip, just then react to.
Challenges as well as opportunities. Um, but also how I interpret stuff, how I read into something, maybe I overthink or overanalyze to the extent where I negatively interpret something, as opposed to thinking of it positively. It's a great, great reminder and something that, you know, we kind of got to practice each day.
I think. I totally agree. So, um, another thing that comes out of [00:40:00] these daily practices, as you mentioned, is writing a journal and this is even, uh, fundamental to stoicism. So it, I mean, you can just see how many times we've talked about daily journaling as being something that is truly beneficial. Uh, so once again, let's hit Ryan holiday, let's hit stoicism and let's get into the world of writing a journal.
The next lesson from the Stokes is journaling. And I would say that there's almost no distinction between stoicism and journaling. The philosophy is the philosophy of journaling. Monica is to release his meditations. That's not a book he intended for you and me. That's his journal. He was writing these things to himself as the most powerful man in the world.
About how to be better, how to think more clearly, how to let things go. What was important? His principles were who he wanted to be as a person. So if you're one of those people that says, Oh yeah, I'd like to journal, but who has the time? I don't have 20 minutes in the morning. I don't have time [00:41:00] before bed.
The most powerful man in the world spent time with a journal every single day. He had to do it with far inferior technology to you and I, so you absolutely have the time you have to make it. I love that clip Mike, because throughout 2020, I was saying to you, Hey. Journaling. All of our moonshot is an innovators, entrepreneurs that we cover.
They're all talking about journaling. I should really do it too. And I was one of those people who was reacting and saying, Oh yeah, if I had the time, I'd go and do it. But now over the break and the end of 2020, I, I did get into that practice. And, you know, as exactly as Ron holodeck was out, if Marcus really is the most powerful man in the world can do it with inferior technology.
I can do it when I'm sitting in bed or at my house. And I genuinely believe mine. I know that journaling for you is a practice that you've done, um, for, for a fair amount of [00:42:00] time. I really do find it beneficial, not only from communicating or compartmentalizing, my, um, interpretation of things as we were just talking about in the previous clip, but also how I'm looking ahead.
So it's almost reflection as well as. Forward thinking. And ironically, when you're considering the past and thinking about the future, you actually end up in the present. You're thinking about where you are right now, how you've reacted and how you're going to react. And it almost forces you to think, Hey, well, who am I.
Where am I, what matters to me and how am I using my time and what should I be focusing on all of these things, as we've heard throughout the rest of the show, seem to really STEM from this idea. Journaling is the, because I believe that journaling helps you get your thinking straight and [00:43:00] stoicism is all you are what you think.
You all, what you think you are, how you react to it. It's, it's very, uh, personal. I think the beauty of stoicism is they're very essential lessons that you and I can learn from. And fundamentally the way that you put it into practice will probably be slightly different to how I put into practice because we are both subjective and unique.
So even though the practices are so. Ownable by you ownable by me. I love the idea that as unique as a journal that you might write is, is specific to you. And my journal is specific to me. This philosophy of stoicism is again, specific to how I interpreted and how I use it every day. I think it's, it's a great clip.
That one to help us consider how we can actually put it into practice. How, how have you felt [00:44:00] after doing some journaling? Like what effect does it have on you when you do it? Actually relaxes me. I feel pretty good. Again, I think harking back to the focus, like a Roman clip, you know, if you can, because again, this is kind of like a habit, isn't it?
This is, uh, focusing and making the time to do it. I think you feel pretty good if you've, if you block that time, if you go and do it and you turn off your phone and you really think, okay, well, this is what I feel or think, or however you want to approach the journaling. It's, it's pretty rewarding afterwards.
You think, Hey, I, I accomplished this and I'm, I'm really pleased at it. Whether you read it back or not, it doesn't matter. I think the act for me, at least of, of having sat there and done it. Yeah. And expressed something through pen and paper is, is really this idea that this, this feel good, [00:45:00] rewarding factor.
I think. How about you, Mike? How do you feel when you've done it? I think you do it in the morning. I do. Yeah. I mean, I think it's quite cathartic. Isn't it cathartic? It, it just gets all the cobwebs and the dustiness out of your head. And it's this simple act of forcing yourself to write something down makes you consider it like there's a forcing function.
Is that what I really think? Or no? No. I think, I mean, somebody a bit diff like that whole conversation. It's so powerful because clarity of mind, clarity of purpose, clarity of action. It all comes from there. So, you know, journaling to me is adjust. It's a delight. It's a, it's a, it's a medicine. Uh, it's, it's so many wonderful, wonderful things.
So w do you remember the advice, uh, that I gave you, uh, to help you start, which might be helpful for our listeners? Yeah, I do actually, uh, [00:46:00] your, your gray recommendation of any of our listeners who, you know, maybe you're thinking about sitting down, writing a journal, maybe you will. Thinking. Okay. Well now Ron holidays just made me feel, uh, if my Marcus Aurelius, the most powerful man in the world can do it.
Maybe I should do it too. Just start with one word, one word a morning or an evening, one word a day, whatever it might be. Just break it down really, really simply. How do you feel, how do you think right now? Is it, um, You know, are you feeling relaxed or energetic? You know, just start with one word, no matter what that one word is, happy, sad, frustrated, angry, resentful, whatever, whatever that word needs to be right before you know it, what happens?
You start writing to it. Three weeks. Yeah. Just build that little foundation, you know, dig in. Um, and, and, you know, [00:47:00] again, I think, uh, stoic practice or stoic thinking can behave in a similar way. You know, we've got a number of great tips today within this show, you know, we've talked about time, focus, waking up early, you know, all of us can begin just doing one of those things.
Maybe it's just thinking, okay, well, how do I. Begin my day by focusing I turn off my notifications. Great. And then maybe in a week's time. Okay. I'll go to bed a little bit earlier and wake up a bit earlier and now suddenly I'm focusing and waking up early. Maybe now the next step is be more considerate of my time.
Respected a little bit clearer, you know, maybe similar to journaling, how it can begin with just a, a brick, a bit of time. One word, maybe the practice of stoicism. Can begin in the same way. Just start with one thing and slowly become that better version. [00:48:00] Very, very true and leads us nicely to something that you might consider.
In that journal as you write. And as you think, and, uh, this is one of the last thoughts that we're going to share with you around stoicism and this great body of work called the daily stoic by Ryan holiday. And this thought is going to be, and it sounds rather grand, so don't run away, but it is all about mortality.
The final, most important part of having a great week, at least according to the Stoics is this idea of memento, Mori of meditating on your mortality. Actually, I have a ring on my finger right here, a signet ring, which is ancient form of jewelry. The Romans all wore these and on it, it says memento Mori.
And on the inside, it has inscribed from Marcus really, as a quote, you could leave life right now. He says, let that determine what you do and saying, thanks. [00:49:00] The idea that this could be the last week that we have on this planet. And this could be the last day we have on this planet. This could be the last video that you watch.
What are you going to do? Are you going to be present? Are you going to show up or are you going to be distracted and inefficient? Are you going to seize this moment as Marcus really talks about, he says, do this as if it was the last thing you will do on this earth, do it. Well, do it right. Don't take it.
Too seriously. On the other hand, don't, don't be too upset about anything. Life is too short. You can have a great week by focusing on the fact that it may be your last week on this planet. I mean, it's, it's pretty, uh, confronting maybe even a little bit uncomfortable, but it just feels so empowering as well as consistent with a lot of the other clips.
Again. This idea of time and how you use it and you make the, most of it is really, really at the heart of a lot of this stoic thinking [00:50:00] that memento Mori for me, Mike, it it's something that I want to think about more. How do you interpret it? Yeah, I think, um, I think there's a couple of fun. Uh, fun ways to go about this.
And I think, um, where I would encourage you to start is when you wake in the morning, a very positive thing to do is like, wow. If we think in this mortality, uh, lens. Wow. New day, a new life. So part of this stoic thinking is actually start every day. Like it's a brand new life fresh forget about the cobwebs of yesterday.
Start fresh today, clean slate, and then make choices as if today was the last day of your life. So do the [00:51:00] best you can. Think about your legacy, perhaps. Um, and this is really powerful. I mean, Steve jobs was quite famous for saying, you know, live it live today. Like it's your last. And I think that. Might affect what you think is important.
Um, and it might change some of the prioritization there, but I think also what we have to realize is that the reason we should consider mortality so much is so much in Western culture. When our loved ones die, it can be enormously disruptive. It can be very traumatic. I do think that part of that is we don't consider mortality.
We all are just humans. There's been millions and millions of humans before us, and there'll be millions after us. And I think part of getting the most out of the day, Is living it like it's your last, and this is always brought home to me. When you see [00:52:00] stories about what people in their eighties and nineties, what advice they give to young people.
And it's always comes down to what they prioritize. And if you ask this question about what should I do today? As if it was my last day on the planet that may change your priority setting that opens up this stoic, uh, thinking to explore your own mortality and to get the very most out of today to, to make the best decisions in every day.
If you ask this question, I mean, what a fantastic, uh, you know, North star to try and aim towards isn't it. I mean, I wrote my goals for 20, 21, a couple of weeks ago. And one of my key ambitions or challenges to myself is better time, time management, considering that a little bit better [00:53:00] and making more of a, um, making a more substantial, you know, more important.
And I think time stems from that, that thought, Mike, that you were just saying about mortality. Thinking, uh, what am I going to do saying, and, uh, approach today as though it is that last day, it feels it can, you know, when you hear about it first time, it does feel a little bit maybe confronting or a little bit scary, but actually I believe it's quite empowering because suddenly now I'm inspired to go and, um, have a good chat with somebody or go and do some really good, valuable, deep work or.
Go and give the best meeting I've ever I've ever taken part in. You know, I think it is, I think, depending on how you interpret it and, and action, it it's really, really empowering to me as an individual. I think it is. And I think [00:54:00] I carried everybody to go and explore this. And if you, if you're really are, if this is stoked, your stoic.
Uh, curiosities, um, then head over to moonshots.io, where you can get all our show notes. You'll find all the links. We'll have links, obviously to some work by Ryan holiday. We'll make sure that all the goodies are there so that you can get, uh, all of that stoic input now. Um, Whilst we have gone to some pretty heavy duty themes topics on this show, looking at the work, the daily stoic by Ryan holiday.
I think it's only appropriate Mark that we leave with a slightly more upbeat thought from Ryan holiday and it is encouraging us. As we listen to this last clip for the show to be very much in the here and the now my favorite quote from [00:55:00] Marcus really is he says, um, objective judgment now at this very moment, unselfish action.
Now at this very moment, willing acceptance now at this very moment of all external events. I mean, that's basically stoicism in a nutshell, if you don't have to read meditations, you have to read sedentary. Don't have to read Epictetus. You don't have to get a degree from Harvard in ancient philosophy to, to get any more out of stoicism than that.
Right? It's like, look, see the world as it is for what it is. Don't put judgments on top of stuff. Be a good person. You have to take action. That's unlike be a good teammate. Be a good citizen. Be generous, be caring. Don't be all about yourself. And then willing acceptance. I know people that sounds like resignation, but what it's really about is like, instead of complaining about how things are instead of feeling persecuted, instead of feeling like.
Shit is unfair. Or instead of feeling like you can go back and change the past, which you can except it, [00:56:00] and then move forward. That's not that willing acceptance now at this very moment of all external events, he's not saying, uh, just accept everything as it is. He's saying like, except the facts, and then turn them into something he's saying you can still change the world.
But you can't change. What's happened in the past. You can't change other people. You can only focus on what you're going to do with the facts that are in front of you. And so, I mean, That quote is the essence of what I write about in my books. It's the essence of what stoicism is. And like, I would defy someone to live by that quote and, and not see things radically improved for themselves.
This is a clip that's brought us our journey through the foundations of stoicism all the way around. Hasn't Mike, this concept. It's so good. It's being present in the moment, seeing the world without judgment. Being a good person. I love that we'll dig into that later in the [00:57:00] series as well. But this concept of willing acceptance is something that we've, we've referenced and explored a few times through some of our shows and, and immediately for me, it calls back the positive energy of, of Kyle Maynard in, in show on hundred and 10, you know, accept the situation and move forward.
Yeah, absolutely. That is really the, the, the, the building blocks and, um, what a great, um, fly by summary introduction to the world of stoicism. And we've got Ryan holiday and his book, the daily stoic. To thank, uh, for this, but it's, it's just really what perfect timing where we get real about things and where we get prepared to embrace the discomfort.
Mark, have you enjoyed it? I believe this could be one of our, um, most unique [00:58:00] series that we've done because of that. The nature of digging into these timeless exercises. And revisiting them with this modern day lens. I think we've now established a really good baseline and foundation of stoicism. And the next three books we're going to be digging into ego is the enemy.
The obstacle is the way stillness is the key using the foundations and lessons and exercises. We've. You know, teased and uncovered today across those next three books in the Ryan holiday series. I think we're in for a bit of a treat. Totally agree. Totally agree. So, Mark, thank you. Thank you for kicking off this new series.
Thank you for joining me on this journey into a four-part series on Ryan holiday and stoicism. And thank you to you. Thank you to all of our listeners because. Boy, did you get a welcoming to the whole universe? The entire yeah. Universe of stoicism. And it started with the idea of time [00:59:00] and it is truly the only non-renewable resource on the planet.
It only happens once. So you better get up early and focus like a Roman because love. If you want to be the best version of yourself, those things become essential. And along the way, you are going to face challenge and you need to ask what's the worst that can happen. Focus on the things that you control.
And if you get your thoughts straight, that will know my dad happened in your journal, which you should do every day. And as you write, consider and meditate upon your own mortality, and then you'll appreciate every moment of the day because you should live every day. Like it's your last, okay. That's a wrap of the moonshots podcast.