Weekly Quote: Seneca on Learning While Teaching

This week’s quote from Seneca brings forth an important idea: We best serve ourselves and others around us when we learn as much as we teach. Consider what we can glean from what someone is saying when we listen. When we really listen, instead of busying ourselves with crafting our witty response, which is meant to impress but does little more than feed our ego.

Don’t waste your time trying to put on airs. The right people, those you should be spending your time with whenever possible, will see through that. Want to impress someone? Listen to them, learn from them, and then teach what you know when they are ready to hear it.

Weekly Quote: Seneca on Reviewing the Day

I've been banging the drum especially loud about journaling lately, and this week's quote from Seneca is another reason why. Journaling is a tool that can help you authentically review your life.

The idea of the daily review and its value has mostly stayed the same since Seneca walked the streets of Rome a few thousand years ago. Sure, your journal entry might seem different initially, but the concerns that occupy your mind are similar to what an ancient person worried about so long ago.

Journaling works best when you commit to honesty and are most willing to keep a "constant watch" over yourself. That may be made easier when there is no intention to share what you write with anyone. You do so much for the benefit of others. Journal for yourself.

Weekly Quote: Seneca on Delaying Your Anger

These ancient words from Seneca ask you to remember a foundational part of Stoic philosophy: delaying your reaction to anger offers a few moments to find the correct response. This action can bring clarity in the best cases and, at minimum, may allow you to quiet yourself and mute what could be an unreasoned response.

Try this. It takes practice and will only work some of the time. Yet, when it does, you will feel differently, like you’ve made less of a mistake, and that makes this effort worthwhile.


You can find Letters From a Stoic in both print and audio. Ryan Holiday’s The Lives of the Stoics is also an excellent resource to learn more about Seneca and the other Stoic philosophers.

Weekly Quote: Cato the Elder on Embracing the Wisdom of Others

This week’s quote comes from Cato The Elder. Cato was a Roman soldier, senator and historian who was also the first Latin prose writer of importance.

At the start of a new week, remember this quote. We must be open to learning from others, regardless of our perceptions about what they may or may not know. Those perceptions are often based on the biases we hold and bring around as unwanted emotional baggage.

Remain discerning, but do not rashly refuse, as Cato reminds us, just because you believe you already know what they will say. You may be surprised by what others know.

Weekly Quote: The Daily Stoic on the Power of Authentic Connection

This week’s quote comes from The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. An idea like this that we do our best when we don’t pretend to be someone we aren’t but instead open ourselves up and listen to others is something worth being reminded of often.

I don’t necessarily read this book every day, life is too imperfect for that right now, but I read it most days and have been doing so for years. I recommend you check it out, too. It’s worth a few minutes (almost) every day for a reminder of how to practice living a richer and more meaningful life.

Weekly Quote: Marcus Aurelius on The Power of Choice

This week’s quote comes from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. As you go through the week consider these words about how we can decide not to be harmed, and remember what Ward Farnsworth identifies as a first principle of practical Stoicism – we don’t react to events; we react to our judgments about them.

Fear-Setting with Tim Ferriss: How to Define Your Fears Instead of Your Goals

Around this time last year, I found a TED talk by the author and podcaster Tim Ferriss on fear-setting. I've done the process a few times, including over the last few weeks, to decide on a career opportunity.

Fear-setting, inspired by the Stoic concept of premeditatio malorum (Latin for the pre-meditation of evils), is an exercise to overcome paralysis by visualizing the worst-case scenarios that might happen.

Let's walk through it:

Page 1: What If I…

You start the process with the define column, listing the worst things that could happen. Tim recommends 10 or 20 scenarios at most.

The prevent column is where you review the actions you can take to decrease those above worst possible outcomes from happening, even if only by a small measure.

Finally, you consider how to repair. If the worst happens, who can help you, and how can you fix it. As mentioned in the video, a helpful thing to recall is that someone less driven than you has probably dealt with a similar situation and gotten through it at some point in history. Context can be the best equalizer for an overactive brain.

Page 2: What might be the benefits of an attempt or partial success?

This helps you figure out how taking action can help you move the needle and develop or grow in the ways you want.

Page 3: The Cost of Inaction

The final piece looks deeply at the cost of inaction, which is a novel but effective way to gain motivation and one that we rarely give enough attention to. We often assume things will get better, an idea that Tim refers to as optimistic denial.

The fiction may be that If we stay at the same job, it's bound to get better and pay us more without us doing anything to make the change happen.

We want to believe it to be true. It usually isn't. Before committing or saying no to a new opportunity, here's your chance to fully realize that.

The question asked here is simply If I avoid doing this action, what does my life look like in 6 months, 12 months, and three years? You are trying to avoid what Tim calls the atrocious cost of the status quo.

Meet a Real Life Stoic

Stick around for the last few minutes of the talk, where Tim introduces Jerzy Gregorek. Jerzy is a remarkable man who was part of the solidarity movement in Poland and was forced to flee to the United States. Now living a comfortable life in California, Tim asked him about Stoicism. Jerzy sent a lengthy text about how he uses Stoicism to help make his most difficult decisions. He also shared this thought:

“Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.” - Jerzy Gregorek

About that Job

I decided not to take it. This process helped me lay out the benefits and costs. I would work with some great people, help shape and influence the culture, and build a solid pathway to more senior positions, but the commute was too far. I've done it before, and spending hours in the car covering many miles every day doesn't work for me now.

I had to make a choice to say no to something I wanted to do and would have been great at. It was not easy.

Jerzy and Tim are on to something here. Try this process the the next time you have an important decision to make.

Seneca’s Most Powerful Quotes From The Daily Stoic

The Daily Stoic has released a beautifully produced video featuring dozens of quotes from Seneca that I just spent the last five minutes enjoying. If you have a few quiet minutes, take a look. I’ll be sharing more from the Stoics in the coming months, so stay tuned.

The Daily Stoic Kindle Edition is on Sale

The Kindle edition of The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living is on sale for a great price today. I’ve been reading this book on a near-daily basis for several years in both hardcover and Kindle. I recommend it to anyone interested in stoicism and personal development. It’s a page or two of wisdom each day that can help shape things for the better.

Weekly Quote: Dan Harris, Author of 10% Happier, on Mindfulness as an Anecdote to Living Reactively

This week’s quote comes from Dan Harris, author of 10% Happier. I’ve previously quoted the former ABC News Anchor turned founder, author, and podcaster.

The story of Dan’s transformational journey is fascinating. I recommend this one on audio because he narrates the story himself, and unsurprisingly for a former professional broadcaster, he’s pretty good at telling a story, particularly his own!

Reactivity is Volatile

Reactivity is volatile and is rarely productive. You cannot plan for everything, but you do have the ability to understand and make choices about how you react.


This is a foundational element of Stoicism: Your reaction to how you feel when something happens is a behavior that you can learn to largely control. Your anger directed towards a situation at work does nothing but cause you discomfort. The situation does not care how you feel, and while the people involved may, your expression of those emotions typically does little more than inflame a situation.

Practice Makes Progress

You must exercise this ability of control, seek mindfulness, search for perspective, and avoid that volatility. You will not always be successful, but you should try anyway. The saying that practice makes perfect is a misnomer because there is no perfect. Instead, practice makes progress, and progress is meaningful.

In Stoicism, there is an understanding of memento mori, a reflection on one’s mortality. This is not meant to cause despair! Instead, take inspiration because your time is not infinite, and remembering that can help you gather the proper perspective and find a way to stay present.

The Big Idea

Mindfulness is a big idea. It’s a long road to follow. Many more metaphors could fill this space to describe how humans have sought a better understanding of the concept for millennia. Do your part for yourself right now. Read, journal, find some quiet time to think, connect with those who you love or who inspire you, and build your practice.

Weekly Quote: Ryan Holiday on Consistency and Willpower

This week's quote comes from Discipline is Destiny, the new book by Ryan Holiday. I wrote about this book and Ryan's impact on my creative journey earlier in the week.

Another complementary theme to this quote I've encountered in Ryan's work is waking up early to get stuff done, to build the habit of consistency. It isn't always easy to wake up at 5 am to write, but it's what I've been doing regularly for the last few weeks. I'm finding real gains, personally and around the content I can create by building this time into my daily schedule. I'm also happier because I want to do this, I enjoy it, and it's meaningful to me.

I get roughly an hour before the rest of the house begins to wake up, aside from the cats who usually join me. Sometimes, one of my children wakes up early, and I only have twenty minutes, but it's still time spent moving the needle, writing a few sentences, organizing some thoughts, and maybe planning for what's coming next.

It is incremental. It is day-to-day. This is becoming a theme for me because it works. Small gains every day result in something more significant, and that is precisely what I'm trying to accomplish.

Discipline is Destiny

Ryan Holiday's new book, Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self Control is available today. Discipline is the second in the Stoic Virtues Series, following last year's release of Courage is Calling.

I pre-ordered a signed copy directly from Ryan, which arrived on Saturday. I'm already a few chapters in, highlighter in hand. Ryan is one of those authors whose work I typically purchase in multiple formats, usually Kindle and in print. I have several of his books on audio too. As I said, I'm a fan!

I recommend either The Obstacle is the Way or Courage is Calling for someone new to his work. Although you won’t go wrong with any of his books, particularly the ones focused on Stoicism.

Here's Where I Started

I walked into a book store on a snowy December afternoon in 2017, and The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living caught my eye. It was on a table themed around the coming new year. Although I did not know who Ryan was then, I immediately knew this was a book I wanted to read.

More importantly, it was a book that I needed to read.

I had just finished four years as a business owner and was starting a new mid-level operations management job at a distressed account. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety, and The Daily Stoic was part of how I ended my day and managed the stress. I'd read the day's passage, maybe do a little journaling or some other reading, and go to bed. The book helped me stay grounded after many long and draining days of putting out fires, rebuilding the team, and developing relationships with everyone from the C-Suite to the frontline.

Six years after finding The Daily Stoic, I reach for it nearly every day and still feel like I'm learning new things. I hope you have a book or something similar that does the same for you. If you don’t yet, you know what I recommend.

Weekly Quote: Seneca on Finding Courage Through Hardship

This week's quote from Seneca is included as part of the chapter on adversity in The Practicing Stoic by Ward Farnsworth.

Ward has written an excellent book on Stoicism that I have quoted multiple times. I read this book slowly for the first time, taking lots of notes and highlights for future reference, and I am already rereading chapters and passages that can help me make sense of something happening.

It's been a challenging year, although none of what's happened is particularly remarkable or unique to my family, and it's all been manageable despite being exhausting and occasionally overwhelming. I know everyone goes through tough times, and I've been trying to learn from these experiences. Here are a few things that I'm figuring out that might help you too:

I Cannot Control Every Situation

I'm getting better at understanding more quickly when a situation is beyond my control. One of our children, who is now fully recovered, got sick and ended up in the hospital for a few days. I couldn't fix that. I could only be a participant in a bigger plan for recovery and stability for the entire family.

I Can be More Patient

I think I am a pretty patient person, and I am working on getting more tuned in to what it means to be a patient son, father, and husband. Different roles in my life need other things from me. Patience is universal, but there are nuances that I'm picking up on.

Creating Through Adversity Shuts the Resistance Down

I believe that adversity can spark creativity. Unfortunately, I've had very little time to create or write over the last several weeks, but the ideas are still coming and are meaningful to me. I've been feeling The Resistance a lot recently. Its presence encourages me that I am on the right path. I'm not giving up. I'm doubling down.

Building Courage is Worth Doing

I'm building my courage through practice. Living a rich life means that adversity will happen, and while it can be difficult, I feel more prepared to face what is next because of what I have already gone through.

How I Face Hardship Matters

Whether it's at work or home, someone is watching. I may struggle with a situation, but I can strive to have a measured and thoughtful response when it all goes wrong, or something scary happens. Essentially, the definition of being courageous.

Recognizing my Good Fortune Builds Endurance

I am deeply fortunate to have a healthy and happy family. We are coming closer because of these experiences, which is another gift of endurance I will gladly take as part of this journey.

Weekly Quote: Marcus Aurelius on Having no Opinion

This week’s quote comes from Marcus Aurelius, author of Meditations, Stoic philosopher, and Roman Emperor from 161 to 180.

Choosing not to have an opinion on a subject over which you have no control is a valuable lesson. It’s vital to learn the difference between what should receive your attention and the low signal, high noise stuff that doesn’t deserve your time but does its best to get in front of you regardless.

When you cast your opinion towards things that don’t matter, when you comment and like or share, when you offer an idea that you may not even believe in, it’s easy to get sucked into a vortex that makes you unhappy and robs you of your attention and inspiration. It’s not an easy place to escape, so avoid it.

In fact, entire industries thrive when you don’t follow this advice, with some sharing impressive quarterly earnings on calls to their investors, touting the financial success of their engagement strategy.

Time is the most valuable commodity you have. Do everything you can to avoid getting caught up in things that don’t matter. Guard your attention, and honor yourself by making the most of it.

Weekly Quote: Ward Farnsworth, Author of The Practicing Stoic, on Living in the Present

This week’s quote comes from The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User’s Manual by Ward Farnsworth, a book I am slowly reading and very much enjoying. I’ve written about this book before and continue to gather insights into Stoicism and how it can help shape my personal and professional journey.

I’ve spent this week living firmly in the present with a house full of sick people (that includes me), and I haven’t had much time to write or do anything beyond survival. I’m happy to live in the present, yet I look forward to the family being well and our routine returning to normal soon.

Weekly Quote: Ryan Holiday on the Anger Trap

This week’s quote comes from a favorite book I regularly read: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

Anger usually results in pain, frustration, and a loss of clarity and connection. It is an emotion that is the worst kind of fuel. We all deserve better, as do our co-workers, team members, families, and friends.

Have you noticed that the people around you who are always angry want you to join them? It’s usually true. Angry people find other like-minded people. They want to be miserable together and are always recruiting. Don’t get drawn in. Remember, your anger is their fuel.

The first principle in Stoicism, as this quote from Ward Farnsworth discusses, is that you don’t react to events but instead react to your judgments about them. So choose to respond without anger. Don’t fuel the rage, and don’t fall into their trap.

Weekly Quote: Ward Farnsworth on the First Principle of Practical Stoicism

This week’s quote comes from The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical Users Manual by Ward Farnsworth. I heard the author on a recent episode of The Daily Stoic podcast, and based on that conversation this book was an immediate purchase for me.

The judgments are up to us. This is a profound reminder. It’s easy to forget that while we have very little control over what happens in our lives, we have an enormous ability to control how we react to our interpretation of what has happened. In conversations with friends and colleagues, I’ve struggled to explain my understanding of this part clearly. Ward has done it better and more succinctly than I could.

I am enjoying the style of this book a lot. The various chapters include relevant quotes from the original Stoics and other, more modern philosophers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, using quotes and extrapolating on them really works for me. Who knew!

If you pick this book up, send me a note and tell me what you think.

Weekly Quote: Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday

This week’s quote comes from Ryan Holiday’s latest book, Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave. Ryan is one of my favorite authors. His books and emails are always on my reading and re-reading list, and I frequently recommend The Daily Stoic to friends who want an introduction to Stoic philosophy. It’s where I started.

In Courage is Calling, Ryan writes about many aspects of courage, including difference between being scared and feeling fear. It’s one of the ideas from this book that I’ve really been chewing on. He quotes William Faulkner, who wrote a similar sentiment about walking in the woods, “Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid.”

Before reading this book, I hadn’t deeply considered the difference between fear and being scared. Fear is more conceptual, and being scared is an emotional response the body experiences. It’s helpful to have such a distinction clearly laid out by a thinker that I respect, to understand that it’s okay to be scared, and then it’s essential to act anyway, not let fear paralyze you and prevent you from achieving what needs to be done.

I’m doing my best to remember this quote when I am heading into the unknown and begin to feel dread. I’ll allow myself to be scared, but I will fight the fear.

Weekly Quote: Less is More

This week’s quote comes from The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. This is a book that I’ve read multiple times and continue to find new wisdom and ideas every time I pick it up.

I’m working on trying to say less while learning to trust that those who are listening will ask for what they need. I still find myself sliding back into explainer mode sometimes, particularly in email. I desire to be helpful, but my attempt likely hits somewhere between a lack of focused thought and condescension.

It’s a balance, like so many aspects of communication. Trying to make expectations known or be supportive of someone without writing them a novel via email that they won’t read anyway.

Sometimes, less is more.

Weekly Quote: Suffering our Imagination

This quote connects nicely with last week’s entry about focusing on what we can control. Our ability to tell ourselves stories about the future is powerful, and we usually use it to our detriment even though the worst-case scenarios rarely come to pass.

A context shift can help us deal with these runaway thoughts, especially the big, persistent narratives that just won’t go away. I find reading a book or listening to some new music helpful because it provides some distraction in a low-stakes way and gives my brain time to reflect and engage with the subject in a new way. Doing something a little different can help bring a fresh perspective to the situation, making all the difference and helping to reset things for the better.

How do you handle this? Let me know.