Daily Stoic and The Alchemist — A Few Quotes And A Few Reflections
I know, I know.
You think I’m turning into that guy who writes “Top 10 Quotes Which Will Make You Rich and Change Your Life”.
But who doesn’t love a good pair of quotes to get you through the day? If you think about it, everything you read is a collection of quotes. What’s wrong with pulling one out of a book or an article and sharing my thoughts on it?
I don’t think it’s THAT lazy of an article. I could literally just pull some quotes from anyone and plaster 50 of them on a page and call it a day. I could just go to Unsplash and put 10 pictures with small captions on them. I could post a Youtube video with a couple of paragraphs and count it as a blog post for myself. That’s what I’d call lazy.
Instead, I actually took a long time to find some interesting and helpful quotes that I thought would help provoke some thoughts and urge you to take action. (so you better thank me.)
I’ll name the book, and then pull out some quotes that resonated or interested me, and I’ll share a few thoughts on them. Also feel free to tell me your favorite quote from this article or from any time in history from any one. I always love a good quote.
The Daily Stoic — Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday basically wrote a bible for people who want to meditate on the wise words of Stoics. The Daily Stoic is a non-theistic devotional book, where you meditate on a quote everyday and remind yourself of this quote throughout the day.
It has a quote for every day of the year, but I like to jump around and see if there are any useful quotes that I can remember to help me get through my present struggles and challenges. I opened the book and landed on May 2nd and May 3rd. Here are the respective quotes:
“First tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what you have to do. For in nearly every pursuit we see this to be the case. Those in athletic pursuit first choose the sport they want, and then do that work.”
— Epictetus, Discourses, 3.23.1–2a.
A basketball player becomes a great basketball player because he knows what he is in pursuit of: becoming a great basketball player. He does not practice playing any other sport. He decides he wants to be great at basketball and plans out everything he must improve in to be the best that he can be.
He knows he will need to improve his stamina and endurance. He knows he will need to work on his shooting form and consistently make shots. He knows he will need to show up when the game is on the line. He knows he needs to understand all the plays that are drawn out for him by the coach.
Since he knows everything he needs to improve on to become a great player, all he needs to do now is get to work. Planning isn’t enough. Wishing isn’t enough. Without action he knows he will stay a good player at best.
If he wishes to join the greatest players in their ranks, if he wishes to become a hall of famer and revered by people around the world, he needs to do what he has to do.
“Those who receive the bare theories immediately want to spew them, as an upset stomach does its food. First digest your theories and you won’t throw them up. Otherwise they will be raw, spoiled, and not nourishing. After you’ve digested them, show us the changes in your reasoned choices, just like the shoulders of gymnasts display their diet and training, and as the craft of artisans show in what they’ve learned.
— Epictetus, Discourses, 3.21.1–2
I’ve read so many self-help articles and books, thinking that reading and retaining the advice would simply change me for the better. I have watched so many motivational videos and so many lectures on how to change my life, yet nothing has changed. The only thing that has changed is that I have grown numb to it all.
As Epictetus foretold, I had received the bare theories and immediately wanted to throw them up. I hadn’t digested the ideas and hadn’t taken any effort in applying anything I’d learned from these self-help books and articles into my life.
I thought I was smart simply because I knew all these tips and tricks to “live a better life”. I thought I was wiser because I had read a couple more books than my friends. I thought I was going to be way more successful because I was taking the time to educate myself, and believed that my friends were simply floating through life.
Your insecurities can create an extremely dangerous ego. To protect yourself from having a negative perception of yourself, you inflate your ego and twist reality so that you are the smartest, most ambitious and enlightened person in all your relationships.
I didn’t want anyone to look down on me, so the best way to prevent this was to make myself bigger than everyone else. This often leads to you becoming a condescending, egotistical jerk that no one wants to be around.
Ryan Holiday adds in a bit of commentary for this quote that I found to be very helpful in interpreting Epictetus’s message:
Many of the Stoic aphorisms are simple to remember and even sound smart when quoted. But that’s not what philosophy is really about. The goal is to turn these words into works. As Musonius Rufus put it, the justification for philosophy is when “one brings together sound teaching with sound conduct.
Today, or anytime, when you catch yourself wanting to condescendingly drop some knowledge that you have, grab it and ask: Would I be better saying words or letting my actions and choices illustrate that knowledge for me?
Actions are louder than words. Show everyone that you are the person you think you are. Back up your claims with your works.
Social Media allows us to look like we’re productive monsters, always on the grind, always living our best… but are you still doing the things that matter to you when no one is watching? Will you still do it if no one cares?
That’s what separates the one who dreams and the one who succeeds — the willingness to show up and do the work.
The Alchemist — Paulo Coelho
Ah yes, the father of the self-help fables. I don’t know if Paulo wrote it to be a self-help book. I think he just told the story that spoke to him. Many artists can’t explain the creations that come forth. They can’t control what they’re interested in, what they’re passionate about, what draws them closer.
I believe that this book, if you look close enough and are willing to apply the knowledge, can change your life.
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
Who told you that your dream was impossible? Was it your parents? Was it your teacher? Was it your friends? Was it the strangers on the Internet?
Or was it you?
Who allowed those obstacles to stop you from getting what you want? It was you. Who allowed the fear of failure to overcome your longing for success? It was you.
The limits set on mankind are self-made. Let’s dream a little bigger. Let’s see what you can contribute to the history of humanity. Every dream can become manifested into reality.
Maybe not in this day and age. But I’m sure in the 20th century, there were many people who thought it was impossible to land on the moon and simply thought of it as a dream. I’m sure many people thought self-driving cars and AI were science fiction at best.
By breaking down the word “impossible”, people made plans and progressed into the future with technology. We were able to achieve what we once thought impossible. It is the same for you. The only thing blocking your way is your disbelief in yourself. You must trust yourself and try things, even when failure is certain.
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
Paulo knew that failure discouraged many people. There’s only so much pain, suffering and failure one person can take. But he believed that to live life to the fullest, you had to keep getting up when it knocked you down.
We are not creatures of comfort and safety. We are drawn to explore the unknown and learn to create habitable order out of chaos. Our curiosity and inner drive for the uncertain future does not allow us to chill on our bed and lounge around for all of eternity.
“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
Paulo is saying mind your damn business and learn to pave your own road. Everyone’s trying to tell each other how they should be living, what they should be doing with their lives, what the correct philosophy, theology, ideology is… but they themselves are, in the depths of their hearts, unsure of what they profess to be true.
“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”
I didn’t write for two years because I kept waiting for that moment. That moment where it would be clear of what I wanted as a writer, what I wanted to write about or what my life purpose was. The moment I realized that I could start this very minute was the moment I felt truly free. I could change any time I wanted, and from then I could no longer think of any more excuses to not start. I opened the laptop, opened Medium and started writing. From that moment on, I’ve found success that I would never have imagined when I first started.
There is never a perfect moment to start. I’m sure you’ve heard this many times. There is no perfect time to start exercising and eating healthy, start writing that book, start painting that mural, start creating that company, start saving money… there is and will never be a better time than now.
