Ryan Holiday

Be ruthless to the things that don't matter.

The gift of free will is that in this life we can choose to be good or we can choose to be bad. We can choose what standards to hold ourselves to and what we will regard as important, honorable, and admirable. The choices we make in that regard determine whether we will experience peace or not.

Some ways to find stillness right now:

- Go for a solo nature walk
- Write in a journal
- Lock into a creative activity
- Vigorous exercise: run laps, swim
- Help someone else

People think you have to travel for peace, but Marcus Aurelius says we can turn inward at any moment.

What matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure.

The only guarantee, ever, is that things will go wrong. The only thing we can use to mitigate this is anticipation. Because the only variable we control completely is ourselves.

The purpose of knowledge is action.

Control your perceptions. Direct your actions properly. Willingly accept what’s outside your control.

There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.

You become the sum of your actions, and as you do, what flows from that — your impulses — reflect the actions you’ve taken. Choose wisely.

We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out. — THEODORE ROOSEVELT

If you wish to improve, be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters — don’t wish to seem knowledgeable. And if some regard you as important, distrust yourself.” — EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 13a

We have only minimal control over the rewards for our work and effort — other people’s validation, recognition, rewards. So what are we going to do? Not be kind, not work hard, not produce, because there is a chance it wouldn’t be reciprocated? C’mon. Think of all the activists who will find that they can only advance their cause so far. The leaders who are assassinated before their work is done. The inventors whose ideas languish “ahead of their time.” According to society’s main metrics, these people were not rewarded for their work. Should they have not done it? Yet in ego, every one of us has considered doing precisely that. If that is your attitude, how do you intend to endure tough times? What if you’re ahead of the times? What if the market favors some bogus trend? What if your boss or your clients don’t understand? It’s far better when doing good work is sufficient. In other words, the less attached we are to outcomes the better. When fulfilling our own standards is what fills us with pride and self-respect. When the effort — not the results, good or bad — is enough. With ego, this is not nearly sufficient. No, we need to be recognized. We need to be compensated. Especially problematic is the fact that, often, we get that. We are praised, we are paid, and we start to assume that the two things always go together. The “expectation hangover” inevitably ensues.

To argue, to complain, or worse, to just give up, these are choices. Choices that more often than not, do nothing to get us across the finish line.

A good person dyes events with his own color . . . and turns whatever happens to his own benefit.

Where the head goes, the body follows. Perception precedes action. Right action follows the right perspective.