Your Saturday Stoic Review — Week of April 25 - May 1

​ ​ PASSAGE OF THE WEEK: The Stoics knew that this was a kind of death. That as soon as we stop growing, we start dying. Or at least, we become more vulnerable to the swings of Fate and Fortune. Seneca talked over and over again about the importance of adversity, of not only embracing the struggle life throws at us but actively seeking out that difficulty, so you can be stronger and better and more prepared. A person who has never been challenged, he said, who always gets their way, is a tragic figure. They have no idea what they are capable of. They are not even close to fulfilling their potential. — Are You Ready To Be Challenged? (Listen) YOUTUBE TAKEAWAY OF THE WEEK: ​ In one of the most watched videos on the Daily Stoic YouTube Channel this week, we shared 7 strategies that will make you more productive. One of those, one of the secrets to productivity, is to not be so reachable. As Ryan Holiday elaborates, "We have emails, we have watches, we have 50 different social inboxes, and then we wonder why we never get anything done…You can't always be reachable. Napoleon famously would wait three weeks until he opened his mail because he knew that most issues would resolve themselves. If you are always reachable, if you can be gotten a hold of at a moment's notice, you will not be focused on the big important things, you will not be doing your work." PODCAST TAKEAWAY OF THE WEEK: ​ On the Daily Stoic podcast this week, Ryan interviewed R.C. Buford, CEO of Spurs Sports & Entertainment and one of the guests in the Daily Stoic Leadership Challenge—a 9-week course that was built to mirror the kind of education that produced historically great leaders like Marcus Aurelius (you can learn more about the course here!). In their conversation, Ryan and R.C. talked about how the San Antonio Spurs built a culture of sustainable success, how they evaluate players before bringing them into the organization, some of the great leaders R.C. has gotten to learn from, and how Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich earns the ability to demand excellence of his players: "Pop can coach people hard because he spends so much more time developing the personal relationship that allows them to understand, 'he's coaching me hard not because of anything personal. He's coaching me hard because this is what's best for the team and at the same time, he cares like hell about me, and he's going to do everything he can to help me grow professionally, personally, within my family.' You have to care to be able to demand excellence of others. If they don't know you care, it'll be difficult to demand excellence." WHAT RYAN HOLIDAY IS READING: It is extremely dangerous, very possibly even disastrous, to assume that because people are in positions of responsibility, they are therefore behaving responsibly. As one comes to understand what happened, all that was ignored by so many before the dam at South Fork broke, one also comes to understand that the whole calamity and its horrific toll in human life need never have happened. — The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough YOUR STOIC WEEKEND REMINDER: There's no excuse for being surprised. In the book Of Anger, Seneca draws on Fabius, one of Ancient Rome's great generals, to teach a lesson from war that every citizen and leader and business person should be familiar with: "Fabius used to say that the basest excuse for a commanding officer is 'I didn't think it would happen,' but I say it's the basest for anyone. Thinking everything might happen; anticipate everything." When the Stoics talk about the exercise of premeditatio malorum, that's what they're trying to train into you. To make sure you're not surprised by the twists and turns of life, or by the moves of the enemy. Because there is no excuse. (For more on this idea, watch this video!) THIS WEEK'S BEST SOCIAL MEDIA POST: ​ EMAIL OF THE WEEK: ​This Is What They're Going To Say (Listen) P.S. We just added 50+ new wallpapers to The Daily Stoic smartphone wallpaper library. The wallpaper library now contains over 100+ wallpapers featuring quotes and wisdom from Marcus Aurelius, Zeno, Seneca, Epictetus, and more. The Daily Stoic smartphone wallpaper library is an ever-growing library, meaning that we drop new art in the library every few weeks, and once you gain initial access, you have access for life! ​ Head over to dailystoic.com/wallpapers right now to gain access to the ever-growing library of wallpapers. Oh and if you were thinking of joining us in Daily Stoic Life, this is a good excuse as Daily Stoic Life members get access to the smartphone wallpaper library (as well as all Daily Stoic challenges and courses) for FREE. ​Unsubscribe | Update your profile | 906 Main Street #274, Bastrop, Texas 78602