Are You Willing To Be Cut Off? | Say No To The Need To Impress

courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. Are you willing to be cut off? They worked hard for it. They took it seriously. They liked it.

They didn't want to lose it.

“Who would, who would want to lose their position?”

Their identity, their career, or their home. But when Hellvideas was threatened with removal from the Senate by the Emperor of S. Passion, he refused to refrain from his criticism. Retilious was willing to be exiled, so was a grippinous. They were not willing to trade their self-respect for maintaining their access.

They understood that there were fates worse in life than being cut off. In fact, they would rather be cut off from Rome than cut off from their values. Courage is not an easy thing. It is not free. It is not without risk or sacrifice.

And that's the whole point. If it weren't, there'd be nothing to be afraid of, nothing to fear, nothing for fear to whisper in our ear about. Courage is about triumphing over that doubt. It's fighting to do what's right, to remain consistent with what philosophy demands of us.

We are living right now, and a world where leaders are not doing this, and we are experiencing the consequences. And apparently there's not enough shame in the world to get them to change. But what about us, where is our bravery, where will we draw the line, what will we put on the line?

That's what Courage is calling is about.

It's my first book in the Stoic Virtue Series.

It's got stories about people like Elvideous and Routilious and a grippinous along with a bunch of people, maybe, whose names you are a tad more familiar with. People who chose exile over Compromise, truth over Comfort values over access.

“And I think sooner or later life is going to ask us that same question.”

We're going to have to show who we are with how we answer it. You can grab sign copies of Courage is calling more any of the books in the Stoic Virtue Series. I'll link to that in today's show notes. Who likes books?

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Say no to the need to impress. If the desire to impress and be light by others is innate to humans as a species, then every generation born before social media got lucky. Today, we face an unending stream of status updates demanding to be filled with all the impressive things we're doing. The trials we are overcoming announcements of our dangers ofverted and triumphs realized.

It's exhausting. Centuries ago, Epictetus saw this pride and narcissism even in his own computerless students and reminded them that it wasn't so innocent. In fact, he told them that it would destroy their life's purpose. It would distract and fatigue them.

Santa could too saw the seeking of approval of spectators as one of life's discourses. Watch those impulses today. Notice how much you seem to need your phone and status updates and ask, is this the person I want to be, is this what a philosopher would do? And this is from this week's entry in the Daily Stoke Journal,

which you can check out. I do the journal every morning. I sit down and spend some time with the blank pages. We got two Epictetus quotes and one Santa could quote to round it out.

“If you should ever turn your will to things outside your control in order to impress someone,”

be sure that you have wrecked your whole purpose in life. Be content then to be a philosopher in all that you do.

And if you wish also to be seen as one, show yourself first that you are and you will succeed.

That's Epictetus is in Korean in 23. In public, avoid talking often and excessively about your own accomplishments and dangers. For however much you enjoy recounting your dangers. It's not pleasant for others to hear about your affairs. Epictetus is in Korean in 33, 14.

How disgraceful is the lawyer who's dying breath passes well at court at an advanced age, pleading for unknown litigants and still seeking the approval of ignorant spectators, Santaca, on the brevity of life, 20. You know, I think about this, I have a little rule for me. When I'm working on a book, I don't talk about, you know,

tell people that I've finished, I don't tell people that I just finished chapter two. Early in my life, I kind of wanted that validation. And hey, I did it. Maybe media, maybe it's good for my brand. Now I see all that stuff as distraction, even social media.

I never really got the habit, but when I feel it peaking up, I break it immediately.

These are not platforms for me to fish for validation. I don't want to say, hey, look what I'm doing. And then people go, oh, you're so great. Oh, you're so awesome. And they're not saying they do that because I'm like, well, no, I'm saying like,

your friends do this. We want to congratulate each other. We want to encourage each other and I get that. But that's not why I want to be a writer. That's not why I want to do things.

As I say in the boy who would be king, all the things Marcus are really as did made him very popular. It's not why he did it. He did it because they're the right thing. So I try not to let social media. I try not to let the chase for validation or approval.

It's not a need. I really ever try to say it. I don't feed it because I feel like the more you feed it, the more it wants from you. I try to let my work do the talking about my work. That's not to say I don't believe in marketing.

I do brand is an important. I mean, I have the social media. I just try to have a healthy relationship with it, a healthy balance with it. So I'm using it. It is not using me.

You're the product that's being sold.

“They're exploiting your need for validation and attention, right?”

They know that you want to tell people what you're doing. And then you want to hear what people say about what you're doing. And then you want to respond to the people who aren't liking it enough. And then you want to check back and see how many comments it got or likes it got or whatever.

I didn't Instagram did people a public service when they turned off. Not everyone can see how many likes or views they're post got. I think that's great. As a public figure, they leave these tools and they are attempting. And so I don't even have it on my phone.

I don't want to touch it.

I never go to one of these sites and I feel better about myself as a person.

I just feel that that insatiable need has been encouraged a little bit. So let's say no to trying to impress other people. Let's not care what other people think. As Marcus really said, it's another quote we could have included in the entry. He says, you know, we care about ourselves more than other people.

You have for some reason we care about their opinions way too much.

“Now, folks on what you have to do, focus on you, focus on what you think, what you know”

is right, do things for that reason. If you get validation forward afterwards, wonderful, but that can't be why you do it. And if it is why you do it, it's going to break your heart and promise you. So say no to the desire to impress other people. Plus other people, man, they don't know.

They're wrong. 99% of the time. Anyway, focus on what you know, just do the right thing, the rest doesn't matter.