YOU CAN DO IT

“If you find something very dificult to achieve yourself, don’t imagine it impossible—foranything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.19

There are two kinds of people in this world. The first looks at others who have accomplished thingsand thinks: Why them? Why not me? The other looks at those same people and thinks: If they can doit, why can’t I?One is zero-sum and jealous (if you win, I lose). The other is non-zero-sum (there’s plenty to goaround) and sees the success of others as an inspiration.

Which atitude will propel you onward and upward? Which will drive you to biterness and despair?Who will you be?

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Be very careful who you let onto your ship.

Many men will try to sink it if they can’t be the captain.

Tate

JUST DON’T MAKE THINGS WORSE“

How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances thataroused them in us!”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 11.18.8

The first rule of holes, goes the adage, is that “if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” This might be the most violated piece of common sense wisdom in the world. Because what most of us do when something happens, goes wrong, or is inflicted on us is make it worse—first, by getting angry or feeling aggrieved, and next, by flailing around before we have much in the way of a plan.

Today, give yourself the most simple and doable of tasks: just don’t make stuff worse. Whatever happens, don’t add angry or negative emotions to the equation. Don’t react for the sake of reacting. Leave it as it is. Stop digging. Then plan your way out.

Shabbat shalom

Happy Ethiopian Soldiers day y'all

A TRAINED MIND IS BETTER THAN ANYSCRIPT

“In this way you must understand how laughable it is to say, ‘Tell me what to do!’ What advicecould I possibly give? No, a far beter request is, ‘Train my mind to adapt to anycircumstance.’ . . . In this way, if circumstances take you off noscript . . . you won’t be desperatefor a new prompting.”—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.2.20b–1; 24b–25

It would be nice if someone could show us exactly what to do in every situation. Indeed, this is what we spend a good portion of our lives doing: preparing for this, studying for that. Saving for or anticipating some arbitrary point in the future. But plans, as the boxer Mike Tyson pointed out, last only until you’re punched in the face. Stoics do not seek to have the answer for every question or a plan for every contingency. Yet they’re also not worried. Why? Because they have confidence that they’ll be able to adapt and change with the circumstances. Instead of looking for instruction, they cultivate skills such as creativity, independence, self-confidence, ingenuity, and the ability to problem-solve.

In this way, they are resilient instead of rigid. We can practice the same. Today, we will focus on the strategic rather than the tactical.

We’ll remind ourselves that it’s better to be taught than simply given, and better to be flexible than stick to a noscript.

75 Day challenge is still going.

Go to gym
Never skip a day. Even one day.

Well I just finished workout but I gotta meeting I need to attend to. (For the whole night)

Done

LIFE IS A BATTLE FIELD
“Don’t you know life is like a military campaign? One must serve on watch, another inreconaissance, another on the front line. . . . So it is for us—each person’s life is a kind ofbatle, and a long and varied one too. You must keep watch like a soldier and do everythingcomanded. . . . You have been stationed in a key post, not some lowly place, and not for ashort time but for life.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.24.31–36

The writer Robert Greene often uses the phrase “As in war, so in life.” It’s an aphorism worth keepingclose, because our life is a batle both literally and figuratively. As a species, we fight to survive ona planet indiferent to our survival. As individuals, we fight to survive among a species whose populationnumbers in the billions. Even inside our own bodies, diverse bacteria batle it out. Vivere est militare.(To live is to fight.)

Today, you’ll be fighting for your goal, fighting against impulses, fighting to be the person you want tobe. So what are the atributes necessary to win these many wars:

Discipline
Fortitude
Courage
Clearheadedness
Selflessness
Sacrifice
And which atributes lose wars?
Cowardice
Rashness
Disorganization
Overconfidence
Weakness
Selfishness
As in war, so these atributes mater in daily life.

I gotta say I love being Stoic.

I'm having a difficult time completing one project I'm working on.
The solution no matter what, I need to give it more time. So, as the plan of the 75-day challenge, no sleep tonight. Need to finish it early.

Truth be told tele is my challenge. I mean the connection is so poor. Am in Bole right now but the connection men.
I wonder what would it be in KFC(Koye).😁😁

TRY THE OTHER HANDLE
“Every event has two handles—one by which it can be carried, and one by which it can’t. If your brother does you wrong, don’t grab it by his wronging, because this is the handle incapable of lifting it. Instead, use the other—that he is your brother, that you were raised together, and then you will have hold of the handle that carries.”
—EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 43