BONUS | A Selfish Reason To Be Good

Ryan Holiday (0:00)

Welcome to The Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice and wisdom into the real world. October 7th, a selfish reason to be good.

SPEAKER_2 (0:21)

The person who does wrong, does wrong to themselves. The unjust person is unjust to themselves, making themselves evil.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9, Verse 4

SPEAKER_3 (0:42)

Wouldn't any person be happy to curb any impulse to anger as soon as they realize that it unleashes harm in the first place to themselves? Seneca, on Anger, Book 3, Chapter 4, Verse 4

Ryan Holiday (0:57)

The next time you do something wrong, try to remember how it made you feel. Rarely does one say, I feel great. There is a reason that there's often vomit at crime scenes. Instead of the catharsis the person thought they'd feel when they let themselves get out of control or when they got their revenge, they ended up making themselves sick. We feel aversion of this when we lie, when we cheat, when we screw someone over. So in that split second before your ill gotten gains kick in, ask, how do I feel about myself? Is that moment when fear rises in your throat because you suspect you may get caught really worth it?

Self-awareness and wrongdoing rarely go together. If you need a selfish reason not to do wrong, put yourself in touch with these feelings. They are a powerful deterrent. This is an entry from The Daily Stoic 10th anniversary edition, which is out now has been updated and informed by a decade of writing and reading about the Stoics. More than 60 new translations. It's got new meditations, new stories and expanded glossary. A bunch of awesome stuff. I think you'll really like it. You can grab all that at dailystoic.com/ds10.

I'll link to that in today's show notes. Thanks to everyone who supported the book over the years. Daily stoic.com/ds10.