What A Wonderful Thing to Measure | Stoic Strategies for Becoming More Resilient

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. What a wonderful thing to measure. What makes for a successful life? How do we know whether we're doing it right, whether we're winning, whether we're achieving? For someone like Marcus Aurelius, the most powerful man in the world, there were countless metrics he could have chosen. Did he expand the empire? Did he produce a great work of literature, pass on his genes? Or more simply or more basically, did he enjoy himself? Did he experience pleasure? We know he didn't care much for any of these things, and there's an interesting passage late in book five that gives us a sense of how he measured his life. Consider all that you've gone through, all that you've survived, he writes, and that the story of your life is done, your assignment complete. What matters? He asks. What should he be proud of? It's not pleasure or achievement. That's for sure. Because he specifically congratulates himself for temptations that he resisted and honors that he turned down. Instead, he puts forward a different metric. How many unkind people have you been kind to? What a wonderful thing to measure. Life is full of jerks. It's full of people who put achievement and pleasure above everything else. Not only do we have to not do that, but we should pride ourselves on our patience and tolerance. We should pride ourselves on our ability to put up with these people, to be able to be nice to people who are not nice, to be able to turn the other cheek and not be made bitter or cynical. The world has enough of those folks, has enough unkindness. Let's not add to it. About to head over and pick my kids up from school, and after I do, I know what they're gonna ask. They're gonna go, hey. Can we go to Whole Foods? And I am going to say yes. One, because then, keeps them off their screens. But two, groceries are my responsibility in our household. And so, yeah, we usually swing by the Whole Foods headquarters, and, we get all our groceries for the week. My wife has, like, a bazillion dietary restrictions. Sometimes that can be tough, but not at Whole Foods. They got everything. Even for Valentine's Day, they got miles of chocolate dipped strawberries that I think we're gonna get. They got gluten free stuff. They got dairy free stuff. I got basically everything. And I usually pick her up flowers while I am there too. If you're looking for something for someone for Valentine's Day this year, Whole Foods has got bouquets and arrangements. They've got succulents. Sometimes I'll just bring home a plant. She always appreciates it. The point is you can taste love all month at Whole Foods, and maybe you'll see me there here at Austin. You know what …