In our last several +1s, we’ve been chatting about some Stoic wisdom from A.A. Long’s GREAT book on Epictetus’s wisdom called How to Be Free.
Today we’re going to wrap up our exploration of some of my favorite Big Ideas from his great little book.
Let’s get straight to work.
Professor Long quotes Epictetus who tells us: “Do you want to win at the Olympics? I do too, of course, because it’s a splendid thing. But examine the project from start to finish, and only go in for it after that. You must train, keep a strict diet, stay off pastries, submit to a regular exercise regime each day, summer or winter, drink no cold water and no wine except at appropriate times; in other words, you have to surrender yourself to the trainer just as you would to your doctor.”
Epictetus continues by saying: “When you have thought about this, go and compete if you still want to. But if you don’t think first, you will be acting like children who play at wrestling for a while, then at being gladiators, then trumpeters, and then stage performers. That’s what you are like too, now an athlete, next a gladiator, then an orator, now a philosopher but nothing in yourself as a whole. You are like a monkey mimicking whatever you see, as one thing after another takes your fancy. You haven’t pursued anything with due consideration or after thorough review; you mess about and don’t put your heart into things.”
That passage reminds me of George Leonard and some of his wisdom from HIS great book Mastery in which he talks about something very similar.
Leonard tells us: “We all aspire to mastery, but the path is always long and sometimes rocky, and it promises no quick payoff. So we look for other paths, each of which attracts a different person.”
The “other paths”?
Well, he tells us that we can be a dabbler (going from thing to thing to thing) or an obsessive (going way too perfectionistic-ly hard and burning ourselves out) or a hacker (being content to perform at a mediocre level).
The MASTER knows the price she’ll need to pay, decides to pay it, and then gets to gritty work.
WOOP and the science of making our dreams a reality comes to mind as well.
(Note: Check out this +1 on WOOP! There It Is and our Notes on Gabriele Oettingen’s Rethinking Positive Thinking for more. Seriously. Check those out. They’re some of my all-time favorite go-to wisdom gems on the subject!)
Know this…
When we get clear on what we want and have the discipline to rub that ideal vision up against reality before we get going, we can make an honest appraisal of whether or not we’re willing to pay the price. If not, all good. Just set a new, more realistic target.
That’s Today’s +1.
What do you want?
What price will you need to pay?
Get clear.
And get busy crushing it.
With a smile.
TODAY.
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