A great companion to The Daily Stoic. This journal features three prompts, guided by an insightful Stoic quote, for every day of the year. Take your study of Stoicism to the next level. The book covers quite a lot of ground, and those unfamiliar with the author will likely find much of what he covers here novel. There were players with more talent, with more personality, with more brilliance; but nobody outworked him, nobody cared more about conditioning, and nobody loved the game more.

The Stoics believed that, in the end, it’s not about what we do, it’s about who we are when we do it. They believed that anything you do well is noble, no matter how humble or impressive, as long as it’s the right thing. That greatness is up to you—it’s what you bring to everything you do. Remember, bad conditions cannot be fixed through negative responses; by doing so, they can be worse. So improve that little moment of patience before you react. While I have been disappointed in Holiday’s foray into politics and the amateur practicing of medicine during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, (by insisting that anyone who disagrees with him regarding vaccines is an idiot) his writing remains as solid as ever and seems to have matured. It is quite obvious that he has given himself to his craft and Discipline is Destiny reads accordingly.The book is really just for writers and other privileged people who do (as work) something they want to do. It isn’t for most of us that do a job to support our families and have bosses, it’s for those who are bosses. Ryan shows no awareness of how the world works - most of us work to live and don’t live to work. How about discipline for everyday life and happiness, not discipline to make you a ‘leader’? Constant contradictions, such as saying ‘oh you must sit until the task is done even if your eyes water and your legs go numb’ but also earlier discussed moderation and the importance of rest. Does Ryan even proof read? It all just reads like catchy sound bites - sounds good but no substance behind it.

Let’s understand this a little more thoroughly. We all have a lower and a higher self. That is, whatever we do, the voice comes from within. By doing good work, we feel good from the inside, and by doing wrong work, we start feeling bad. These inner voices constantly keep our focus on the purpose of life. It is a choice between a target and a targetless path. Self-discipline is keeping your lower self under control and strengthening your higher self. It includes working hard, practising good habits, facing challenges, and setting limits to keep everything in balance. Overall, these life principles are guided by principles, restraint and determination.

Quit being a slave. On an ordinary afternoon in 1949, the physicist Richard Feynman was going about his business when he felt a pull to have a drink. Not an intense craving by any means, but it was a disconcerting desire for alcohol. On the spot, Feynman gave up drinking right then and there. Nothing, he felt, should have that kind of power over him. At the core of the idea of self-mastery is an instinctive reaction against anything that masters us. We have to drop bad habits. We have to quit being a slave—to cigarettes or soda, to likes on social media, to work, or your lust for power. The body can’t be in charge. Neither can the habit. We have to be the boss. The whole time the crowd around was cheering and shouting. Imagine how much physical, mental, and spiritual engagement is needed to perform at the best level in stressful situations. An excellent example of this was the Roman Emperor Antoninus Aurelius. But the poverty, the poverty was always there. "No one who went to school with Lou," a classmate recalled, "can forget the cold winter days and Lou coming to school wearing [a] khaki shirt, khaki pants and heavy brown shoes, but no overcoat, nor any hat." He was a poor boy, a fate no one would choose, but it did shape him. While the streak started in earnest in June 1925, when Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp, a Yankees legend, in reality, his Herculean endurance could be seen at an early age. Born to German immigrants in New York in 1903, Gehrig was the only one of four children to survive infancy. He entered the world a whopping fourteen pounds, and his mother's German cooking seems to have plumped him up from there. It was the teasing of school kids that first hardened the determination of the young boy, sending him to his father's turnverein, a German gymnastics club where Gehrig began to develop the powerful lower body that later drove in so many runs. Not naturally coordinated, a boyhood friend once joked that Gehrig's body often "behaved as if it were drunk." The aim of Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control , is to teach you how to harness the powers of self-discipline. The Stoics believed that we are all born to fulfill a great destiny. And while not everyone’s destiny is the same, everyone’s destiny is achieved with self-discipline and self-control. Discipline is Destiny is a book that will help you fulfill yours.

he kept using Queen Elizabeth as an example of being virtuous and disciplined, which if you look deeply into the royal family's involvement with let's say questionable people including Jimmy Saville. I'll let you fill in the blanks. There are many small changes that you can make to your physical fitness so that you can win your health before winning the game of your life. 1. Do sweaty and tiring activities:He ruled the Romans for 23 years and never put himself or his family before his people. He never tried to avoid his duties; he only worked. That’s why even today, in Rome, he was considered a kind and brave king who kept the balance of an enormous empire. All that to say that I can’t more highly recommend this book and the practice of personal discipline to anyone seeking to make the very most of their life. As a rookie, Joe DiMaggio once asked Gehrig who he thought was going to pitch for the opposing team, hoping perhaps, to hear it was someone easy to hit. "Never worry about that, Joe," Gehrig explained. "Just remember they always save the best for the Yankees." And by extension, he expected every member of the Yankees to bring their best with them too. That was the deal: To whom much is given, much is expected. The obligation of a champion is to act like a champion . . . while working as hard as somebody with something to prove.

Most kids like to play sports. Lou Gehrig saw in the game a higher calling. Baseball was a profession that demanded control of, as well as care for, the body-since it was both the obstacle and the vehicle for success. Hustle. “There’s no excuse for a player not hustling,” Lou Gehrig would say. “I believe every player owes it to himself, his club and to the public to hustle every minute he is on the ball field.” I’m not just about running, exactly, but about maximum effort. In any and every situation. He talks a lot about how to be ‘great’ and the ambition to be ‘great’, and given that this book series is supposed to be about the Stoic virtues, this is not at all Stoic. Being ‘great’ is not something you have control over, nor is it something that actually creates a good life. Do normal people care about being ‘great’? No. We just want a good life. Most of us aren’t writers, athletes or politicians - we have bosses, normal jobs, people above us and do not have the luxury of deciding when to work or how to work. Ryan seems very out of touch with what a normal person is, he is too focused on his Silicon Valley type Stoicism to actually see what real Stoicism is. He believed everything is good in life, born from our hard work and practice and adopting these qualities. Ryan Holiday says that, through this, we can all work to improve discipline in our daily lives, and by mastering it, we can achieve peace of mind. Chapter 2: Self-discipline gives you freedom Many people are smart or talented but find it challenging to live a meaningful life. To avoid this situation and live a meaningful life, consider these tasks your daily priorities and complete them with focus.Be hard on yourself. “Take the cold bath bravely, ‘’ W.E.B Dubois wrote to his daughter. “ Make yourself do unpleasant things so as to gain the upper hand of your soul.” By being hard on ourselves, it makes it harder for others to be hard on us. By being our own tyrant, we take away the power of tyrants over us. Balance was one of the reasons why Antoninus became so successful. However, being self-disciplined alone only matters if it is balanced with kindness, compassion, and love. The journey of control is complex and challenging. There was some high-quality writing here, as well as some very valuable, actionable advice - for just about anyone; from the layperson, up to those in positions of power and influence. I'll likely give this one a second read at some point; if not a third... Still, Gehrig could have easily gone in a different direction. In the midst of an early career slump while playing in the minor leagues, Gehrig went out one night with some teammates and got so drunk that he was still boozed up at first pitch the next day. Somehow, he didn't just manage to play, but he played better than he had in months. He found, miraculously, that the nerves, the overthinking, had disappeared with a few nips from a bottle between innings. Be strict only with yourself. It was said that the true majesty of Marcus Aurelius was that his exactingness was directed only at himself. He found a way to work with flawed people, putting them to service for the good of the empire, searching them for virtues which he celebrated, accepting their vices, which he knew were not in his control. Tolerant with others, he reminded himself, strict with yourself.