Problems become opportunities.
Me miserable! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell. – JOHN MILTON.
You don’t have to do the right thing, just as you don’t have to do your duty. You get to. You want to.
Franklin saw the constant benefit in making other people look good and letting them take credit for your ideas.
Of all the things that are, some are good, others bad, and yet others indifferent. The good are virtues and all that share in them; the bad are the vices and all that indulge them; the indifferent lie in between virtue and vice and include wealth, health, life, death, pleasure, and pain.” – EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.19.12b–13.
I have the power within me to keep that out. I can see the truth.
We’re all full of anxieties, doubts, impotence, pains, and sometimes a little tinge of crazy.
Perspective has two definitions. Context: a sense of the larger picture of the world, not just what is immediately in front of us Framing: an individual’s unique way of looking at the world, a way that interprets its events Both matter, both can be effectively injected to change a situation that previously seemed intimidating or impossible.
Was he angry about what happened? Of course. He was furious. But understanding that anger was not constructive, he refused to rage. He refused to break or grovel or despair.
When people are: – rude or disrespectful: They underestimate us. A huge advantage. – conniving: We won’t have to apologize when we make an example out of them. – critical or question our abilities: Lower expectations are easier to exceed. – lazy: Makes whatever we accomplish seem all the more admirable.
In a world where we increasingly work for ourselves, are responsible for ourselves, it makes sense to view ourselves like a start-up – a start-up of one.
We will be and do many things in our lives. Some are prestigious, some are onerous, none are beneath us. To whatever we face, our job is to respond with: hard work honesty helping others as best we can You should never have to ask yourself, But what am I supposed to do now? Because you know the answer: your job.
Whenever you want to talk about people, it’s best to take a bird’s-eye view and see everything all at once –.
The next time you are afraid of some supposedly disastrous outcome, remember that if you don’t control your impulses, if you lose your self-control, you may be the very source of the disaster you so fear. It has happened to smarter and more powerful and more successful people. It can happen to us.
Do you then ponder how the supreme of human evils, the surest mark of the base and cowardly, is not death, but the fear of death? I urge you to discipline yourself against such fear, direct all your thinking, exercises, and reading this way – and you will know the only path to human freedom.
In our own lives, how many problems seem to come from applying judgments to things we don’t control, as though there were a way they were supposed to be? How often do we see what we think is there or should be there, instead of what actually is there?
All great victories, be they in politics, business, art, or seduction, involved resolving vexing problems with a potent cocktail of creativity, focus, and daring.
Keep in mind that it isn’t the one who has it in for you and takes a swipe that harms you, but rather the harm comes from your own belief about the abuse. So when someone arouses your anger, know that it’s really your own opinion fueling it. Instead, make it your first response not to be carried away by such impressions, for with time and distance self-mastery is more easily achieved.” – EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 20.
By seeing each day and each situation as a kind of training exercise, the stakes suddenly become a lot lower. The way you interpret your own mistakes and the mistakes of others is suddenly a lot more generous.
Say little, do much.