{"id":3281,"date":"2018-09-22T15:04:30","date_gmt":"2018-09-22T15:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/?p=3281"},"modified":"2018-09-27T20:38:02","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T20:38:02","slug":"stop-wasting-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/stop-wasting-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Wasting Time. 50 Reminders From One of History\u2019s Most Powerful Figures"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an inconsistency that sneaks into our relationship with time. There never seems to be enough of it in the day. We\u2019ll get to it later, we say. Maybe we say yes to too many things, maybe there\u2019s comfort in pushing things to later, or maybe we\u2019re just unaware that our priorities are misplaced. The Stoics<\/a> talk about deciding what\u2019s essential. They all do. Marcus Aurelius<\/a> is relentless about it though.<\/p>\n

Not born into the royal lineage, Marcus Aurelius was chosen for the throne. At a time when Rome was dealing with horrible plagues and foreign attacks, Marcus likely\u00a0would have rathered the time to pursue his intellectual interests in subjects like Greek and Latin, but mostly, Stoicism<\/a>. Still, he became Rome\u2019s greatest leader.<\/p>\n

Every night, Marcus Aurelius sat down to write. He decompressed, reviewed the day and decided how he could improve. Those writings survive to us today published as Meditations<\/a>. He wrote incessantly about brevity, living presently, and identifying then removing nonessentials\u2014reminders to live a good and full life.<\/p>\n

We waste time, we busy ourselves, we prioritize trivialities. Marcus Aurelius weighed every sentence he spoke and every action he took with a question: \u201cis this necessary?\u201d When the answer to that question is exclusively, \u201cyes,\u201d you will have enough time in the day.<\/p>\n

Below are 50 quotes from Meditations<\/a>. They\u2019re all reminders, originally to self, but now to us to make the most of this life, to expend time on only what is essential, to stop wasting time.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cHuman life. Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying. Soul: spinning around. Fortune: unpredictable. Fortune: unpredictable. Lasting Fame: uncertain. Sum up: The body and its parts are a river, the soul a dream and mist, life is warfare and a journey far from home, lasting reputation is oblivion.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cIf you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life?\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cSome things are rushing into existence, others out of it. Some of what now exists is already gone. Change and flux constantly remake the world, just as the incessant progression of time remakes eternity. We find ourselves in a river. Which of the things around us should we value when none of them can offer a firm foothold?\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cLike an attachment to a sparrow: we glimpse it and it\u2019s gone. And life itself: like the decoction of blood, the drawing in of air. We expel the power of breathing we drew in at birth (just yesterday or the day before), breathing it out like the air we exhale at each moment.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cTime is a river, a violent current of events, glimpsed once and already carried past us, and another follows and is gone.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cConcentrate every minute like a Roman\u2013like a man\u2013on doing what\u2019s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cSuppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow \u201cor the day after.\u201d Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn\u2019t kick up a fuss about which day it was\u2013what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cIn short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash. To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it up without complaint. Like an olive that ripens and falls. Praising its mother, thanking the tree it grew on.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cOur lifetime is so brief. And to live it out in these circumstances, among these people, in this body? Nothing to get excited about. Consider the abyss of time past, the infinite future. Three days of life or three generations: what\u2019s the difference?\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] “As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cIf you seek tranquility, do less. Or (more accurately) do what\u2019s essential\u2013what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better. Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you\u2019ll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, \u2018Is this necessary?\u2019\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cAlexander the Great and his mule driver both died and the same thing happened to both. They were absorbed alike into the life force of the world, or dissolved alike into atoms.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “Don’t behave as if you are destined to live forever. What’s fated hangs over you. As long as you live and while you can, become good now.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cDon\u2019t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people\u2013unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cConsider the lives led once by others, long ago, the lives to be led by others after you, the lives led even now, in foreign lands. How many people don\u2019t even know your name. How many will soon have forgotten it. How many offer you praise now\u2013and tomorrow, perhaps, contempt. That to be remembered is worthless. Like fame. Like everything.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cAll that you see will soon have vanished, and those who see it vanish themselves, and the ones who reached old age have no advantage over the untimely dead.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cStop wandering about! You aren’t likely to read your own notebooks, or ancient histories, or the anthologies you’ve collected to enjoy in your old age. Get busy with life’s purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue-if you care for yourself at all-and do it while you can.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “In your actions, don’t procrastinate. In your conversations, don’t confuse. In your thoughts, don’t wander. In your soul, don’t be passive or aggressive. In your life, don’t be all about business.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up, if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “Let each thing you would do, say or intend be like that of a dying person.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present\u201athoughtfully, justly.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cThat the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cRemember how long you\u2019ve been putting this off\u2026that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don\u2019t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cRemember: Matter \u2013 How tiny your share of it. Time \u2013 how brief and fleeting your allotment of it. Fate \u2013 How small a role you play in it.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cKeep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone\u2013those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the \u201cwhat\u201d is in constant flux, the \u201cwhy\u201d has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what\u2019s right here.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cThe infinity of past and future gapes before us\u2013a chasm whose depths we cannot see. So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress. Or indignation, either. As if the things that irritate us lasted.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cDoing nothing randomly or dishonestly and with imposture, not dependent on anyone else\u2019s doing something or not doing it. And making sure that it accepts what happens and what it is dealt.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cThink of the whole universe of matter and how small your share. Think about the expanse of time and how brief \u2014 almost momentary \u2014 the part marked for you. Think of the workings of fate and how infinitesimal your role.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what\u2019s left and live it properly.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cAt dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work \u2014 as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for \u2014 the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?’<\/p>\n

\u2014 But it’s nicer in here…<\/p>\n

So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?<\/p>\n

\u2014 But we have to sleep sometime …<\/p>\n

Agreed. But nature set a limit on that \u2014 as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] “Perfection of character: to live your last day, every day, without frenzy, or sloth, or pretense.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cDon\u2019t let anything deter you\u2026If it isn\u2019t ceasing to live that you\u2019re afraid of, but never beginning to live properly\u2026then you\u2019ll be worthy of the world that made you.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cConcentrate on what can be lived (which means the present)\u2026then you can spend the time you have left in tranquility. And in kindness. And at peace with the spirit within you.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “Were you to live three thousand years, or even a countless multiple of that, keep in mind that no one ever loses a life other than the one they are living, and no one ever lives a life other than the one they are losing.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “A key point to bear in mind: The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You\u2019re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cMake time for yourself…stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cPeople who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time \u2013 even when hard at work.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] “You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.” Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cRemember how brief is the attentiveness required. And then our lives will end\u2026None of us is forbidden to pursue our own good\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cWhen you lose your temper, or even feel irritated: that human life is very short. Before long all of us will be laid side by side.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cThe fraction of infinity, of that vast abyss of time, allotted to each of us. Absorbed in an instant into eternity. The fraction of all substance, and all spirit. The fraction of the whole earth you crawl about on. Keep all that in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cConstantly run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever. And ask: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend\u2026or not even a legend\u2026And how trivial the things we want so passionately are.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cThat if you were suddenly lifted up and could see life and its variety from a vast height, and at the same time all the things around you, in the sky and beyond it, you\u2019d see how pointless it is. And no matter how often you saw it, it would be the same life forms, the same life span.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cPeople who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, gutters and goes out.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cBut look at how soon we\u2019re all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it. The emptiness of all those applauding hands. The people who praise us\u2013how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region in which it all takes place\u2026How many people there will be to admire you, and who they are.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cAbove all, no strain and no stress. Be straightforward. Look at things like a man, like a human being, like a citizen, like a mortal\u2026That everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cStop drifting\u2026Sprint to the finish. Write off your hopes, and if your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cEveryone gets one life. Yours is almost used up, and instead of treating yourself with respect, you have entrusted your own happiness to the souls of others.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cYou could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.\u201d Marcus Aurelius<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an inconsistency that sneaks into our relationship with time. There never seems to be enough of it in the day. We\u2019ll get to it later, we say. Maybe we say yes to too many things, maybe there\u2019s comfort in pushing things to later, or maybe we\u2019re just unaware that our priorities are misplaced. 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