{"id":8535,"date":"2020-05-04T18:58:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T22:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/?p=8535"},"modified":"2020-05-04T18:58:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T22:58:50","slug":"what-matters-is-what-you-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What Matters Is What You Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like all philosophies, there are plenty of theoretical debates inside Stoicism. The early Stoics argued about whether virtue was the sole good, whether pleasure was important, whether we had free will. Some debated various superstitions, and criticized each other\u2019s style and rhetorical abilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Epictetus?<\/span><\/a> He didn\u2019t have any time for that. He was more interested in <\/span>actions<\/span><\/i>, and how they had immediate and inescapable consequences. \u201cYou have only to doze for a moment, and all is lost. For ruin and salvation both have their source inside you,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t talk about your philosophy,\u201d he advised his students, \u201cEmbody it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of all, Epictetus was interested in the <\/span>right<\/span><\/i> actions. Just because someone was busy\u2014reading or living\u2014didn\u2019t mean they were doing well, he said. What mattered is <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> they were doing those things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Eschenroeder, a student of Stoicism and the author of <\/span>The Pocket Guide to Action<\/span><\/i><\/a>, has some thoughts on those distinctions worth thinking about this weekend. <\/span>As he told us in an interview a while back<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Action may be reacting to unimportant, incoming emails while right action would be focusing on a high priority item.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Action is eating whatever you want, right action is eating what you will want to have eaten in an hour from now.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Action is flailing around looking for the perfect system, right action is beginning to build.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Action is yelling about your political opinions, right action is focused on making change.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Action is telling people what to do, right action is focused on getting them to do it.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Action wants to be busy, right action wants to be effective.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

We must ask ourselves: Am I acting or am I just talking? Am I acting <\/span>rightly<\/span><\/i> or am I just acting out of habit or impulse? \u201cOur words and actions,\u201d <\/span>Marcus reminded himself<\/span><\/a>, \u201cshould not be like those of sleepers.\u201d Instead, we must be conscious. We must be awake. We must be deliberate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We must do what is right. <\/span><\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0<\/i>This was originally sent<\/i><\/span><\/a> on February 29, 2020. Sign up today for <\/i>the Daily Stoic\u2019s email<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0and get our popular\u00a0<\/i>free 7-day course on Stoicism.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like all philosophies, there are plenty of theoretical debates inside Stoicism. The early Stoics argued about whether virtue was the sole good, whether pleasure was important, whether we had free will. Some debated various superstitions, and criticized each other\u2019s style and rhetorical abilities.\u00a0 But Epictetus? He didn\u2019t have any time for that. He was more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Matters Is What You Do<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Matters Is What You Do\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like all philosophies, there are plenty of theoretical debates inside Stoicism. The early Stoics argued about whether virtue was the sole good, whether pleasure was important, whether we had free will. Some debated various superstitions, and criticized each other\u2019s style and rhetorical abilities.\u00a0 But Epictetus? He didn\u2019t have any time for that. He was more […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Stoic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/dailystoic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-04T22:58:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Marcus.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@dailystoic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@dailystoic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Holiday\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily Stoic\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/dailystoic\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/dailystoic\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/dailystoic\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dailystoic\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daily-stoic.png\",\"width\":351,\"height\":121,\"caption\":\"Daily Stoic\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/\",\"name\":\"Daily Stoic\",\"description\":\"Stoic Wisdom For Everyday Life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/\",\"name\":\"What Matters Is What You Do\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-04T22:58:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-04T22:58:50+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/62049dc1c11ca8e9b9d773a83783983f\"},\"headline\":\"What Matters Is What You Do\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-04T22:58:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-04T22:58:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/what-matters-is-what-you-do\/#webpage\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":\"Daily Stoic Emails\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/62049dc1c11ca8e9b9d773a83783983f\",\"name\":\"Ryan Holiday\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}