Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities for Growth

Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. Which of these are you? He had every reason to feel threatened. He had every reason to think of his own interests first . He had every reason not to care so much about this kid that he'd been stuck with. But we know that Antoninus didn't see Marcus Aurelius that way. Instead, he took the role that Hadrian had given him, which was to prepare the next generation of leadership. And he took it seriously . He mentored Marcus. He taught Marcus, he loved Marcus as if he was his son. Again, he could have intrigued against him, he could have undermined him. We could have tried to replace him with someone he was related to. Instead, Antoninus was generous and patient and selfless. And he helped Marcus suc ceed . What about you? Are you going to be that kind of leader or are you going to give in to insecurity and selfishness and closed mindedness? We all face some version of this choice. Are we going to be an enemy or an encoura ger? Will we help or hinder? Will we support or stab in the back? Will we open doors or close them? And in the end, our legacy will be defined by this choice, as will our character . True leaders create other leaders. Great people bring out greatness in others. They take their responsibilities seriously and selflessly. It all comes down to hiring. You got to find the right people for your team and you got to bring them on board and you gotta onboard them quickly. You know, just throwing up a job post in and hoping you get lucky . I've just found well, you don't get lucky enough . If you want to find quality hires, well you should check out indeed right now. People are finding quality hires on indeed right now. In just the thirty or so seconds we've already been talking, people have made dozens of hires on indeed, according to Indeed Data, worldwide. 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And that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo Q O, that's how it's spelled. The Business Communication Systems so you never miss a call. uQot ise the number one rated business phone system on G two with over three thousand reviews built for how modern teams work. More than ninety thousand businesses, solo operators, growing teams all use it. It's not just a phone system, it's a smart one. AI automatically logs the calls, summarizes them, flags next step so nothing falls through the cracks. You can even qualify leads or respond after hours so the business stays on even when you're off. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free plus twenty percent off your first six months when you go to quote dot com slash daily stoic Q O dot com slash daily stoic What's in your way is the way Obstacles are a fact of life . Even the most powerful and lucky of us are not exempt from this reality, but we have a super power at our hands through Stoic philosophy in that our purposes, our intentions, our attitudes can adapt to any conditions to find a way forward. The Stoics talk about acting with a reserve clause that allows us to reconsider and set a new course of action if needed. And Marcus Aurelius tells us that any obstacle can actually become raw material for a new purpose. So that's what you should think about today and this week how might the obstacles you're facing reveal a new path ? And this is from the Daily Stoic Journal, three hundred sixty six Days of Writing and Reflection on the Art of living every week, we have a sort of a daily meditation. And we've got three quotes from Marcus Aurelius along these lines today . While it's true that someone can impede our actions, they can't impede our intentions or our attitudes , which have the power of being conditional and adaptable, for the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its actions into a means of achieving it , and that which is the obstacle to action is turned to advance act ion. The obstacle on the path becomes the way. That's Meditations five hundred and twenty . Marcus also says in eight hundred and thirty five, just as nature turns to its own purpose any obstacle or any opposition sets its place in the destin order and co ops it so every rational person can convert any obstacle into the raw material for their own purpose . And then Meditations eight thirty two , so clearly he thinks about this a lot. He says you must build up your life action by action and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible , and no one can keep you from this. But there will be some external obstacle, perhaps, he says, but no obstacle to acting with justice, self control, and wisdom. But what if some area of my action is thwarted? Well gladly accept the obstacle for what it is and shift your attention to what is given, and another action will immediately take its place one that better fits the life you are building . As you know, this is what I built the obstacles the way around these ideas . But let me read you Gregory H ay'es transl ation in that same line five hundred and twenty because it's obviously been so instrumental to me. And I think Hayes does it quite well also . He says and it's interesting he's clearly referring Mar not to a specific kind of obstacle , difficult people . In a sense, people are our proper occupation. This is Meditations five hundred and twenty . Our job is to do them good and put up with them . But when they obstruct our proper tasks, they become irrelevant to us, like the sun, wind, or animals . Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or our dispositions because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting, and the impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way , becomes the way . Let's look at the Robin Waterfield translation of the same line Here's five hundred and twenty . From one point of view, nothing is more property to me than a human being. In so asf itar's my job to do people good and tolerate them. But insofar as some people threaten my proper work, I count a human being as just another indifferent, no less than the sun or the wind or a wild animal. These things may impede some of my activities but they can',t impede my impulses or my state of mind