📖 Current Read; 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living — Ryan Holiday
When Good Men Do Nothing
The Daily Stoic Meditation for July 26 outlines that doing nothing is just as harmful as misdirected action!
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash
“Often injustice lies in what you aren’t doing, not only in what you are doing.”
— MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.5
Inaction
Injustice lies in inaction.
Injustice lies in the things you are not doing.
Injustice lies in procrastinating on tasks you know you should do.
Injustice lies in not offering a helping hand, or encouraging others to smile.
Injustice lies in any form of inaction.
Inaction is simply a lack of action — in other words, doing nothing beneficial that will encourage progress.
Inaction is the opposite of progress and can hold you back greatly!
Inaction is just as bad as misdirected action.
Risks Of Inaction
There’s great risks of inaction that many are aware about, yet choose to ignore.
- Stagnancy
- Losing friends
- Being fired
- Bad exam results
- Falling into a rut
- Lack of progress
The greatest risk of inaction is lack of progress, resulting in stagnancy.
If you do not take action, you will not make progress.
There is no other way around this.
Inaction As Procrastination
Many people use inaction, or some way of delayed action, as a form of procrastination.
Many often put of certain activities, saying that they’ll ‘do it later’ or ‘get someone else to do it’.
This is harmful inaction.
Chances are unlikely that they will do the activity later.
—
You cannot use inaction as procrastination.
You need to shift your mindset!
Prioritise a bias for good action.
Bias For Good Action
You need a bias for good action.
You need something that is going to provoke you to work even on the worst days, when that’s the last thing you want to do.
It is important to note that this bias is for good action, not just any action.
As Aurelius outlines, even if you are taking action, it may not always be entirely beneficial.
Often, people misdirect their action and end up wasting a great deal of time.
—
You need to prioritise good action.
You need to have a bias for the type of action that will get the needle moving and provoke great progress!
Idea of the Week. 💭
Forget The Need For Accomplishments
A short piece on how status, rank, money and accomplishments are futile.
The Need For Accomplishments
People, especially those with great power, have a need for endless accomplishments.
They want to flash their rank or position, and let everyone know how powerful they are.
Why?
There’s a great deal of reasons why people show off their rank;
- Superiority complex
- To please others
- Need for power
- Need for recognition
It often stems from the need to feel more powerful than everyone else.
It’s All Pointless
However, flashing your rank and showing off your achievements is all pointless.
On your tombstone, it doesn’t outline all your achievements.
And in life, it is rare that anybody wants to hear you drone on about everything you’ve done.
All the achievements are often bought at the expense of real joy.
Prioritising achievements, rank and money over true happiness is futile.
In the end, your achievements pale into the background and become entirely forgotten.
You Are A Human Being, Not A Human Doing
You must recognise that you are a human being, not a human doing.
You are not made to work and do.
You are made to simply be.
You are made to live, in peace and harmony.
Prioritise joy, love and peace over work, achievements and status.
Quote of the Week. 🗣
Cesar Millan on repetition.
Repetition creates the master.
To end, here’s a question from me! ⚡️
How can you celebrate yourself and everything good that you stand for?
Thanks for reading!
Until next week,
Sam. 😆
