Insights
“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, Mediations, 8.51
“If an American is to amount to anything he must rely upon himself, and not upon the State; he must take pride in his own work, instead of sitting idle to envy the luck of others. He must face life with resolute courage, win victory if he can, and accept defeat if he must, without seeking to place his fellow man a responsibility which is not theirs.” -Theodore Roosevelt
“But what does Socrates say? ‘Just as one person delights in improving his farm, and another his horse, so I delight in attending to my own improvement day by day.’” – Epictetus, Discourses, 3.5.14
What I Learned This Week
Creatine is all the rage these days. But not natural creatine which can be found in red meat, poultry and fish. The most basic building blocks of creatine include three amino acids, arginine, glycine, and methionine. Unlike collagen, creatine supplements are synthetically produced through an industrial process. The reactants used to produce the supplement are sarcosine and cyanamide.
The two ingredients are heated, combined in water to form crystals. The crystals are filtered, washed, dried, and ground into a fine powder known as creatine monohydrate. While the benefits of creatine are well researched and vast, what are the side effects of taking a synthetic compound for decades? Not sure. Think in decades and act in days. My Greek ancestors and many others throughout ancient history before us managed to fight old age and muscle loss with some hard work and consistent training. Not sure if the trade offs are worth taking synthetic compounds over a long period of time. Farm raised steak and eggs sound like a solid alternative.
Leading…yourself
As a young man, George Washington exhibited a quiet discipline centered around self control. At the age of 14, he wrote down his “Rules of Civility” which served as his guide to self mastery. Even today, it is a useful handbook of aphorisms and advice on how to live a good life.
We often think about leadership in terms of organizations, teams, militaries, governments. But what if a good life and good leadership started from individuals learning how to live better. As a leader in the Continental Army, Washington knew that in-fighting among the Americans would serve as an unnecessary hurdle to overcome the British. United we stand, divided we fall applies to life then and now.
“Unless we can return a little more to first principles, & act a little more upon patriotic ground, I do not know when it will [end] – or- what may be the issue of the contest” – George Washington, March 1779
Centuries later, Theodore Roosevelt codified his philosophy into what he called, The Strenuous Life. He believed that you are personally responsible for making yourself physically, mentally, and morally strong. He took that philosophy to the White House, taking breaks from work to box, wrestle, and physically train. How many world leaders are training in martial combat? Not nearly enough.
“The success of republics like yours and like ours means the glory, and our failure the despair, of mankind; and for you and for us the question of the quality of the individual citizen is supreme. Under other forms of government, under the rule of one man or very few men, the quality of the leaders is all-important. If, under such governments, the quality of the rulers is high enough, then the nations for generations lead a brilliant career, and add substantially to the sum of world achievement, no matter how low the quality of the average citizen; because the average citizen is an almost negligible quantity in working out the final results of that type of national greatness. But with you and us the case is different. With you here, and with us in my own home, in the long run, success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average woman, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional cries which call for heroic virtues. The average citizen must be a good citizen if our republics are to succeed. The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation. Therefore it behooves us to do our best to see that the standard of the average citizen is kept high; and the average cannot be kept high unless the standard of the leaders is very much higher.” – Theodore Roosevelt, on citizenship in a Republic
To be a good citizen—a good leader, a good father, and a good man—is not a default state but an active choice that requires consistent, strenuous effort and self-discipline.
To be anything good requires action. It requires work. It requires discipline. It requires progress. It requires getting up when you get knocked down. It requires restarting when you stall. It requires an unrelenting effort to get better no matter what is happening around you.
Too much theatre and entertainment today is passed off as advice and knowledge. Information is abundant. Wisdom is scarce.
Men and women of action are hard to find. Too few are out in the arena getting after it and doing work. Remember the next time you hear “advice.” Is it from someone that has been “in the arena” and willing to share their experience? Regardless, it is likely more productive to focus on you and what you can control.
What example are you setting for your kids? For your friends? For your co-workers?
Reflections
What if you believed in yourself, in your path, in your purpose? What kind of life would you lead?
The Real Con 132