“A good man will not waste himself upon mean and discreditable work or be busy merely for the sake of being busy. Neither will he, as you imagine, become so involved in ambitious schemes that he will have continually to endure their ebb and flow.” – Seneca

Today’s episode is a bite-sized morsel for your brain and for your life. This is an excerpt from my favorite writing of all-time. This letter is #22, “On the Futility of Half-way Measures.” As usual, Seneca takes a little time in his preamble to get warmed up. That is his style. He seems to enjoy feeling out the recipient of his letter before jumping into the details.

I love this letter because it addresses how we spend our time, which is one of the biggest stresses for all people, and especially entrepreneurs.

My favorite portion is:

“Hence men leave such advantages as these with reluctance.”

I encourage you to listen to this and think of ways that you can adapt Seneca’s wisdom to your own life. Enjoy!

#147: How to Avoid the Busy Trap (And Other Misuses of Your Time) https://rss.art19.com/episodes/b6b42885-b8c0-4f0c-8b7d-d17670d63ab0.mp3 Download

Listen to it on iTunes.

Stream by clicking here.

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Want to hear another segment from The Tao of Seneca? — Listen to How to Achieve Self-Ownership. In this episode, I dig deeper into how we think of gain and loss and how to be a good person (stream below or right-click here to download):

#142: How to Achieve Self-Ownership https://rss.art19.com/episodes/47bcb7e9-5963-4b65-bfd4-2af6770daec7.mp3 Download

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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: How did this episode help you reconsider your current use of time and energy? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Show Notes

Start of Letter 22 – On the Futility of Half-Way Measures [5:28]

We must withdraw from showy, depraved pursuits [5:34]

Do not hamper yourself, be content with your current business [7:43]

A motto for Stoicism [9:33]

Eluding the slavery of bickering [11:33]

Finding a way out of the trappings of wealth [12:42]

Final words on living nobly [13:22]

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The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 500 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.