Journal // 22nd May 2024

May 22

On this day I…

I came across these two quotes today;

“You get what you deserve. Instead of Being a good person today, you choose instead to become one tomorrow.” - Marcus Aurelius. Meditations 8.22.
“I don’t complain about the lack of time… what little I have will go far enough. Today—this day—will achieve what no tomorrow will fail to speak about. I will lay siege to the gods and shake up the world.” - Seneca, Medea, 423-425.

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be, be one.”

Make two lists. If you’re a man, you’ll be used to this kind of exercise, if you’re a woman, ask a man. If you’re something else (I mean this is 2024 and we have about a bazillion genders), ask a man.

List One: A list of the kind of Man you want to be. Keep it simple, this isn’t an essay. List ten traits that you want to cultivate. You can use other people real or fictional if you like to create this list.

List Two: A list of the traits you don’t want, either you have them already or see them in those around you, friends or family. Traits that you wish to avoid.

I try to base my List One traits around the four Stoic values, Courage, Temperance, Justice and Wisdom. Yes, it sounds corny but it works. For me anyway.

Once you have the first list, try to create habits that will help you cultivate them.

List two traits that could frankly just be bad habits. I used to drink a lot and wanted to stop. I tried many ways of trying to regulate my intake, but in the end, I just had to stop altogether. That story is in a few previous posts, check out ADDICT.

The idea here is to break bad habits and replace them with good ones.

Grow the good, break the bad.