The Importance of Persistence in Self-Mastery

Marcus Aurelius advises to persist in practicing what seems unattainable, valuing the effort over the outcome.

### Never Despair of True Goods: A Lesson from Marcus Aurelius
* 🏛 ️ Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius emphasized the importance of **persisting in endeavors**, even when they seem **challenging or unattainable**.
* 🌱 He used the example of practicing with his non-dominant hand to control a horse's bridle, showing that **consistent effort can lead to unexpected mastery**.
* ⏳ Time should not be a factor in pursuing good work, as the outcomes are often **beyond our control**.
* 📚 Learning a language was cited as an example of how external pressures (e.g., exams, deadlines) can **detract from the intrinsic value** of the task.
* 🌿 The speaker warns against "**quiet desperation**," where individuals accept defeat in their personal growth efforts.
* 🏆 It is essential to maintain an **upward trajectory of self-improvement**, even if there are **occasional setbacks**.
* 📖 The importance of reading **life-changing books** was highlighted, with a free newsletter offering **monthly recommendations**.
* 🌟 The ultimate message is to **persevere in pursuing virtues and self-improvement**, regardless of external pressures or past failures.

our friend, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, said, Practice even that which you have despised of mastering. And these are maybe not immediately noticeable, but really, it's second or third thought, especially very powerful words. And he gives the example of his left hand, presumably he was right-handed, his left hand being much better at using the bridal of the horse, which is how you control the horse, because the left hand, even though it was not his dominant hand, is more practiced in it. That's why he was better at it with his left hand than with his dominant hand. And of course, this is just to say that one should never ever give up on something that was good to do in the first place. Oftentimes, we set these arbitrary goals or deadlines or the self-inflicted pressure on ourselves that we, yes, it would be good for us to do something, and it's the right thing to do, but additionally, also, it needs to be done by this time so that this person can see it, that someone else might be impressed or

It might be some sort of thing that would be good as a qualification for some job or some skill or whatever, but what's important to know is, and what I generally want you to know, that since I've been thinking about it, I've been seeing it everywhere in the world and in everything that I do, and I've been living according to this, is that time does not factor into good work. And what I mean by that is, let those scales fall from your eyes, those scales that let you not see that the labor is worth doing for its own sake and not for its fruits. And I'm not even saying just for its fruits, no, I don't think we should be, and this is of course not just me, this is a message and advice and wisdom that you see in all the greatest religions and schools of thought and philosophers in the world and throughout history, is that anything that should be done should be done for its own sake and not expecting something, literally the fruits of those actions, because why? The fruits are not

In our control, a farmer can put the seeds in the ground, and they can feed that, do everything it needs for it to grow, and then literally on the day of harvest, when they've come up perfectly, and it's just the exact time to harvest it, a hail storm can come, all kinds of things, a disease can take it out beforehand, it can be too cold that year, too hot that year. Now, does that mean that the farmer did anything wrong? Was there anything wrong with their intention? Was there anything wrong with their action? Was there anything wrong even in doing everything possible to ensure the success of the crops that year? There was nothing wrong with it. Yet, if this farmer was doing the work for the fruits, for literally what he or she was planting and looking to harvest, then they would be disappointed, and they would count it as a failure. However, if they did it for the act itself, because it was the good thing to do, because it was the right thing to do, and they devoted themselves and their intentions and

their thoughts and their entire being to it, everything that they are in control of, then they've still achieved their end because their end was the act itself, the labor itself, and not the fruits. But what we do is we despair, we give up on things, but again, we give up on them for the wrong reasons. We give up on them because we had, again, this arbitrary goal, either in time or intensity, some sort of measure, some sort of goal that we had to meet at a certain time, in a certain way, and which is, of course, self-imposed or even imposed by the world. But if it was the right thing to do, then it's still the right thing to do, even though the deadline has passed, even though the person that was supposed to be impressed by it was not impressed by it, even though it didn't get us the fruits. The labor is still correct, it's still right, it's still worthy. So why stop? And that's exactly what Marcus Aurelius is saying, is practice even what you have.

despaired of mastering. Look at all those people who, I mean, learning a language is a great example, which is a small example but makes the point of much bigger things. Of course, we're not literally talking about crops and fruits and all that, but look how difficult it can be to learn a language if we're doing it in some sort of academic or career sort of way with those intentions because we're looking for some sort of certification or some sort of thing to add to our CV or there's an exam coming up. We not only need to learn the language, we need to learn it in a certain time, and we need to show that we know these things in a certain way on a very specific day. And how terrible all of a sudden such a beautiful thing as learning a language can become. Yet, there are those people who grow up knowing several languages, or they learn them, or again, they pick them out throughout life, not because, not even in a classroom.

setting but just because life sort of brought them to a different country or anything like that, and they just pick up the language over years because they don't have a deadline. They don't put that pressure on themselves. It's organic. And again, in the case of when someone grows up with multiple languages, it's just something that happens when they grow up. They realize, Oh, okay, I know several languages. All right. They don't even remember how they learned that, why they learned it, what they were looking to get out of it, none of it. It's just there now. And it's the same exact way with everything. It's the same exact way with how to become a good friend, how to become a calmer person, how to eradicate anger, how to eradicate violence, and all the other effects of anger and temper and that sort of stuff, or even the virtues, how to become more honest, how to become more fair to everyone. We trip and fall, and then we think it's over. We try to become more honest. We

tell a lie or uh we we want to be absolutely fair, and we realize that we disadvantaged someone unjustly. Did did anything unfairly, and then we get really tough on ourselves. We say, you know, you you are just this terrible unfair liar, and it seems like you always will be that no matter how hard you try. You keep doing it again, and then we and then we Despair, and we give up on things. Henry David Thoreau famously said that most men, as in most people, live a life of quiet desperation. And there's nothing worse than quiet desperation because quiet desperation means yes, they they've despaired, they're in a bad way, they they are in no way where they want to be, but they have surrendered to it. They've accepted it. They've made it just the way just the way things are. And I know I'm going to get some comments saying, Aren't we supposed to accept? Aren't we supposed to surrender? No, with when it comes to things that are entirely in our

control such as these things as becoming kinder, more honest, fair, whatever. All these things coincidentally, all the things that we should ever want to want, are the things that are in our control. All the things that are not in our control should not be things that we want anyway. However, all the things that are in control, in our control, and that what we should want, and that we should pursue, and that if we are pursuing them, that's good. Those we should never accept defeating. We should never accept that we can't have them, that for some reason, even though no one can give them to us, that only we can do that, that they are always within our reach and always accessible if we try to nevertheless incorporate them into our being. And we seem to make mistakes and go against that. That does not mean that that's the way it is, that we should accept that, that we should surrender, and that we should just accept being a dishonest, disloyal, unfair, cowardly person. Never. And also when this is one excuse to surrender like

that for most people. Another one is, Oh, that person's doing it. The other person, this person that always talks about honesty, that always talks about being brave. Let's say I've seen them be afraid. I've seen them lie. So, and they draw one of two conclusions, or both. One, that it's impossible to be honest. It's impossible to be brave. It's impossible to be just. Or that even though it should be generally what we do whenever it feels right, whenever it seems to be okay, or whenever there's a precedent that someone else has already done so, that we respect that it's okay also in those situations when we are in them to lie or to whatever. That's another popular excuse, right? We know all of this. I'm talking about not from seeing it from others only, but within myself also. These arguments go on, these justifications go on. But that's exactly what we talk about when we see the work of life. The work of life is to go inward, to eradicate these sort of arguments, these

justifications that the Mind likes to throw at us whenever things get difficult and whenever we have to implement our desire to be kinder, to be more just, to be more honest. Because not being honest, telling a lie, or again another thing, the way people justify things, for example, the whole term concept of a white lie, is made exactly for a situation when we know we should be honest, when we know we should tell the truth, but it would be more difficult, and it's just easier to get out of that situation with a simple little so-called white lie. And these are the excuses we tell ourselves, but most importantly, going back to the quiet desperation is the worst way we can live, and we should never ever accept that, never ever surrender to those defeats. We must learn to fall down, to make a mistake, to deviate from our general course of course mistakenly and unconsciously a lot of times, but then to learn to get back up. And I know you hear this everywhere, just get back up, but it's really one of

those things that everyone says and uh maybe they don't know them really what it means or they don't really believe it. We hear it a lot; however, that doesn't make it untrue. It really is true. We need to get into a habit of whenever need there is need to get back up and this, but there's a very important distinction in this, and Epicurus talks about this a lot. He talks about something like an Olympic athlete who tries and tries and tries and tries at, you know, being good at whatever sport they're doing to become the best, and obviously, they're going to fall short many, many times, and that they need to get back up each time. However, that they should not get used to falling down, that they should not get almost half-expect to fail each time because that also will bring us nowhere. It needs to be an honest, completely committed, completely devoted, completely earnest effort in achieving all those things that we know we should, could, and need to, and want to achieve. However, if we then fail after this completely honest and dedicated

Earnest effort then. It's time to get back up, but never ever half-expect to fall down and then get back up and just do the whole thing, the whole cycle of trying, failing, and getting back up just as a routine. That's not the point here, of course. Don't make those excuses, don't take those excuses from others. Every single thing that was right for you to set out to do, if it was right for you to set out to do, do it. Still is right to do. Never ever despair of those things, never ever despair of those true goods that are within your reach, always that you can give yourself, and only that you can give yourself. Never despair of actually giving them to yourself, of trying to achieve them, of getting better each day, but not necessarily every day, right? Sometimes there will be regression, but it's an overall trajectory that's upwards and towards betterment that needs to be maintained. Never ever give up on that, never ever surrender to the thought that it might not be possible. Marcus Rus also says if it was

in someone else's reach, assume that it is in yours too. And again, time does not factor into good work. Work and never ever do the labor for its fruits, and always and only for its own sake. And keep practicing even that which you have despaired of mastering. And again, I want to quickly mention our mailing list, which you can sign up for at acceptingtheuniverse.com, which will give you sort of a newsletter each week of this sort of content in written form, my favorite quote of the week, and reading recommendations, of which together with this video for the month of August. Now we have new reading recommendations. They're monthly, and I implore you to really check that out. Um, I will never ever recommend books that are not, well, I think most of the time, if not all the time, they will be past the threshold of having changed my life, being life-changing books. I only get to recommend you books 12 times a year 'cause it's once a month, and so I think long and hard what

would be the best, most revelatory, most eye-opening, most life-changing, hopefully just like it was for me, books for you to read, and it's all in the newsletter, and of course, it's entirely free. Um, you just have to go to accepting the universe and sign up, and you'll get it every week, and you'll get this, the newest video in it as well, so it's all in one place, and it's just a little thing for you to contemplate, full of ideas to contemplate for the rest of the day, the rest of the week, and I want to end with it again. Practice that which you have despaired of mastering.

Practice even what you have despaired of mastering

Accepting the Universe

The Wisdom of Marcus Aurelius on Mastery and Work

Marcus Aurelius emphasized the importance of practicing what we despise, using his left hand's success in controlling a horse as an example.

He argued against setting arbitrary goals and deadlines, highlighting that good work should be done for its own sake, not for external rewards.

The unpredictability of outcomes, like a farmer's harvest, reinforces the idea that the value of our actions lies in the intention and effort, not in the results.

The Importance of Focusing on the Labor, Not the Fruits

Achieving goals should be about the act and labor itself, rather than the external results or deadlines.

Self-imposed pressures and arbitrary goals can lead to despair and giving up, even when the effort is still worthwhile.

Learning and personal growth can happen organically, without the pressure of deadlines, leading to more meaningful and lasting outcomes.

Quiet desperation is a state where individuals accept and surrender to their unfair circumstances, leading to a life of unfulfilled potential.

Thoreau's observation highlights the struggle of many people who feel trapped in their situation.

However, the things that are within our control, such as becoming kinder and more honest, should never be accepted as unattainable, and we should always strive to pursue them.

Many people justify dishonest or cowardly behavior by observing others who do the same.

These justifications, including the concept of a "white lie," create inner conflicts when trying to be kind, just, and honest.

The key to overcoming these challenges is to learn from mistakes, fall down, and get back up, rather than surrendering to quiet desperation.

The Importance of Resilience and Commitment

Resilience is essential for achieving our goals, but we should not expect to fail repeatedly.

Epicurus emphasizes the need for a genuine, dedicated effort in our pursuits, rather than making failure a routine.

It's important to maintain an upward trajectory towards betterment and never despair of giving ourselves the true goods within our reach.

The importance of working for the sake of the work itself, rather than for its rewards, is emphasized.

com offers a weekly newsletter with life-changing book recommendations and reflective content.

The newsletter, which is free, aims to provide readers with ideas to contemplate and encourages them to practice what they have despaired of mastering.