You Struggle With This Everyday
Epictetus said that to live a good life, you have to make good choices.
You are what your choices make you, nothing more and nothing less.
It’s simple and it’s true, in theory. In practice, it’s hard
. It certainly was in Epictetus’ world. It feels all but impossible in ours.
We have smartphones that are designed to be addictive. We have food that is genetically engineered to be as irresistible as it is nutrient deficient.
We have apps that bring us pleasures and distractions with the click of a button.
We have the ability to work from home, to wake up and start working whenever we want.
We can go wherever we want, do whatever we want, say whatever we want. We have to struggle in just about every moment of every day to make good choices.
From the moment we’re first awake: Get up or snooze the alarm? Go for a run or back to bed? Do the deep work or go down a deep Twitter rabbit hole? Make ourselves lunch or order Grub hub? Go to the gym or to a happy hour? Get a good night’s sleep or watch another episode?
It’s these choices that add up to make you, you. You are the sum of one small choice stacked upon one small choice stacked upon one small choice, ad infinitum.
If your life were a painting, these choices would be the brushstrokes that compose it. In other words, your life is defined by your choices, by your discipline. Which is why, discipline is destiny.
