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Hiring the Best in Class

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Change your expectations

Change your expectations

“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me.”

If you start with the expectation that people will be ungrateful, dishonest, and jealous, how can they disappoint you?

234

1.18K reads

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Look inward

Look inward

“Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. Especially if you have other things to rely on. An instant’s recollection and there it is: complete tranquillity. And by tranquillity I mean a kind of harmony.”

“Either pain affects the body (...

213

820 reads

Do less

Do less

“If you seek tranquillity, do less.”

Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?”

What are the 10% of activities that bring you 90% of the joy and results in your life? What can you eliminate from your to-do list right now? Don’t waste time on the non-...

214

826 reads

Your thoughts matter

Your thoughts matter

“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”

What are your destructive thought patterns? How can you stop these? If you don’t, they will determine the quality of your life.  

203

570 reads

Practice virtues

Practice virtues

“Practice the virtues you can show: honesty, gravity, endurance, austerity, resignation, abstinence, patience, sincerity, moderation, seriousness, high-mindedness. Don’t you see how much you have to offer—beyond excuses like “can’t”? And yet you still settle for less.”  

Ma...

208

610 reads

Why we need to hurry

Why we need to hurry

“So we need to hurry. Not just because we move daily closer to death but also because our understanding—our grasp of the world—may be gone before we get there.”

Not only do we all inch closer to death every day, but we also have no idea how long our mental facilities will b...

204

1K reads

"... But you know what its will is. Does what’s happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person’s nature to fulfill itself? So remember this ...

MARCUS AURELIUS

206

506 reads

Perception

Perception

“The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.”

“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”

Life is perception. So if something “bad” happens to you, you can choose to perceive it differently. Y...

222

815 reads

Prepare for the worst

Prepare for the worst

“So too a healthy mind should be prepared for anything. The one that keeps saying, “Are my children all right?” or “Everyone must approve of me” is like eyes that can only stand pale colors, or teeth that can handle only mush.”

Bad things will happen in your life. Instead o...

198

421 reads

Anger vs Kindness

Anger vs Kindness

“When you start to lose your temper, remember: There’s nothing manly about rage. It’s courtesy and kindness that define a human being—and a man. That’s who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners.”

Kindness trumps anger every day.  

203

488 reads

From misfortune to fortune

From misfortune to fortune

“It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it—not shattered by the present or frightened of the future. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it. Why treat the one as a misfortu...

224

652 reads

When people injure you

When people injure you

“When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you’ll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger. Your sense of good and evil may be the same as theirs, or near it, in which case you have to excuse them. Or your sense of good and...

205

448 reads

Work with purpose

Work with purpose

“People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work.”

Life is short. Don’t waste it doing work that you don’t find meaningful.  

219

1.13K reads

The obstacle is the way

The obstacle is the way

“The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

“But if you accept the obstacle and work with what you’re given, an alternative will present itself—another piece of ...

210

560 reads

Think about the qualities of others

Think about the qualities of others

“When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have: this one’s energy, that one’s modesty, another’s generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we’re practically showered with them. It’s good...

201

437 reads

Accept utmost reality

Accept utmost reality

“So this is how a thoughtful person should await death: not with indifference, not with impatience, not with disdain, but simply viewing it as one of the things that happen to us.”

When you start understanding death as an event, it loses parts of its grip on your mind.  

203

470 reads

Summary

Summary

This is a life-changing collection of philosophical and spiritual thoughts from the former Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. The work is grounded in Stoicism, a practical philosophy that encourages us to:

  • keep our mortality in mind at all times, ...

224

1.53K reads

Existence is a river

Existence is a river

“Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone—those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the “what” is in constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what’s right here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us—a...

205

684 reads

Help others

Help others

“Whereas humans were made to help others. And when we do help others—or help them to do something—we’re doing what we were designed for. We perform our function.”

Life is not about you. Help others.  

200

469 reads

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The Daily Spiritual Exercise Of Marcus Aurelius

Say to yourself first thing in the morning: today I shall meet people who are meddling, ungrateful, aggressive, treacherous, malicious and unsocial. All of this has afflicted them through their ignorance of true good and evil. But I have seen that the nature of good is what is right, and the ...

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