“Those who receive the bare theories immediately want to spew them, as an upset stomach does its food. First digest your theories and you won’t throw them up. Otherwise they will be raw, spoiled, and not nourishing. After you’ve digested them, show us the changes in your reasoned choices, just like the shoulders of gymnasts display their diet and training, and as the craft of artisans show in what they’ve learned.”
EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.21.1-3
Once you’ve gained a bit of wisdom, don’t be too hasty to run out and shout it from the rooftops. The point is not to proudly parade what you’ve learned, but to apply it to your own life. That’s the point of today’s quote above from The Daily Stoic book.
The knowledge you’ve gained needs a bit of time to digest inside of you. It needs to percolate and mellow. Then you need to show what you’ve learned. Not talk about it. And not scold or lecture other people about it — because what they do is really none of your business. Show, not tell. The proof is in your actions.
Talk is cheap! Anyone can write a self-help book. Not everyone can apply it. If you want to impress yourself — because impressing other people is pointless of course — then you have to take the learnings and implement them into your own life. You have to determine what you want, and then make it happen.
Theorize, discuss, ponder as much as you need. Read all about it, study your brains out. But then implement it. Ideas are just actions that haven’t happened yet. Show, rather than tell what you’ve learned.
