“Pay attention to what’s in front of you — the principle, the task, or what’s being portrayed.”
MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.22
Today’s quote from The Daily Stoic is a very simple exhortation to live in the present, and stay focused on this current reality. Keep your eyes on what is directly in front of you — not the past, and not the future. He says this because the present is all you really have.
However! The author of the book goes further in his explanation. He says that if we find ourselves currently doing something we don’t want to do, i.e. a job we don’t care for, we might say “This is just a job; it isn’t who I am. It doesn’t matter.”
(I cringe when I read that, because I have thought those exact same thoughts to myself, many times. I am not my job. It doesn’t define me. This is just how I earn a salary.)
Holiday’s point is that it does matter how you handle these little moments. He reminds us of the old saying, which says: how you do anything is how you do everything.
Cringe, again. He’s right. Today’s entry stings, because philosophy is medicine. And because this is a healing process, it can hurt sometimes. That’s okay. This is good for me, very illuminating.
To tell the truth, I’ve been giving a half-assed effort on some things. Things that I didn’t really want to do. A job that wasn’t inspiring me, and which I was slightly resentful toward because I wanted to be a self-sufficient entrepreneur and that didn’t work out.
But Holiday is right — how you do the little things is how you do the big things too. Not trying your best has consequences for your soul. I guess I’ve known that for a while now. But here it is in front of me, confronting me, and there’s no escape.
Ouch. Time for a change?
