“Remember that to change your mind and to follow someone’s correction are consistent with a free will. For the action is yours alone — to fulfill its purpose in keeping with your impulse and judgment, and yes, with your intelligence.”
MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.16
We all want to have an iron will. Determination means never deviating from your plan. Right?
Or is it okay to adapt your will when necessary? When the situation on the ground changes… can you adjust your plan and still consider yourself ‘strong’?
The answer, of course, is yes. You can update your plan based on new information that has come in. That doesn’t make you less intelligent, it makes you more intelligent. Because you’re not so stuck on your original plan that you have blinders on. You’re able to adjust as needed.
And adjusting doesn’t mean you’re less resilient, or that you don’t have willpower. Far from it.
When somebody corrects you, and points out the error of your ways, and you then change your behavior based on that correction — that’s when you’ve proven you have a strong mind of your own that can’t be stopped. That’s what Marcus Aurelius means in The Daily Stoic’s quote today.
Adapting to change is not a sign of weakness — it’s a sign of your inner strength, and it demonstrates the power of your intelligence.
