Only fools rush in

 A good person is invincible, for they don't rush into contests in which they aren't the strongest. If you want their property, take it -- take also their staff, profession, and body. But you will never compel what they set out for, nor trap them in what they would avoid. For the only contest the good person enters is that of their own reasoned choice. How can such a person not be invincible?

-- Epictetus, Discourses, 3.6.5-7

"Some people think that 'choosing your battles' is weak or calculating. How could reducing the amount of times we fail or minimizing the number of needless injuries inflicted upon us be weak? How is that a bad thing? As the saying goes, discretion is the better part of valor. The Stoics call it reasoned choice. That means be reasonable! Think hard before choosing, and make yourself unbeatable. 

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman    

The buck stops with you, your mind

 For nothing outside my reasoned choice can hinder or harm it -- my reasoned choice calone can do this to itself.  If we would lean this way whenever we fail, and would blame only ourselves and remember that nothing but opinion is the cause of a troubled mind an uneasiness, then by God, I swear we would be making progress.

-- Epictetus, Discourses, 3.19.2-3

"Start where you need to. Even one minute without playing the blame game is progress in the art of living."

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman     

Turn your obstacle into an advantage

 Just as the nature of rational things has given to each person their rational powers, so it also gives us this power -- just as nature turns to its own purpose any obstacle or any opposition, sets its place in the destined order, and co-opts it, so every rational person can convert any obstacle into the raw material for their own purpose.

-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.35

What things do you think have been holding you back that, in fact, can be a hidden source of strength?

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman    

Be consistent in virtue

This can be swiftly taught in very few words: virtue is the only good; there is no certain good without virtue; and virtue resides in our nobler part, which is the rational one. And what can this virtue be? True and steadfast judgment. For from this will arise every mental impulse, and by it every appearance that spurs our impulses will be rendered clear.

-- Seneca, Moral Letters, 71.32

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman   

Blow your own nose, get active in your own rescue

We cry to God Almighty, how can we escape this agony? Fool, don't you have hands? Or could it be God forgot to give you a pair? Sit and pray your nose doesn't run! Or, rather just wipe your nose and stop seeking a scapegoat.

-- Epictetus, Discourses, 2.16.13

The world is unfair. The game is rigged. So-and-so has it out for you. Maybe these theories are true, but practically speaking -- for the right here and now -- what good are they to you? That government report or that sympathetic news article isn't going to pay the bills or rehab your broken leg or find that bridge loan you need. Succumbing to self-pity and "woe is me" narrative accomplishes nothing -- nothing except sapping you of the energy and motivation you need to do something about your problem.

We have a choice: Do we focus on the ways we have been wronged, or do we use what we've been given and get to work? Will we wait for someone to save us, or will we listen to Marcus Aurelius's empowering call to "get active in your own rescue -- if you care for yourself at all -- and do it while you can." That's better than just blowing your own nose (which is a step forward in itself).

* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman