Sweat The Small Stuff

The Daily Stoic for May 27th. “Sweat The Small Stuff”.

“Well-being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing.”
—ZENO, QUOTED IN DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.26

It’s true that what we are is the sum of the small things we do every day. One doesn’t become a villain or a hero by big, bod acts of evil or good respectively.

Sweat The Small Stuff

Remember the small things. You say. Remember the small things.
— Lali Puna, “Small things”.

There’s this saying that the success of a business or startup is seen as an event when in reality it’s a process. People don’t see the process, just the event that makes it to the headlines. Our lives work similarly:

Everything we do since we wake up makes up our day.

Our first thought when we get up.

The first thing we say to the person we wake up with.

Do we go to the gym, or decide to stay in bed just a little more?

What do we see when we look at our reflection in the mirror?

Do we do our work with a smile on our faces, or just waiting for another working day to end?

How do we interact with other people, our teammates or coworkers?

And most importantly, how do we feel when we get back to bed?

News and big media events are discrete instants in time. However, our lives are built with every little gesture, every little small act of kindness or disdain. In the end, the person we become thanks to the sum of them all has this big, important acts of good or evil that will define us in the eyes of others. But it is only the conclusion, or one of the conclusions, of the stream of acts that preceded it.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “Sweat The Small Stuff”, discusses how what we are, what we become, and what we are remembered for is just the sum of the small things we do every day. Every little act, gesture or deed. No big evil or good act can be understood on its own.