Why You Should Only Do Something Hard When Necessary (Real Stoicism) @Daily Stoic
Watch on YouTube · 2025-09-23 · 29 min
0:00 Hi everyone, as requested, I'm gonna be reviewing a video called Why you need to do something hard every single day.
[video] 0:11 So look, why do they do it? Why do distillics do it? Why do we do hard things? The reason we do-
0:17 You show modern brainwashed bodybuilders and then you talk about the Stoics. Where's the connection? The Stoics said that we should be living naturally and that we should avoid hardship unless it's necessary. That's natural. Every animal lives like this. They take it easy because easy is good, hard is bad. And when there's a survival situation, which is really the only time when you would actually go through hardship, then you do what's necessary. That's when it's necessary. When it's not necessary, of course you don't do anything that's hard. That's what the Stoics thought. How he got the opposite out of that is beyond me.
[video] 1:06 Hard things is because life is hard and we want to be prepared.
1:09 Life is not hard in general. It can be. My life is easy. It could become hard and I've gone through hard things but overall it's been easy for the most part. It's up to you for the most part unless it's out of your control. this guy has dark eye circles looks super exhausted his life is clearly hard no doubt about it does it have to be no he made it hard we'll see what he will do in this video but it's just clear that um his life is biologically hard you can see that
[video] 1:51 Yeah, can. That's the key word. Can. Doesn't have to.
[video] 2:02 Yeah, ready.
2:05 Ready for what? You live in an absolute slave system. There's nothing good about it, but if you want to see something good in it, then it would be that you have the possibility of doing nothing sometimes the whole day.
2:26 Yeah. Enjoy.
2:38 Yeah, but why would you do that? You can take a walk, enjoy the view. Why would you run? When running again is something that you would do only when it's necessary. When you're running away from somebody. And you wouldn't be able to run away from any four-legged animals. You would only be able to run away from other humans. Are you going to train now in case someday you need to run away from a human? What if it never happens? You die decades before you were supposed to. I thought that it's all about surviving. It's just gonna lead to your grave anyway. Thinking that something may happen sometime is just dumb. It's almost paranoid.
3:24 The Stoics didn't. I don't know where you got that from. It's absolute misinformation. They did the opposite. They lived like natural animals. They only did something hard when they needed to. And what else is he gonna say? Just absolute nonsense. Just the whole intro to this video is so wrong.
[video] 3:42 ...things and some lessons that doing challenging, difficult, painful, scary, exhausting...
3:48 painful pain is bad it's your intuition telling you not to do something scary is bad again your body telling you not to do something exhausting things what they can teach you Did he say exhausting? Again, opposite of what you should do. Everything is the opposite so far. An opposite video. Fuck.
[video] 4:07 And what they have always taught, great men.
4:10 Man, you look insanely exhausted and unhealthy. Why would somebody take advice from you? And women.
[video] 4:23 Doing hard things is good for you.
4:25 Cold plunges, long hikes, long- Man, his dark eye circles are almost as dark as his hair.
[video] 4:30 Long run, challenging yourself, pushing your limits.
4:32 Seneca says we treat the body rigorously so that it's not disobe- We treat the body rigorously so that it's not disobedient to the mind?
4:48 Was that a slave trainer? Or what? That just sounds like absolute slavery.
[video] 4:55 Doing the things you don't want to do but that you're glad you did after. That's the skill that life demands more than any other skill. The ability to push yourself a little bit further, to hold on a little bit longer, to go a little bit further than you thought, to put up with a little bit more than you thought.
5:12 Yeah, but you're not doing anything that benefits anybody, especially yourself. You run, let's say you run for 30 kilometers and then you learn how to run for 32. What did you gain? Nothing. You just destroy your joints and age your body. You're not pushing yourself to anywhere. You are to your grave, as I said.
[video] 5:35 That's what it's about. We find practices, we find places, we find experiences that allow us to practice that. They're also beautiful and enjoyable, but they allow us to build that muscle.
5:46 How is it enjoyable? You just said that it's exhausting and painful. If there is something such as the opposite of that, then it's joy. Joy is the opposite of pain and exhaustion.
[video] 6:01 Makes no sense. The muscle that says, hey, I'm in charge. Hey, I push myself. Hey, I'm comfortable being uncomfortable. In fact, not just that I can do hard things, but I do hard things on a regular, consistent basis. That's what it's about.
[video] 6:19 You have to treat the body rigorously. Maybe it doesn't feel like philosophy has a lot to teach us, but it does. The Stoics were active.
6:26 The opposite of what the Stoics said. Like, where is he getting this from? Yeah, they hunted, which was them getting food. It was necessary.
6:40 They lifted weights, but they never did. Ah, whatever. Who knows? He's getting some disinformation from somewhere. And to be fair, nobody knows actually what they did. But based on everything that I have ever read, they said that you should be living naturally, listening to your body, meaning your intuition, and you should avoid hardship, essentially. You should only do something hard when it's necessary. That's it. where he's getting this from could be similar to how it is with the bible a lot of editing has happened to that book a lot of misinformation out there and really in this case probably disinformation
[video] 7:26 Yeah, you should eat healthy. Why should you work out? That's the opposite of what the Stoics said.
7:43 Whatever. It doesn't matter who said it, but I'm just saying he's obviously taking those writings seriously. But he must have read some edited versions of it, some modern interpretations of what they said.
[video] 7:59 Picture a philosopher. You probably think of some ancient figure.
8:02 Yeah, maybe the people of today just couldn't comprehend why they would say that you should listen to your body and avoid hardship.
8:14 they tried to make sense out of what they said and came to modern conclusions which makes sense to them today it doesn't of course in reality but in their twisted mind it kind of does Boxers?
[video] 8:30 Where is he getting this from?
8:47 Boxers, what?
[video] 8:49 They pushed their physical limitations. Socrates was a soldier. He was admired for his ability to endure cold weather. Marcus Aurelius wrestled and hunted. Cleanthes was a boxer. Epictetus lifted weights. Seneca started each year with a...
9:03 Yeah, but if people boxed back in the day, then it was without any of the puffy clothes. And again, that was probably only because they wanted some kind of entertainment. And typically the reason people had these kind of entertainment systems was because the ones who were in charge of the country of the city they could sit back and watch them and the people who watched them were entertained by it and that's why they could let the frustrations out on the people boxing or doing whatever
9:38 the gladiators and everything instead of actually letting out the aggression on the ones that are enslaving them on the people on top that's what it was all about it's the same today people who watch football and get all aggressive because uh their football team lost or the other football fans said something to them it's the same thing it's always been the same That's why looking up to some boxers from the past is nonsense. Those were slaves. You should be disrespecting all of that.
[video] 10:19 Cold Plunge, he threw himself in the freezing Tiber River. But the Stokes didn't just do this because they wanted to have
10:25 He threw himself in or he fell in? Nobody used to do cold plunges or ice baths or cold showers or whatever would be the equivalent of that back then. A totally delusional guy, totally.
[video] 10:42 big muscles and show off. It wasn't vanity for the Stoics at all. Seneca said, we treat the body rigorously so that it is not disobedient to the mind. For the Stoics, physical practice was a metaphor. It was a path to mental toughness. One of the best ways you increase your mental capacities is by doing things that are physically challenging. The Stoics wanted to push themselves day by day, build the muscle that says, I can do hard things.
11:05 Actually, everything that's hard deteriorates your body and causes trauma. It makes you weaker. Only comfort makes you strong and healthy. That should be clearly understood. And you can see that on him, of course. He looks very sick because of everything hard that he has done.
[video] 11:27 The thing that says, I'm in charge. What you learn in a physical practice is who you are and what you're capable.
11:35 Are you also going to be in charge when you're in a wheelchair? Because of all the running, you will probably talk yourself into believing that... What you really learn is that you're capable of more than you think you are.
[video] 11:47 This morning I got up, I dropped my kid at school, and I went swimming in Barton Springs. And it was cold, and it was a long swim, it was hard, I would have liked to stop earlier, but I didn't. I forced myself to do something, I pushed myself further than I wanted to, and I carried that energy back towards the rest of...
12:01 But then you have no energy left, then you're exhausted and you look exhausted. That's the whole thing. That's why exhaustion and hard things make you weak. And you know that because you feel that.
[video] 12:18 No, and you're mentally weak anyway, because you fell for that. You fell for all of these lies. You go against your intuition.
12:43 that's a weak and dumb human being you go into cold water you run only a weak human being would do that a mentally weak human being especially because you were that easy to manipulate challenges to endure and you are becoming a more well-rounded strong and resilient figure
[video] 13:13 The rule for successful people, for great writers, artists, creators, it comes from the poet William Stafford. He says, do the hard thing first. He's saying, don't procrastinate, don't put it off, don't try to do piddly stuff, work your way up to it. He says, no, you tackle the hard thing first.
13:27 No, if something is hard, you should never do it unless it's necessary for your survival, which it usually isn't in the slave system. There's absolutely no reason to do it.
[video] 13:40 That's what I do in the morning. I tackle the writing first before I check email, before I get sucked into social media, before I have meetings, before I can come up with or life can make up excuses to not do that thing. Edison said that we pick up the heavy end first. That's the idea. You do the hard thing first. And then once you've done that, once you've crossed it off, once you've made progress on that, not only will you have momentum for the rest of the day, but even if you don't, you've already won. You've already made a dent in things. So that's the rule for this morning. Do the hard thing first.
14:11 the reason you would also do the hard thing first is because you don't want to do it in the first place that's why you try to do it later you don't want to think about it and if you do it first then you just want it to be out of your way again showing how bad it is waking up early oh my god getting up early is no fun it's hard every yeah that's why you have dark eye circles The fuck is wrong with you, man? Look in the mirror.
[video] 14:41 I don't enjoy it while I am doing it, but I am almost always glad after that I did. One of the most famous passages in Marcus Aurelius' meditations is him struggling to do precisely that. He says, at dawn, when you awake and you have trouble getting out of bed, he says, you have to tell yourself, I was meant to do things. I have to get after it. And then he says, but it's so much warmer here under the covers. Indeed, it is. It's nicer there. But he says, is that what you were put here to do, to huddle under the covers? Is that what you were put here...
15:04 yeah you were that's what every animal does every animal yeah exactly what else do you believe that you are here on this earth to hate it is this life all about hating life is that why you're here to just hate it to do hard things all the time What's wrong with you, man? What kind of a mentality is this? This is not normal.
[video] 15:32 Yeah, then go to bed early enough, then you can wake up early also. You get enough sleep, everything is good.
15:51 What's the problem? Yeah, it's good to be awake when the sun rises, then go to bed earlier.
[video] 15:57 Only one on the trail when you're the only one on the road, when you've got quiet time to focus and work or read or spend time with people you love, that's amazing. So getting up early is hard, sure, but you'll be glad that you did it. Trying hard things, focusing, getting after stuff, that's hard, but you'll be glad you did it after.
16:15 He's really confusing two things. You're not glad, for example, if you ran 30 kilometers. What you're glad about is that it's over. You're not glad that you actually just ran 30 kilometers. It just feels really good after because you're done. He just doesn't get it. Totally delusional guy.
[video] 16:39 So a couple of weeks ago, I ran the original marathon from marathon to Athens.
16:46 Oh my God. Oh my God. He doesn't know the original marathon runner died of a heart attack or whatever. He just dropped dead. I'm speechless.
[video] 17:05 26 miles actually ended up doing like 27 and you can see from the video like I was wrecked. It was so hot I was so exhausted and As much as I was trying to drink water.
17:18 It was just running right through me and I wasn't Water when you run so much you need electrolytes man natural liquids With water you're gonna get so dehydrated. I don't even know how he did it. I hydrating that's where today's sponsor comes in element yeah lmnt i knew it i wanted to say it before i saw it yeah of course of course yeah absolutely artificial poisonous garbage with salt inside also as far as i've read you're just paying for expensive salt essentially total scam Just drink natural liquids. Blood, raw milk, fruit juices, coconut water. That's how you will get hydrated. And if you eat raw foods overall, you won't even want to drink a lot anyway. If you eat raw meat, you're not going to be very thirsty throughout the day. Yeah, maybe if you run.
18:17 Like an idiot. But if you eat raw meat, you're not going to be that stupid.
[video] 18:25 Again, I have zero idea whether cold plunges have any health benefits. They probably don't.
18:31 To me, the benefit... Oh, he actually admits that I like it.
[video] 18:35 ...is that it's hard and unpleasant that you're intimidated to do... Yeah, exactly.
18:40 You're intimidated, it's hard, it's unpleasant. Let's do it. Let's exactly do the opposite of what our intuition tells us. Because that's good. Yeah. You can't even think of a better slave. It's perfect. It can't be more perfect.
19:01 I can't imagine anything better than that for the ones who enslave others. It's the most perfect slave you could think of. Because you destroy yourself completely. Because whenever you sense that something is bad, you go and do it. So you completely reduce your lifespan to nothing. You're super unhealthy.
[video] 19:27 yeah do it that you don't want to do it but that you're glad afterwards that you yeah when it's done because it feels so much better the contrast did do it seneca says we treat the body rigorously so that it's not disobedient to the mind it's good to have things that are hard that you're intimidated by that you don't want to do that you're glad that you did after the benefit comes you would think that you at least get something out of it right
19:54 that all of a sudden the cold water just isn't cold anymore after a few times. But that never happens because your intuition tells you that it's bad for you because it is bad for you. And because it is bad for you, it's never going to be good. So running is never gonna feel good. Cold water is never gonna feel good. You're never actually gonna get anything out of it. If you could at least eventually run and enjoy it or enjoy the cold water or not feel it anymore, that would be something. It would be dumb. I would never do it. But there would be some kind of benefit. But you get nothing out of it. You will forever hate running. You will forever hate the cold water.
[video] 20:38 from being able to stay in a little bit longer than you thought to go a little bit further than you thought yeah at the very best you can do it for a bit longer but it's still horrible so that changes nothing to go a little bit colder than you thought that's what it's about that's the muscle that you're trying to build because life demands that of you doing hard yeah but it doesn't that's the whole thing it doesn't at all
21:03 Typically, if you would fall into cold water in nature, you would die. 99% of the time. No, he didn't just write that. Discipline is freedom. That's the opposite of the truth. The whole video is the opposite. Man, this guy is so lost. Discipline comes from people whipping themselves, religious people, that's the origin of the word. They actually whipped themselves, their backs, until they were bleeding. They hated doing it, but they were disciplined and that's why they did it. Do you want to imitate that? Yeah. Really? And that's freedom? It's slavery. It's the definition of slavery. How can you call it freedom?
22:01 Freedom is you doing what you want to do. Listening to your intuition. What the fuck is wrong with this guy?
22:11 And he also has a cap on and sunglasses when he's out in the sun. Okay. After a while he could get a sunburn, but he probably always does that because again, he just goes against his intuition. said i think i get it now i think i get why you guys are so brave on the battlefield i think i get why you're willing to die well those were very enslaved people who didn't care about their lives anymore yeah that's a good soldier the same is going on today they uh dehumanize the people traumatize them in the military training camps and then they go and die for the country
[video] 22:52 Actually, sleeping on the ground is more comfortable, believe it or not.
[video] 23:19 Certain moments of greatness make a little bit more sense. It's consistent. There's a logic to it. The Spartans had hard lives. There wasn't this fancy, soft thing they were trying to protect that they would sell anything to get back to. Their existence was a hardscrabble one, and then that made them capable of certain sacrifices and selflessness and strength that seems utterly unthinkable to the rest of us. And that's what self-discipline does. When we say discipline is freedom, this is what we mean. It frees us from the things that tie the rest of us down.
23:50 nothing you said makes any sense just so you know i'm gonna skip this part he's talking about how you should go outside in winter even though a lot of animals rest during the winter and humans also do they for the most part sit inside because it's cold outside and the cold is bad the cold harms you the cold creates the so-called cold the fluid makes you sick That's why you should wear a scarf, a hat and so on in winter. Again, more nonsense. I don't even need to show it. This guy is 38 years old. He looks older and he looks haggard pretty much from all the stress and exhaustion.
[video] 24:42 would do it in that way the stoics want us to realize it's good that it's hard it's supposed to be hard epictetus said the whole point of studying philosophy was to be able to say to whatever situations life puts you in this is what i trained for we are undergoing a hard winter's training epictetus said because life is going to be hard right because it's going to be challenging
24:58 That's again just them preparing slaves for a hard life. They themselves, the kings, the leaders had an easy life. They just chilled all the time because that's what they really want. But talking the slaves into believing that life is hard, again, is great for the leaders. It's a great philosophy, of course. Couldn't even get any better. Making the slaves believe that they should be doing the opposite of their intuition? Amazing enslavement.
[video] 25:33 I just did something insane. I ran from Marathon to Athens.
25:38 He even says that it's insane. Not even really consciously realizing it.
[video] 25:44 That is the original course of the marathon.
25:47 Yeah, and the guy died, as I said. What are you trying to imitate? A dead man?
[video] 25:52 Why do people do stuff like that? Why did I do it?
25:55 Because you're depressed, your life is miserable, there's something wrong with you. What do I get out of it?
[video] 26:01 I mean, besides...
26:02 Nothing whatsoever, literally nothing. Blisters, and I guess I burned some... Yeah, just pain, blisters and whatever. Calories.
[video] 26:10 I mean, what you get when you do hard things.
26:12 Yeah, you burn so-called calories, which don't even exist, and then you need to eat more food. And the more food you eat, the sooner you die.
[video] 26:19 When I wrote The Daily Stoic eight years ago, I had this crazy idea that I would just keep it going.
26:24 He actually has a book called The Daily Stoic, and he doesn't even understand what the Stoics taught? That is fucking funny, man.
[video] 26:35 But if that's what you follow, then none of you follow the Stoics, their teachings, Stoicism. You've been completely lied to.
[video] 27:06 I'd love for you to join us. You can sign up and get the email totally for free. No spam You can unsubscribe whenever you want at daily stoic comm slash email.
27:13 There's nothing more to say the guy is completely mental absolutely lost depressed miserable You can see that because of how exhausted he is the dark eye circles They go pretty much all the way around That's as bad as it can get. That means insane stress. That means not sleeping enough. He probably drinks coffee. Realistically, yeah. He for sure uses some kind of stimulants, I'm sure about it. It's running, exercise, working out, doing any kind of sports. That's what causes dark eye circles. If you do any of that, you should just expect them. And the more you do, the darker they will get.
28:09 The more of these boxes you tick, the sooner they will come. And if you do it long enough, they won't even go away completely, even when you stop. They will get better. If you just chill, you eat raw meat, ideally drink blood, eat a lot of liver, it will get better. Sleep all the time also, but you're probably not gonna get back to your actual real healthy state, at least visually. You will maybe feel super good if you do it long enough, if you heal, but you won't be able to completely heal your appearance. He wouldn't be able to, that's too much damage. Those kind of dark eye circles you will not be able to get rid of. It's actual dark pigments. You can't get rid of those kind of pigments because as I said those are almost as dark as his actual hair. That's how severe it is.
29:08 How he actually was misinformed about the Stoics, I have no idea. Probably just modern books, modern videos spreading disinformation. As I said, the Stoics said that we should be following nature completely. And what they said also absolutely aligns with nature. Only do something hard when it's necessary. Every single animal on this earth lives exactly like that. Thanks for watching.