The Little Book of Stoicism

Practice 21

Do What Needs to Get Done

“On those mornings you struggle with getting up, keep this thought in mind—I am awakening to the work of a human being. Why then am I annoyed that I am going to do what I’m made for, the very things for which I was put into this world? Or was I made for this, to snuggle under the covers and keep warm? It’s so pleasurable. Were you then made for pleasure? In short, to be coddled or to exert yourself?” – Marcus Aurelius

Even Marcus, the one who’s teaching us so much, often struggled to get up in the morning. Even he procrastinated. Even he didn’t feel great all the time.

But he worked on it. And he got himself to do what’s necessary.

We’re not born for pleasure, he says. Just look at the plants, birds, ants, spiders, and bees—they go about their individual tasks. Do you hear them moan and complain? Nope, they do what they do, as best as they can. Day in, day out.

But we human beings are not willing to do our jobs? We feel lazy. Unmotivated. Sluggish. There is certainly time to sleep and rest, but there’s a limit to that. “And you’re over the limit,” Marcus reminds himself. But he hasn’t done all his work yet. He’s still below his quota.

And we are, too. It’s time to get up and do what we must. We won’t live forever, as Seneca reminds us: “How late it is to begin really to live just when life must end! How stupid to forget our mortality, and put off sensible plans to our fiftieth and sixtieth years, aiming to begin life from a point at which few have arrived!”

“Putting things off is the biggest waste of life,” Seneca says, “it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours . . . The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”

So let’s live immediately and not procrastinate any longer.

“Enough of this miserable, whining life. Stop monkeying around!” Marcus shows us how to take responsibility for our own lives. He wants to be at the steering wheel. As the Emperor, he needs to get things done.

And we’re Emperors, too. Emperors of our own lives! We inherently know what to do. We just don’t feel like it. Something inside is holding us back. We must keep in mind, though, that it’s the successful among us who do what needs to get done whether they feel like it or not.

They know they’re responsible for their own flourishing and choose to suffer a little every day rather than a lot whenever they realize they’re not making any progress whatsoever.

That’s self-discipline. That’s dealing effectively with the negative feelings trying to hold us back.

Acknowledge the inner resistance and do it anyway. You’re strong enough to get up in the morning even when tired. You’re disciplined enough to resist that cookie even when attracted. You’re courageous enough to help the stranger even when scared.

It’s time to be the person you want to be. Today, not tomorrow.

At the end of the day, we get what we deserve.

Stop monkeying around, live immediately!