Could You Do This? | Do Your Job

Summary

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The Daily Stoic – "Could You Do This? | Do Your Job"

Host: Ryan Holiday (with Stephen Hanselman)
Date: July 3, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Ryan Holiday explores two interlinked Stoic themes: the virtue and challenge of waiting one’s turn (“playing second fiddle”) and the steadfast imperative to perform one’s duty and “do your job.” Drawing inspiration from Marcus Aurelius and classic Stoic virtues, Ryan prompts listeners to consider their capacity for patience, humility, and daily goodness, regardless of recognition or reward. The episode mixes personal reflection with practical wisdom, highlighting how individual actions—however small—can contribute meaningfully to the common good.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge of Waiting and Playing "Second Fiddle"

• Enduring Humility and Patience:
  Ryan reflects on Marcus Aurelius, who waited decades for his turn to become emperor, showing extraordinary patience and humility while being overlooked and subordinate to Antoninus.

  “Can you imagine being Marcus Aurelius? He was chosen to succeed Hadrian, but first he had to learn under Antoninus. Except that Antoninus lives for another two decades. Think of the patience, the humility, the self control, the endurance.” — Ryan Holiday (00:39)

• Stoic Virtues Required:

  • Wisdom: To view waiting not as wasted, but as preparation.
  • Courage: To persist without complaint.
  • Justice: To continue giving your best even when not recognized.
  • Discipline: To keep your ego in check and avoid resentment.

    “It will take wisdom to see that waiting is not wasted. It will take courage not to quit or complain. It will take justice to keep giving your best, even when the spotlight belongs to someone else. It will take discipline to hold your ego in check, to resist resentment, to keep showing up.” — Ryan Holiday (01:36)

• Personal Example:
  Ryan draws a parallel with his long-term writing project, which took far more time than planned, reinforcing the need for patience in all endeavors.

  “Stuff takes what it takes. And you gotta learn how to be patient.” — Ryan Holiday (02:23)

2. The Stoic Imperative: “Do Your Job”

• Marcus Aurelius’s Meditation (7:15):

  “Whatever anyone does or says, for my part, I’m bound to the good...Whatever anyone does or says, I must be what I am and show my true colors.” — Marcus Aurelius / Read by Stephen Hanselman (05:19)

• Interconnected Duty:
  Stoicism teaches that everyone (and everything) serves a role in the larger cosmic system—even those who do wrong are, in a way, doing their part.

  “Even those who did bad things, they were doing their job of being evil, because evil is unfortunately, a part of life.” — Ryan Holiday (06:07)

• We Always Have the Ability to Do Good:
  Drawing from his scout days, Ryan highlights that daily acts of goodness, however trivial, matter:

  “I remember being in Boy Scouts as a kid. You know, do one good turn every day. What can you do? Can you hold the door open for someone? Can you give someone a compliment? Can you pay for someone's coffee? Can you give an employee a few hours off? You know, what can you do? Who can you help? Who can you serve? What kind of difference can you make?” — Ryan Holiday (07:58)

• Practical Example:
  Ryan narrates picking up roadside trash with his sons, underscoring the tangible, visible impact of small, good actions—even if they go unnoticed and unrewarded.

  “When I went on the walk this morning, the goodness was there, it was visible. The trash was not there. And, you know, there’s satisfaction in feeling like, hey, that didn’t end up in a river somewhere, that didn’t end up in a bird’s stomach. Maybe it didn’t end up in my stomach, right? We made a tiny difference.” — Ryan Holiday (08:43)

3. The Larger Impact of Collective Goodness

• Individual Goodness Accumulates:
  While individual acts may seem minor, their collective effect can be profound.

  “Think of the impact that this collective individual action can have.” — Ryan Holiday (08:03)

• No Parade, No Thanks—Just the Duty:
  Doing good is its own reward and core Stoic duty, regardless of external recognition.

  “By tomorrow, there’s gonna be more trash. No one’s gonna throw me a parade. I’m not gonna get thanked for it, but I did it because it’s my job. My job is to show my true colors. To be good, to do good, to fight, to be the person that philosophy wants to make us.” — Ryan Holiday (09:24)

4. Call to Action

• Ryan’s Final Encouragement:
  He asks listeners to take their role seriously:

  “What good can you do?...Go out there, get at it.” — Ryan Holiday (09:25, 09:59)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the burden and gift of waiting:
  “It was actually a gift to delay [responsibility]. It was time with family, time to be normal…every minute of prior experience was a benefit, that every lesson was priceless.” — Ryan Holiday (01:01)

• On personal agency:
  “If you want to see good, you do good. We always have the ability to do our job. And in doing our job, we know that the world is not totally lost, that it’s not hopeless, that there is good because we can produce it.” — Ryan Holiday (07:19)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:39 – Ryan introduces the challenge of waiting, using Marcus Aurelius as an example.
• 01:36 – Outlines the Stoic virtues needed to “play second fiddle.”
• 02:23 – Ryan relates his own experience of unexpected patience and project delays.
• 05:19 – Reading of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations 7:15.
• 06:07 – Discussion of nature, duty, and “doing your job” in the cosmic system.
• 07:58 – Practical acts of daily goodness.
• 08:43 – Ryan’s story about picking up trash with his sons.
• 09:24–09:59 – The importance of duty and call to collective action.

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Tone & Style

Ryan Holiday’s tone is earnest, reflective, and motivating. His anecdotes are personal but universally applicable, his philosophical points practical and challenging. He encourages humility, diligence, and kindness without expecting fanfare—echoing the Stoic tradition of focusing on improvement for its own sake.

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Summary

This episode urges listeners to embrace patience and steadfast goodness as daily Stoic practices. Whether waiting for your moment or performing unnoticed acts of service, the true test is maintaining character and purpose—doing your job in line with justice, courage, wisdom, and discipline. The reward isn’t applause but the quiet certainty of having left your corner of the world a little better.

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Transcript

[Ryan Holiday]

Welcome to the Daily Stoic podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice and wisdom, into the real world. Hey there. Just a heads up, I'm going to be on tour this fall. You can see me in Australia and New Zealand in October. In August. I'm mixing my months up here, but in August you can see me in Chicago and Minneapolis and Detroit. Then I'll be on the east coast sometime in November and December. Anyways, grab tickets to that dailystoiclive.com Hope

[Stephen Hanselman]

to see you there.

[Ryan Holiday]

Could you do this? Nobody likes to do it. Nobody likes to wait. Nobody likes to have to defer. Nobody likes to be overlooked or taken for granted or yoked to somebody else. It's been said that the most difficult instrument in the orchestra is second fiddle. Can you imagine being Marcus Aurelius? He was chosen to succeed Hadrian, but first he had to learn under Antoninus. Except that Antoninus lives for another two decades. Think of the patience, the humility, the self control, the endurance. It's frustrating to have to wait for six months, let alone six years. And nearly 36% of Marcus's life was spent waiting for Antoninus to retire or pass away. But not only does Marcus Aurelius put up with this, he uses it. He understood that power and responsibility were heavy things, that it was actually a gift to delay them. It was time with family, time to be normal. He understood that it was a complex job he was taking over, and that every minute of prior experience was a benefit, that every lesson was priceless. Life is going to ask you to wait. Sometimes there will be people ahead of you. There will be things you have to learn. You're going to have to play second fiddle. And to be able to do this will require all of the Stoic virtues. It will take wisdom to see that waiting is not wasted. It will take courage not to quit or complain. It will take justice to keep giving your best, even when the spotlight belongs to someone else. It will take discipline to hold your ego in check, to resist resentment, to keep showing up. That's the question. Then could you do that? Could you wait without becoming bitter? Could you serve without being seen? Could you prepare without knowing exactly when your moment will come? You know, when I was working on the Stoic Virtue series, I thought it'd be like a four year series. Instead it was like a six plus year series. Stuff takes what it takes. And you gotta learn how to be patient. And patience and waiting, as I said,

[Stephen Hanselman]

requires all those virtues.

[Ryan Holiday]

Courage, discipline, justice, wisdom. If you want to Grab a signed copy of the box set you can. I will link to that in today's show notes.

[Stephen Hanselman]

I hope you check it out.

[Ryan Holiday]

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[Stephen Hanselman]

do your job. Whatever anyone does or says, for my part, I'm bound to the good. In the same way an emerald or gold or purple might always proclaim whatever anyone does or says, I must be what I am and show my true colors. That's Marcus Aurelius's meditation 7:15. This is from the Daily Stoic 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance in the Art of Living by me, Ryan Holiday, my friend Stephen Hanselman. You can get this anywhere. Books are sold, audiobook, physical. We even have an awesome leather bound edition in the Daily Stokes store. And you can check that [e-mail] leather but let's get on to the meditation today. The Stoics believe that every person, animal and thing has a purpose or place in nature. Even in ancient Greek and Roman times, they vaguely understood that the world was composed of millions of tiny atoms. It was this idea, this sense of the interconnected cosmos that underpinned their sense that every person, every action was part of a larger system. Everyone had a job, a specific duty, even those who did bad things, they were doing their job of being evil, because evil is unfortunately, a part of life. The most critical part of this system was the belief that you, the student who has sought out Stoicism, have the most important job. To be good, to be wise, to remain the person that philosophy wished to make us. As Marcus Aurelius said, do your job today. Whatever happens, whatever other people's jobs happen to be, do yours. Be good. This is one of my favorite entries in Marcus Aurelius. And you know, it's funny. He talks about being good, doing good, talks about the common good, like dozens and dozens of times in Meditations, because that is Stoicism. Yes, it's an individual philosophy, but individual in the sense of that famous quote about being the change that you want to see in the world. And in fact, this is something the Stoics say. If you want to see good, you do good. We always have the ability to do our job. And in doing our job, we know that the world is not totally lost, that it's not hopeless, that there is good because we can produce it. Marcus says that we are sort of a fountain of goodness. It's always bubbling up. Yes, sometimes it gets covered over by dirt or whatever, but we can dig it out, we can get that water flowing again. So that's the imperative today. What good can you do? I remember being in Boy Scouts as a kid. You know, do one good turn every day. What can you do? Can you hold the door open for someone? Can you give someone a compliment? Can you pay for someone's coffee? Can you give an employee a few hours off? You know, what can you do? Who can you help? Who can you serve? What kind of difference can you make? And yes, this doesn't solve massive collective action problems. I understand that those do exist, those do need to be addressed. But think of the impact that this collective individual action can have. Yesterday, my two sons and I, we went on our morning walk and there was just so much trash by the side of the road, and we didn't have time to get it. It was starting to get bad. And we just. I said, you know what? We're gonna get the ATV after dinner, instead of going for our evening walk, we're gonna get a trash bag and we're gonna pick all this up. We went out, it took about 30 minutes. We filled a giant trash bag with trash. It was fun. It was outside, they loved, oh, there's one, there's a piece. It was, you know, fun little game. But here's the thing. When I went on the walk this morning, the goodness was there, it was visible. The trash was not there. And, you know, there's satisfaction in feeling like, hey, that didn't end up in a river somewhere, that didn't end up in a bird's stomach. Maybe it didn't end up in my stomach, right? We made a tiny difference. And I'm gonna walk.

[Ryan Holiday]

By tomorrow, there's gonna be more trash. No one's gonna throw me a parade.

[Stephen Hanselman]

I'm not gonna get thanked for it, but I did it because it's my job. My job is to show my true colors. To be good, to do good, to fight, to be the person that philosophy wants to make us. That's what stoicism is about. I'm really excited to think of all the good that the many, many, many, many thousands of listeners listening to this podcast can cumulatively do. Not just in the future, but right now, today, when you stop listening to this message, go out there, get at it.

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