The Daily Stoic

Marcus Aurelius opens Meditations reflecting upon what he has learned from various influential individuals in his life. It’s titled “Debts and Lessons,” and the 17 entries spanning nine pages and more than 2,000 words make up nearly 10% of the entire book! Marcus writes with the humility of someone in the final act of their life taking stock of how lucky they are to be where they are.It’s beautiful. And it totally dispenses with the notion of the "self-made man," the idea that someone got somewhere all on their own. Marcus knew he was a product of so many mentors, influencers, advisors and teachers. Debt is the operative word in that title—he owed them so much.When we talked to Arnold Schwarzenegger on a recent episode of the Daily Stoic podcast, he talked about this very idea (in fact, he references how inspired he was by Meditations in the final chapter of his fantastic new book Be Useful). Because on the surface Arnold Schwarzenegger’s remarkable life story is a classic example of that idea of the “self-ma