Creating great work, through Stoic quotes

Here are some quotes from the school of Stoicism, and how we can apply them to our daily work:

“The best revenge is not to be like that”: Just because Jeff Bezos and Kevin Plank use their leadership positions to manipulate the stock market for their gain and everyone else’s loss, it doesn’t mean you need to play their game to get ahead. Play a different game.

“What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee”: To accept the conduct or presence of bad clients or bad employees is to accept poison into your work that, once injected, is very difficult to extract. Preventative action is better than seeking out a vaccine.

“Amor fati”: Associating emotional security in certain outcomes creates high blood pressure, envy, exhaustion, and ignored families. Conversely, learning to love the journey, rather than the outcomes, creates better creators.

“Look for the poetry in ordinary things”: System and process design and/or refinement don’t feature on the cover of business magazines. Yet they’re a cornerstone of great companies. Beauty need not be sexy – learn to love systems.

“Meditate on your mortality every day”: You get to be a part of this work today. It’s just for a short time, possibly shorter than you think. Learn to love simply the act of getting to play in the first place.