1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:26,800
Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, I am Dramas And this is the Streeked

2
00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,440
Speaker 1: Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stoic

3
00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:35,040
Speaker 1: philosophy remixed for the hip hop generation. We are combining

4
00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,720
Speaker 1: hip hop lyrics and quotes from some of the greatest

5
00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:42,800
Speaker 1: who ever graates a microphone with ancient stoic philosophy. Now,

6
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,919
Speaker 1: with that in mind, let's get things started with your

7
00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:54,160
Speaker 1: daily shot of inspiration. So today we're gonna be focusing

8
00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,959
Speaker 1: around the idea of diminishing your ego. Right. I think

9
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,680
Speaker 1: this is oftentime. I'm such a reminder that all of

10
00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:03,880
Speaker 1: us need throughout the course of our lives. Right. And

11
00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:06,280
Speaker 1: today's quote that we're going to be pulling from is

12
00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,840
Speaker 1: from of course tupocshre Core and none other. And he

13
00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:16,959
Speaker 1: says a very simple quote here, even the genius asks questions, right,

14
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,320
Speaker 1: and this is a very obvious one. But I think

15
00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,800
Speaker 1: what's powerful about this one in particular is the messenger. Right.

16
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,760
Speaker 1: You have tupocsrecor regarded as one of the greatest of

17
00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,280
Speaker 1: all time at his craft and also one of the

18
00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:30,600
Speaker 1: most brilliant minds, is not only in hip hop but

19
00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,280
Speaker 1: to me of a generation. Right, And he makes a

20
00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,440
Speaker 1: living rapping about bravado and being braggadocious, you know, and

21
00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,039
Speaker 1: being the best, and still even he has to humble

22
00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,080
Speaker 1: himself enough to admit that it's okay to ask for help,

23
00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,440
Speaker 1: that even you know, the person who is revered as

24
00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,840
Speaker 1: the best at what they do, they sometimes need guidance

25
00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,040
Speaker 1: just like anybody else. Right, And this leads perfectly into

26
00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,240
Speaker 1: a still quote from Marcus Aurelius where he says, don't

27
00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:02,480
Speaker 1: be a shame to need help like a soldier storming

28
00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,800
Speaker 1: a wall. You have a mission to accomplish. And if

29
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,440
Speaker 1: you've been wounded and you need a comrade to pull

30
00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,960
Speaker 1: you up, so what? And I love that that last

31
00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:14,480
Speaker 1: slide right there, right like so what? Right? Like? We

32
00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,520
Speaker 1: live in this culture where where so many people, you know,

33
00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:19,840
Speaker 1: like to claim this term of self made. We wear

34
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,840
Speaker 1: it as like a badge of honor, right, and and

35
00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,320
Speaker 1: not to discredit anybody's work, but the reality is, no

36
00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,200
Speaker 1: one is one hundred percent self made. We all had

37
00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,560
Speaker 1: people along the way who extended a hand, or people

38
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,320
Speaker 1: who taught us lessons, both directly and indirectly. And listen,

39
00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,960
Speaker 1: there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, right Like that that

40
00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,640
Speaker 1: speaks so much to me and where I'm at in

41
00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:41,520
Speaker 1: my life right now. You know, I relate to this

42
00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,840
Speaker 1: idea of diminishing your ego and humbling yourself for the

43
00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,120
Speaker 1: greater good, because you know, one of the biggest life

44
00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,040
Speaker 1: changing events that I've ever had for me was getting

45
00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:53,240
Speaker 1: my podcast deal right, and while I put a ton

46
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,280
Speaker 1: of work to get here, it probably would have never

47
00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:58,440
Speaker 1: happened without the help of Charlotmagne, the god right that

48
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:00,760
Speaker 1: is just a reality, like he connects me to the

49
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,600
Speaker 1: right people. He even you know, took the time to

50
00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,000
Speaker 1: read my contract and even had his own lawyer read

51
00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,720
Speaker 1: my contract, and both of which made suggestions for me

52
00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,280
Speaker 1: that were, you know, incredible, And had I have been

53
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,200
Speaker 1: too proud to take his help and advice, I wouldn't

54
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:15,840
Speaker 1: be here right now, right at least not in the

55
00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,760
Speaker 1: position that I'm in today. And of course, you know,

56
00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,040
Speaker 1: are there going to be some people out there who

57
00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,800
Speaker 1: may use that against me, the people in the Instagram comments, right,

58
00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 1: and they may say I'm only here because of Charlemagne.

59
00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,359
Speaker 1: Sure those people are going to exist, But guess what,

60
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,360
Speaker 1: it doesn't change the fact that I am here now,

61
00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,720
Speaker 1: and it does not change what I have gone on

62
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,280
Speaker 1: to accomplish right for me as it should be for you.

63
00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,400
Speaker 1: Living out my dream is far more important to me

64
00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,040
Speaker 1: than claiming some title of being completely self made or

65
00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,520
Speaker 1: being able to tell people that I had no help

66
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:52,360
Speaker 1: getting where I am. You know, all of those things

67
00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,360
Speaker 1: are absolutely useless to me in the real world. And

68
00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,040
Speaker 1: I have no problem acknowledging the help that I had

69
00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,000
Speaker 1: along the way to build what I'm currently building, and

70
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,480
Speaker 1: I have no problem accepting more and more help down

71
00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,520
Speaker 1: the road as I inevitably will need. Right and listen,

72
00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,760
Speaker 1: I'm lucky it panned out the way that it did right,

73
00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:12,880
Speaker 1: because it could have gone left. I mean, the reality is,

74
00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,080
Speaker 1: before I even had a podcast deal on the table,

75
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,680
Speaker 1: I was unhappy with where I was at, and you know,

76
00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:23,320
Speaker 1: rather than expressing that and asking for advice on how

77
00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,400
Speaker 1: I could go about possibly renegotiating my current contract, like,

78
00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,400
Speaker 1: I just sat there bitter each and every day, my

79
00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,920
Speaker 1: performance became, you know, more and more lackluster. And I'm

80
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,200
Speaker 1: lucky that the podcast deal came along because I could

81
00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,599
Speaker 1: have easily been fired for not being great at my

82
00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,440
Speaker 1: job anymore. But again, had I have asked for that

83
00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:43,840
Speaker 1: helping hand, somebody could have put me onto some game

84
00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,039
Speaker 1: and said, listen, you don't have to wait till your

85
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,080
Speaker 1: contract is up. If you feel like you are progressing

86
00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:51,320
Speaker 1: beyond where you know you were when you signed it,

87
00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:53,240
Speaker 1: why not go have a talk. And this is how

88
00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:55,880
Speaker 1: you can renegotiate your contract so that you are happy

89
00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,159
Speaker 1: in your position and you feel valued and you feel

90
00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,279
Speaker 1: like you are getting what you deserve. But went on

91
00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,680
Speaker 1: for far longer than that. I'd like to admit just

92
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,640
Speaker 1: feeling undervalued and underappreciated when I could have easily just

93
00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,159
Speaker 1: humbled myself enough to ask for help on what I

94
00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,679
Speaker 1: should do next, you know, rather than being too proud

95
00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,320
Speaker 1: to talk about the fact that I wasn't making a

96
00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 1: lot of money, or that I was, you know, not

97
00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:20,800
Speaker 1: happy where I was at. Right, Like again, I got

98
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 1: lucky the podcast deal came along because it could have

99
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,760
Speaker 1: gotten completely left because I was too proud to ask

100
00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,760
Speaker 1: for help at one point. Now we've heard from from Tupac,

101
00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,000
Speaker 1: you have heard from Marcus Urrelius. I've connected this to,

102
00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:35,039
Speaker 1: you know, being a real foundation in my own life.

103
00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:36,960
Speaker 1: Now let's talk about how you can make it your

104
00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,160
Speaker 1: mantra for today. But first let's take a quick break,

105
00:05:40,200 --> 00:06:13,159
Speaker 1: and then we'll be right back. All right, So we

106
00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,839
Speaker 1: have heard the words of Tupac Shakur. We have heard

107
00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:18,320
Speaker 1: from one of these stoics, Marcus Aurelius. I've given you

108
00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:20,480
Speaker 1: a lot of insight into my life and why I'm

109
00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,080
Speaker 1: sitting here right now. Now, let's talk about how you

110
00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:25,760
Speaker 1: can make it your monstra for today. And we are

111
00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,840
Speaker 1: talking about the idea of diminishing your ego. And first

112
00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:31,960
Speaker 1: and foremost, it starts with acknowledging the fact that you

113
00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,640
Speaker 1: don't know what you don't know, right, That's it. No

114
00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:36,920
Speaker 1: one is is one hundred percent self made. And that's

115
00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,160
Speaker 1: the other thing we all have to come to terms with. Right.

116
00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,520
Speaker 1: And even if some slim chance in hell, you know,

117
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,960
Speaker 1: somebody stepped into ship and they had that blind luck

118
00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,719
Speaker 1: you know where they have all the bragging rights because

119
00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,640
Speaker 1: they were in fact self made and nobody helped them

120
00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:54,440
Speaker 1: out along the way. Again, that is all that they have.

121
00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,360
Speaker 1: They just have those bragging rights, which here in the

122
00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,800
Speaker 1: real world where you and I exist in bragging rights

123
00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:05,080
Speaker 1: have little to no actual value. Right, And we, of course,

124
00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,920
Speaker 1: you know, we have to at times make our own

125
00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,000
Speaker 1: mistakes to learn lessons. But but also with that in mind,

126
00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:13,680
Speaker 1: why not try to learn from those who have been

127
00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,240
Speaker 1: there before. You know, why not accelerate our growth through

128
00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:20,280
Speaker 1: the help of others, especially if they're willing to give

129
00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:22,880
Speaker 1: us a helping hand. You know that, right, there is

130
00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,120
Speaker 1: a gift in itself. And now to summarize, you know,

131
00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:29,760
Speaker 1: you have Tupac with a very simple quote, right talking

132
00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,720
Speaker 1: about the idea that even geniuses ask questions. Right, even

133
00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,520
Speaker 1: the people we regard as the smartest, the best, they

134
00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:39,160
Speaker 1: have to be humble enough to ask questions because no

135
00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,280
Speaker 1: one knows it all right. And just like Marcus Aurelius

136
00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,360
Speaker 1: talks about, you know, if you were injured and needed

137
00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,720
Speaker 1: help getting over a wall as a soldier, why wouldn't

138
00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,240
Speaker 1: you ask your comrade to help pull you up? Right,

139
00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,040
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you are both going

140
00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:54,560
Speaker 1: to achieve what you set out to do, and that

141
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:56,960
Speaker 1: is getting over that wall. You know, nobody's gonna hold

142
00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,560
Speaker 1: it against you that you needed a little bump up

143
00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,960
Speaker 1: to cross that finish line. And again, how I relate.

144
00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,880
Speaker 1: I am here because I was humble enough to sit

145
00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:10,360
Speaker 1: there and ask for help along the way and acknowledge

146
00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,480
Speaker 1: that I did not know shit about contracts or the standards.

147
00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:16,440
Speaker 1: In the podcast, world, and I was lucky enough that

148
00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,920
Speaker 1: I was able to enlist someone who did and they

149
00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,200
Speaker 1: could help me out. But all that came with diminishing

150
00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,920
Speaker 1: my ego and not being too proud to ask for advice. Right,

151
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:29,040
Speaker 1: and lastly, you basically have one choice to make right.

152
00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,800
Speaker 1: Do you want bragging rights or do you want actual greatness?

153
00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:36,480
Speaker 1: And if it's the latter, then you need to have

154
00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:39,920
Speaker 1: no shame while you soak up game from anyone who

155
00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,600
Speaker 1: is willing to give it to you. Now, with that said,

156
00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,640
Speaker 1: thank y'all so much for checking out the Street Stoic podcast.

157
00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:48,360
Speaker 1: Do your best to apply these concepts that we've discussed

158
00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,640
Speaker 1: today into your everyday life, and I would catch you

159
00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:57,320
Speaker 1: next time. The Street Stoke Podcast is a production of

160
00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:04,160
Speaker 1: Ihearts Michael Blura Podcast Network