Dying Daily: The Gap Between Knowing and Doing

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Welcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Dying Daily.

The philosopher and the athlete are working on the same problem. The athlete knows that wanting to be fast is not the same as being fast. 

Between the desire and the capacity lies the only thing that actually closes the gap—the practice, repeated daily, in conditions that are sometimes ideal and more often not. No serious athlete waits to feel motivated. 

Motivation is a consequence of practice, not its precondition. 

You train. The capacity develops. The desire follows.

The philosopher has the same problem and the same solution.

“First say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do.” — Epictetus, Discourses

Epictetus taught philosophy the way a coach teaches sport. 

The point is not the argument. The point is performance, and it happens under the actual conditions of your life. [...]

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