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February 16th

DON’T MAKE THINGS HARDER THAN THEY NEED TO BE

“If someone asks you how to write your name, would you bark out

each letter? And if they get angry, would you then return the

anger? Wouldn’t you rather gently spell out each letter for them?

So then, remember in life that your duties are the sum of

individual acts. Pay attention to each of these as you do your

duty... just methodically complete your task.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.26

ere’s a common scenario. You’re working with a frustrating coworker
or a difficult boss. They ask you to do something and, because you
dislike the messenger, you immediately object. There’s this problem or that
one, or their request is obnoxious and rude. So you tell them, “No, I’m not
going to do it.” Then they retaliate by not doing something that you had
previously asked of them. And so the conflict escalates.
Meanwhile, if you could step back and see it objectively, you’d probably
see that not everything they’re asking for is unreasonable. In fact, some of it
is pretty easy to do or is, at least, agreeable. And if you did it, it might make
the rest of the tasks a bit more tolerable too. Pretty soon, you’ve done the
entire thing.
Life (and our job) is difficult enough. Let’s not make it harder by getting
emotional about insignificant matters or digging in for battles we don’t
actually care about. Let’s not let emotion get in the way of kathêkon, the
simple, appropriate actions on the path to virtue.