A Kind of Mission Statement

March 9, 2009 — 4 Comments

Once while Plato entertained guests, Diogenes entered his home and stomped on his carpets. He’s said to have shouted that he was trampling down the pride of Plato. Plato, according the guests, simply replied “Yes, Diogenes, with a pride of another sort.”

I don’t think we need any more blogs that give you career advice, networking tips or chatter incessantly about micro-movements cut off from the big picture. I agree with Seneca when he said we don’t have time to discuss the storms that befell Odysseus when every day we run into our own storms, storms in reality not fiction. Instead each day you should acquire from what you read something that helps you fight fear, stagnation, indulgence or death. If you’re setting out to write something, that should be its purpose.

But to focus on the heavier stuff inherently risks moralizing. And to moralize, like Diogenes, is to risk another kind of prideful error.

Ryan Holiday

I'm a strategist for bestselling authors and billion dollar brands like American Apparel, Tucker Max and Robert Greene. My work has been used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube and Google and has been written about in AdAge, the New York Times, Gawker and Fast Company.

4 responses to A Kind of Mission Statement

  1. Surely the placement of the Amazon.com ad for “Six Degrees of Paris Hilton,” complete with Tucker Max quote, is pure coincidence?

  2. Rudius reps Mark so we’re running ads for his book

  3. I just thought it was a neat juxtaposition given the subject of today’s post. . . not that Paris Hilton and her crew should ever be confused with “heavier stuff.”

  4. i really do not get the last paragraph. I feel like there is a point that Ryan is making but i do not get it.

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