March 10, 2023 • 11 mins
Dramos takes a look at a quote from Marcus Aurelius and The 50th Law, a New York Times bestselling book on strategy and fearlessness written by 50 Cent and Robert Green, which details the rapper's rise from hustler to musician. Pulling from both book and quote, Dramos describes the value of being the master of one's own fate and the importance of not letting others dictate how you are perceived.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Yes, Yes, I am Dramas And this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stoic philosophy,
a remix for the hip hop generation. We're combining philosophy
with lyrics in quotes from some of the greatest to
ever grace a microphone. Now, with that in mind, let's
get things started with your daily shot of inspiration. Now
(00:42):
today we're gonna be talking about the stoic idea of
focusing on what you can control, but more specifically when
it comes to being judged by others, and also accepting
the role that we inevitably play in that. Right now,
today we are going to be pulling from fifty cent
and this is actually from the book The Fiftieth Law.
He co wrote it with Robert Green. In the book,
(01:05):
he says, quote, understand, people judge you by appearances, the
image you project through your actions, words, and style. If
you do not take control of this process, then people
will define you the way they want to, often to
your detriment. And then he's saying so much in here,
(01:28):
but I think that that last line right when he's
talking about that if you don't take control of this process,
people will define you as they see fit. Right, So
it's really, you know, thinking about who you are and
how you want to be presented to the world. And
of course, you know, this kind of goes against the
idea that we can't control the thoughts of others and
(01:49):
others perceptions of us and this, that and the third.
But I don't think that's what we're really talking about here.
I think we're talking about kind of stepping into your
power and understanding that you're in so much control over
how others can or can't take advantage of you. Right.
You know, if you are focused on the way that
you are being portrayed, right, the way that you are
(02:11):
portraying yourself to others, right, be it as somebody who
is powerful and somebody who can't be screwed over. Right,
If you are very careful about the actions that you
take and the words that you speak, again, people are
are going to know that they can see you as
somebody who is you know, trustworthy, that they can count
on you because of the actions that you continuously take. Right.
(02:32):
And again, not everybody is going to see you the
way that you think you're presenting yourself. But this is
how we begin to kind of take action and control
how we are treated by others in the outside world,
you know, of course, to the best of our ability.
And this leads to a quote from one of the stoics,
Marcus Surrealius, where he says, if you are distressed by
(02:53):
anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself,
but your estimate of it. And this you have the
power to revoke at any moment. And I want to
focus on that last line, basically saying, at any point
you have the power to take control over your life,
any particular situation. And to me, what I get away
(03:16):
from from that quote is you know that that people
will do with you what you allow them to get
away with. Right, We've all kind of heard that's saying
in some way, shape or form. You know, if you
are somebody who doesn't stick up for yourself, you don't
voice your opinion, you know, people are inevitably going to
take advantage of you. That's that's just kind of the
unfortunate way of society and the world. And you know,
(03:40):
at the end of the day, you know you have
nobody to blame for that but yourself. Of course, you know,
it sucks that people are that way, and it shouldn't
be that way. But if that's the reality of life,
it's that's the reality of this capitalistic society that we
live in. You have to accept that and then focus
on the part of it that you are in control
of it. And that's the part that you know, portrays
somebody of power and confidence that doesn't allow people to
(04:03):
take advantage of them and forces people to treat them fairly.
And this is something I relate to man wholeheartedly. I've
always been a people pleaser, and particularly in the industry
that I've come up in, you know, the world of
entertainment and media, and we're always just supposed to be
so grateful for any opportunity, right, Like it's a blessing
(04:24):
that we're even allowed in the door, you know. Like
I was always incredibly timid, you know, coming up, and
as a result, a lot of people took advantage of that,
right And there was a time where you know, I
was doing radio shifts at a radio station and they
weren't paying me, and of course it was a great,
great opportunity, but eventually they just kept expecting to add
(04:48):
more and more things onto my plate and that I
would just continue to accept it. And of course I
had to stand up for myself. I had to say, like,
I'm at the point now where I've been doing this
for a good amount of time for you, and I
deserve to be getting paid. And if that's that's not
what you're able to do right now, I need to
move on from this situation. And that's what I had
(05:09):
to do, right And it's the same thing with you know,
djaying early on as a DJ, so many things of
like oh can you can you do this? We don't
have a budget to pay you. It's great exposure, all
of the above, and for a little while, there are
certain opportunities that you kind of have to take advantage
of as you're trying to build a name for yourself,
as you are are networking. But again, if you don't
draw that line in the sand, they will always try
(05:29):
and take advantage of you as somebody who doesn't deserve
to get paid. Again, some of those relationships went by
the wayside and others recognize that they could no longer
take advantage of me and they had to start paying
up right. But again it was me declaring who I
was and where I was in my career and telling
people you need to treat me accordingly. And of course
(05:51):
this is not always going to work out in your favor.
There are going to be people who don't believe in
the way that you see yourself, right, and they're going
to move on from you and tell you best of luck,
And you have to be accepting of that. Right. You
have to go where you are are celebrated, not where
you are tolerated, right. And that is something I've always
tried to remind myself in those tough moments where somebody
(06:13):
is playing hardball and making it seem like I'm going
to lose more by it by no longer being taken
advantage of right. And again, you have to stick to
your guns and know that you are valuable and somebody
else out there will be willing to give you what
you feel you are worth, but you have to first
and foremost declare yourself as someone of value. Now, with
(06:34):
that in mind, we have heard from man fifty cent,
we have heard from Marcus Aurelius, one of the Stoics.
I've definitely given you a bit of insight into something
I struggled with for a long time on this topic.
But now let's talk about how you can make it
your mantra for today. But first let's take a quick
break and then we'll be right back. All right, So
(07:03):
we have heard the words of fifty cent, we have
heard Marcus surreally, as I've given you some insight into
how I have dealt with people judging me and then
feeling like they can take advantage of me and me
not taking that control, and then how I had to
learn how to take matters into my own hands. Right,
So let's talk about this the stoic idea of focusing
(07:24):
on what you can control. Let's talk about how you
can make it your mantra for today. Now, I think,
first and foremost, you know, you can't expect to be
seen as valuable or treated as such if you are
not first taking control and declaring yourself as someone who
is valuable. Right, Like, I've always been blown away by
(07:45):
people who are nice people but not necessarily great at
their craft. But there's a lot of people that I
would watch and at best their average and their skill set,
but somehow, some way, they are always out doing something right.
They are getting to play some show that is definitely
above their talent level, and I'd always sit back and wonder, like,
how the hell is this person finessing this, and I
(08:07):
think if first and foremost starts with this, you know,
even if they talent wise our average at best at
what they do, the attitude that they're walking in the
room with and what they're declaring their worth is is
speaking louder than that, and people, as a result are
are having to sort of buy into what they're selling
right because it seems like they really do believe it,
(08:30):
and it almost makes you doubt like maybe I'm wrong
about their talent level because this person is so confident
in what they do, and that's how they're creating those opportunities.
They're not, you know, coming in the room and so
just quietly with their head down saying like, hey, yeah,
I'm I'm a I'm a singer. You know, maybe i'd
like some sort of opportunity that's not going to get you,
you know, what you want. They're walking in there like, listen,
(08:51):
I am crushing it right now as a singer, Like
you need to have me on your show. I would
kill it and listen. They're not going to always get
the opportunity, but I promist you that attitude will have
people buying into you far faster than if you're just
kind of quietly satisfied with taking the scraps that they're
willing to throw you. Again, people will only take advantage
(09:11):
of you for as much as you're going to allow
them to. If you are not declaring yourself as somebody
who is a value who needs to be taking care of. Accordingly,
they're going to be happy, you know, with judging you
as somebody that they can take advantage of. And again,
just give those scraps too. Now, let's kind of summarize
what we've been talking about today. You fifty and the
(09:31):
fiftieth ball, Like he says, if you do not take
control of this process, then people will see and define
you the way they want to, often to your detriment.
If you don't stand up for yourself, people will take
advantage of you because it benefits them at the end
of the day. Right, and then a quote from one
of the stoics, Marcus Surrealius. Right, he's talking about how
(09:52):
you have the power to revoke at any moment. Right,
Like any moment, you have the ability to catch yourself
and say, you know what, I'm not taking this ship anymore.
I know my value, I know my worth, and either
you're going to give it to me or not that
leads right into my own life and those examples that
I've talked about with you. You know, I would still
be dejaying for free had I not have said at
(10:14):
one point in time like no, I'm farist who's talented.
I've paid my dues, I'm drawing a line in the sand.
People would have loved to have keep taking advantage of
me and not paying me anything, because of course it
brings more money in their pocket. And it was up
to me to focus on the part of it that
I could control, and that was declaring my status as
someone who is of value and someone that needs to
be thought about accordingly. Right, And as a result, not
(10:38):
everybody you know hopped on that train. But again, moving forward,
I was able to then make this a career because
people understood that I was someone of value and someone
that was demanding to be treated as such financially and
respect wise, of course. So remember, you get to create
your own value, and you have to be unafraid to
(10:59):
declare it to each and every person that you meet
and make sure they treat you accordingly or you move
on to something else. Now, with that said, thank you
so much for checking out the street Stoke Podcast. Do
your best to apply these concepts that we discussed today
and see your everyday life and I will talk to
you next time. The Street Stoke Podcast is a production
(11:22):
of Ihearts Michael Bura Podcast Network
Yes, Yes, I am Dramas And this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stoic philosophy,
a remix for the hip hop generation. We're combining philosophy
with lyrics in quotes from some of the greatest to
ever grace a microphone. Now, with that in mind, let's
get things started with your daily shot of inspiration. Now
(00:42):
today we're gonna be talking about the stoic idea of
focusing on what you can control, but more specifically when
it comes to being judged by others, and also accepting
the role that we inevitably play in that. Right now,
today we are going to be pulling from fifty cent
and this is actually from the book The Fiftieth Law.
He co wrote it with Robert Green. In the book,
(01:05):
he says, quote, understand, people judge you by appearances, the
image you project through your actions, words, and style. If
you do not take control of this process, then people
will define you the way they want to, often to
your detriment. And then he's saying so much in here,
(01:28):
but I think that that last line right when he's
talking about that if you don't take control of this process,
people will define you as they see fit. Right, So
it's really, you know, thinking about who you are and
how you want to be presented to the world. And
of course, you know, this kind of goes against the
idea that we can't control the thoughts of others and
(01:49):
others perceptions of us and this, that and the third.
But I don't think that's what we're really talking about here.
I think we're talking about kind of stepping into your
power and understanding that you're in so much control over
how others can or can't take advantage of you. Right.
You know, if you are focused on the way that
you are being portrayed, right, the way that you are
(02:11):
portraying yourself to others, right, be it as somebody who
is powerful and somebody who can't be screwed over. Right,
If you are very careful about the actions that you
take and the words that you speak, again, people are
are going to know that they can see you as
somebody who is you know, trustworthy, that they can count
on you because of the actions that you continuously take. Right.
(02:32):
And again, not everybody is going to see you the
way that you think you're presenting yourself. But this is
how we begin to kind of take action and control
how we are treated by others in the outside world,
you know, of course, to the best of our ability.
And this leads to a quote from one of the stoics,
Marcus Surrealius, where he says, if you are distressed by
(02:53):
anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself,
but your estimate of it. And this you have the
power to revoke at any moment. And I want to
focus on that last line, basically saying, at any point
you have the power to take control over your life,
any particular situation. And to me, what I get away
(03:16):
from from that quote is you know that that people
will do with you what you allow them to get
away with. Right, We've all kind of heard that's saying
in some way, shape or form. You know, if you
are somebody who doesn't stick up for yourself, you don't
voice your opinion, you know, people are inevitably going to
take advantage of you. That's that's just kind of the
unfortunate way of society and the world. And you know,
(03:40):
at the end of the day, you know you have
nobody to blame for that but yourself. Of course, you know,
it sucks that people are that way, and it shouldn't
be that way. But if that's the reality of life,
it's that's the reality of this capitalistic society that we
live in. You have to accept that and then focus
on the part of it that you are in control
of it. And that's the part that you know, portrays
somebody of power and confidence that doesn't allow people to
(04:03):
take advantage of them and forces people to treat them fairly.
And this is something I relate to man wholeheartedly. I've
always been a people pleaser, and particularly in the industry
that I've come up in, you know, the world of
entertainment and media, and we're always just supposed to be
so grateful for any opportunity, right, Like it's a blessing
(04:24):
that we're even allowed in the door, you know. Like
I was always incredibly timid, you know, coming up, and
as a result, a lot of people took advantage of that,
right And there was a time where you know, I
was doing radio shifts at a radio station and they
weren't paying me, and of course it was a great,
great opportunity, but eventually they just kept expecting to add
(04:48):
more and more things onto my plate and that I
would just continue to accept it. And of course I
had to stand up for myself. I had to say, like,
I'm at the point now where I've been doing this
for a good amount of time for you, and I
deserve to be getting paid. And if that's that's not
what you're able to do right now, I need to
move on from this situation. And that's what I had
(05:09):
to do, right And it's the same thing with you know,
djaying early on as a DJ, so many things of
like oh can you can you do this? We don't
have a budget to pay you. It's great exposure, all
of the above, and for a little while, there are
certain opportunities that you kind of have to take advantage
of as you're trying to build a name for yourself,
as you are are networking. But again, if you don't
draw that line in the sand, they will always try
(05:29):
and take advantage of you as somebody who doesn't deserve
to get paid. Again, some of those relationships went by
the wayside and others recognize that they could no longer
take advantage of me and they had to start paying
up right. But again it was me declaring who I
was and where I was in my career and telling
people you need to treat me accordingly. And of course
(05:51):
this is not always going to work out in your favor.
There are going to be people who don't believe in
the way that you see yourself, right, and they're going
to move on from you and tell you best of luck,
And you have to be accepting of that. Right. You
have to go where you are are celebrated, not where
you are tolerated, right. And that is something I've always
tried to remind myself in those tough moments where somebody
(06:13):
is playing hardball and making it seem like I'm going
to lose more by it by no longer being taken
advantage of right. And again, you have to stick to
your guns and know that you are valuable and somebody
else out there will be willing to give you what
you feel you are worth, but you have to first
and foremost declare yourself as someone of value. Now, with
(06:34):
that in mind, we have heard from man fifty cent,
we have heard from Marcus Aurelius, one of the Stoics.
I've definitely given you a bit of insight into something
I struggled with for a long time on this topic.
But now let's talk about how you can make it
your mantra for today. But first let's take a quick
break and then we'll be right back. All right, So
(07:03):
we have heard the words of fifty cent, we have
heard Marcus surreally, as I've given you some insight into
how I have dealt with people judging me and then
feeling like they can take advantage of me and me
not taking that control, and then how I had to
learn how to take matters into my own hands. Right,
So let's talk about this the stoic idea of focusing
(07:24):
on what you can control. Let's talk about how you
can make it your mantra for today. Now, I think,
first and foremost, you know, you can't expect to be
seen as valuable or treated as such if you are
not first taking control and declaring yourself as someone who
is valuable. Right, Like, I've always been blown away by
(07:45):
people who are nice people but not necessarily great at
their craft. But there's a lot of people that I
would watch and at best their average and their skill set,
but somehow, some way, they are always out doing something right.
They are getting to play some show that is definitely
above their talent level, and I'd always sit back and wonder, like,
how the hell is this person finessing this, and I
(08:07):
think if first and foremost starts with this, you know,
even if they talent wise our average at best at
what they do, the attitude that they're walking in the
room with and what they're declaring their worth is is
speaking louder than that, and people, as a result are
are having to sort of buy into what they're selling
right because it seems like they really do believe it,
(08:30):
and it almost makes you doubt like maybe I'm wrong
about their talent level because this person is so confident
in what they do, and that's how they're creating those opportunities.
They're not, you know, coming in the room and so
just quietly with their head down saying like, hey, yeah,
I'm I'm a I'm a singer. You know, maybe i'd
like some sort of opportunity that's not going to get you,
you know, what you want. They're walking in there like, listen,
(08:51):
I am crushing it right now as a singer, Like
you need to have me on your show. I would
kill it and listen. They're not going to always get
the opportunity, but I promist you that attitude will have
people buying into you far faster than if you're just
kind of quietly satisfied with taking the scraps that they're
willing to throw you. Again, people will only take advantage
(09:11):
of you for as much as you're going to allow
them to. If you are not declaring yourself as somebody
who is a value who needs to be taking care of. Accordingly,
they're going to be happy, you know, with judging you
as somebody that they can take advantage of. And again,
just give those scraps too. Now, let's kind of summarize
what we've been talking about today. You fifty and the
(09:31):
fiftieth ball, Like he says, if you do not take
control of this process, then people will see and define
you the way they want to, often to your detriment.
If you don't stand up for yourself, people will take
advantage of you because it benefits them at the end
of the day. Right, and then a quote from one
of the stoics, Marcus Surrealius. Right, he's talking about how
(09:52):
you have the power to revoke at any moment. Right,
Like any moment, you have the ability to catch yourself
and say, you know what, I'm not taking this ship anymore.
I know my value, I know my worth, and either
you're going to give it to me or not that
leads right into my own life and those examples that
I've talked about with you. You know, I would still
be dejaying for free had I not have said at
(10:14):
one point in time like no, I'm farist who's talented.
I've paid my dues, I'm drawing a line in the sand.
People would have loved to have keep taking advantage of
me and not paying me anything, because of course it
brings more money in their pocket. And it was up
to me to focus on the part of it that
I could control, and that was declaring my status as
someone who is of value and someone that needs to
be thought about accordingly. Right, And as a result, not
(10:38):
everybody you know hopped on that train. But again, moving forward,
I was able to then make this a career because
people understood that I was someone of value and someone
that was demanding to be treated as such financially and
respect wise, of course. So remember, you get to create
your own value, and you have to be unafraid to
(10:59):
declare it to each and every person that you meet
and make sure they treat you accordingly or you move
on to something else. Now, with that said, thank you
so much for checking out the street Stoke Podcast. Do
your best to apply these concepts that we discussed today
and see your everyday life and I will talk to
you next time. The Street Stoke Podcast is a production
(11:22):
of Ihearts Michael Bura Podcast Network
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.