February 21, 2023 • 11 mins
Many of us wish to be in control of our own destiny, but few know how to accomplish this daunting task. Taking lyrics from Big Sean's "Blessings" and Jay Z's "Diamonds", Dramos discusses what it truly means to be in control of one's own life and some practical steps one can implement to help achieve this.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yes, Yes, I am Dramas and this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stoic
(00:24):
philosophy remixed for the hip hop generation. Now, with that
in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot
of inspiration. Now today we are going to be focusing
around the stoic idea of of being your own master
(00:47):
and the idea of purposeful action, right and something that
that kind of came to mind. A couple of different
hip hop quotes or lyrics, I should say that came
to mind first of almost. One was from Big Sean
in the song Blessings, and he says, yeah, I'm that invested,
but you can't attest it. A million dollar goals, managed
(01:08):
to manifest it, the family never going in erexic, I
pay my mortgage and electric. And he's talking about all
the things that he created right, a life where he's
able to take care of his family and he's not
having to live in fear of of not being able
to do so right, and and also being able to
(01:30):
take care of his own things right, things like bills
and and and he's talking about obviously his mortgage and
his electric specifically. You know, he's talking about the idea
of this not being an issue because he has created
a life where he is not only in control but
also has more than enough to take care of his
own daily needs. Right, he has mastered his life, and
(01:50):
he has a freedom now that the financial stability is
giving him, right and then taking it further. I pulled
a quote from Jay Z and this is on the
Aims from Sierra Leone remix. And we've all heard this
quote a million one times. But Jay says, I'm not
a businessman. I'm a business man. And he's talking about
cregating the the ultimate power and mastery of his life
(02:15):
by turning himself into a business. Right, he is a business,
he is a brand. Right, he is the one at
the center of everything that happens. Right, and that's the
ultimate control, that's the ultimate freedom and mastery of your
own destiny. Now, this, this kind of you know, goes
nicely into a quote from one of the Stoics here
(02:36):
at Petitus, right, and he says, he who possesses an
undiminished and stable liberty, being free and his own master,
towers over all others. For what can possibly be above
a man who has mastered his life and is thus
above fortune, right. And he's talking about you know, having
(02:59):
the old timant freedom right, being your own master. And
he's of course mentioning that you know, you are above fortunate,
above wealth. But but I think the idea of the
modern world that we we live in. Of course, you're
not supposed to be obsessed with money or chasing money
for no absolute reason. But I think if you really
(03:19):
broke down what is at the core of of most
of us, who are you know, chasing uh, you know,
the the idea of of building up some sort of
financial portfolio, right, or or giving ourselves a better life
when it comes to money and making more money and
and building wealth in general. Right, Like I think we
we all don't realize that at its core, we're not
chasing the money itself, right, We're not chasing the dollar sign,
(03:42):
the number that ends up in the bank. We are
are talking about freedom here, right. That is what money
gives us. It's what money represents. It's the ultimate freedom
to be in control of our lives and to be
our own master. Right. And I love what he says,
you know, being free and his own master, you tower
above all others, right, And this is such a beautiful thing.
(04:05):
To keep in mind, particularly in the world that we
live in today. I mean, you know we're going through
you know what is is you know, being called by
many a recession. Right hasn't officially gotten that title, but
there are a lot of people who are losing their
jobs and inevitably will continue to do so. Right, and
even further down the line, people will will be replaced
for someone cheaper, or their job is going to be
(04:25):
automated through AI, whatever it might be. You know, you
are are not in control there and and that's the
the idea of being a a nine to five worker
and not thinking anywhere beyond that, which we will get
into a little bit further down the line. But you
know that is you relinquishing your control. And what all
of these people are saying is is placing value on
(04:46):
having the power over what happens to you, right, having
the power over being able to protect yourself, your family,
take care of your own needs, right, having that ultimate freedom,
being the master of your own life. And you cannot
do that when you rely on some sort of outside
entity to be you know, your end all be all right.
And let's talk a bit about how I relate to
(05:06):
this right, because I think this is something that has
been so incredibly personal for me in my journey. And
and this is my my first year. We're coming off
of my first year of being on you know, self employed.
I have partnerships and and things like that, but at
the end of the day, I am self employed. I
don't have a nine to five job anymore. And that's
(05:26):
been the ultimate goal, of the ultimate dream for me.
And and I think it started with sort of never
getting to attached to a job or a particular position, right,
and and understanding that everything that happened for me while
being somebody who was, you know, a nine to five worker,
all of that was was simply stepping stones for me
(05:47):
on my my bigger journey, right, because I understood that
at any point in time, these people could decide that
they want to move on from me, that my position
is no longer needed, that they can you know, fire
me and the divide up all of the things that
I do amongst a few other people. And that's inevitably happened.
I've been hired from from jobs before, right, And that
(06:08):
was a great learning lesson sort of realizing that, you know,
I am not not replaceable, right, And that's something that
stuck with me, you know, and and why I always
kept the ultimate goal of one day being able to
work for myself, to be completely independent from having to
rely on one source for for all of my income.
You know. It's why I have multiple businesses, multiple sources
(06:28):
of income, and I think that that's provided me with
a peace of mind and a fulfillment that I can't
even really put into words, you know. Uh. And and
the beauty of having that control and not relying on
one thing is that, you know, when life inevitably throws
you a curve ball, you're going to be okay. Sure,
maybe you have to cut certain things out of your
your daily routine, but you are still living in control
(06:50):
of your own life. One thing cannot make or break
you one person, one company. And listen, I'm not gonna
say man, that you shouldn't be scared of the prospect
of going you know, independently and working for yourself. It
is scary, right, you could fail, But I think at
the end of the day, I would rather fail having
you know, chased after something that was incredibly important to
(07:12):
me than then having failed at something that I didn't
really give a shit about. But even if this journey
that I'm on right now, where I've done now about
a year and a half of working for myself. Even
if let's say it ends in a year and I
have to go back to that nine to five grind,
my heart will be so full knowing that I got
to live out my dream at least for a particular
period of time. And guess what if I have to
(07:32):
go back to that nine to five lifestyle, I will
then be planning ahead of how I can get back
to being my own master and living that independent life
that I think we all deserve. Of course, we have
heard from Man some of the greats, jay Z, Big Sean,
one of my favorite stokes Epictidious. I've talked about my
own story a bit. I want to kind of summarize
all of that into how you can actually apply this
(07:53):
to your life in a practical way. But first let's
take a quick break and then we'll be right back.
All right, So we have heard the words of Big
Sean today, we've heard the words of jay Z, one
of the stoics eptitious. I have talked about man my
(08:16):
own personal journey and and how I truly believe in
this stoic principle of being your own master and taking
purposeful action. Uh, now that we have heard you know,
everybody else's story, let's talk about you. How can we
make this your mantra for today? And I think at
first and foremost starts with thinking beyond the current life
(08:37):
that you have. Right, you have to set up goals
that give you in out And this has always been
an incredibly important cornerstone for me. Always have an exit plan, right,
Never assume that you know one thing is going to
be the thing that you do for the rest of
your life. Right, understanding that things change, and actually you
should be embracing that change. That's how you grow, That's
(08:58):
how you elevate. I mean, even if naturally, you know,
moving on to a new job is generally how you
end up making more money. Right. And and the reality
is like, we shouldn't have to wait until we are
sixty five years old to become the master of our
own lives. Right, Like that just never made sense to me.
It's this nonsense that we have been fed. And I
think we really have to begin to to break free
(09:20):
of that. And the reality is like, when you even
just think of building generational wealth, others outside of our
community have figured out a long time ago. Right, they
own real estate, they have invested in the stock market. Right.
They understand that simply working a nine to five is
not going to give them the generational wealth. The way
to get ahead in this country, in this world is
(09:42):
to have multiple things, you know, multiple multiple items in
the pot boiling for you. Right. The idea that we
can just survive off this one job and think that
we get out of college, we get this job, we
stay there till six or sixty five and in life
is amazing. Like, that's just not a reality for most
of us. And we have to think beyond this, you know,
the idea that we've all been brainwashed with. Right, And
(10:03):
we also, I think, have to adapt this idea of
using our nine to five as a stepping stone rather
than being the totality of our lives. Right. I would
give myself timetables. If I got a promotion, I big all, Right,
in a year from now, I'm going to move on
to something else. Like I never allowed myself to get
too comfortable in in whatever role that I was was given.
(10:23):
You know, the nine to five job provided me with security, Right,
It provided me with a consistent paycheck that I can
then use to invest in other things that would eventually
set me up to have a life of independence. And
that's exactly what I did. So you have to think
beyond the lessons that we've been taught of. Go to college,
get a nice job, and life works out for you.
It's just not a real reality. There is no real
(10:44):
security in this world unless you are the one in control,
unless you're the one signing the checks at the end
of the day. And when I talk about my own life,
you know, that's that's what I have done. I've never
allowed myself to rely on just one thing as my
source of income. I took my nine to five. I
used it as a stepping stone to create other incomes,
other areas of opportunity, and eventually, when I built those up,
(11:08):
I was able to go out on my own. And
that's exactly the life that I'm living right now. We're
not one person, not one company, not one job, not
one opportunity controls how I live my life. And that
is the ultimate source of fulfillment when you get to
have that peace of mind and that freedom in your life.
Now that said, thank you so much for checking out
(11:29):
the Street Stowick podcast. Do your best to apply these
concepts that we have discussed into your everyday life and
I would catch you next time. The Street Stoke podcast
is a production of My Hearts michaela podcast network
Yes, Yes, I am Dramas and this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stoic
(00:24):
philosophy remixed for the hip hop generation. Now, with that
in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot
of inspiration. Now today we are going to be focusing
around the stoic idea of of being your own master
(00:47):
and the idea of purposeful action, right and something that
that kind of came to mind. A couple of different
hip hop quotes or lyrics, I should say that came
to mind first of almost. One was from Big Sean
in the song Blessings, and he says, yeah, I'm that invested,
but you can't attest it. A million dollar goals, managed
(01:08):
to manifest it, the family never going in erexic, I
pay my mortgage and electric. And he's talking about all
the things that he created right, a life where he's
able to take care of his family and he's not
having to live in fear of of not being able
to do so right, and and also being able to
(01:30):
take care of his own things right, things like bills
and and and he's talking about obviously his mortgage and
his electric specifically. You know, he's talking about the idea
of this not being an issue because he has created
a life where he is not only in control but
also has more than enough to take care of his
own daily needs. Right, he has mastered his life, and
(01:50):
he has a freedom now that the financial stability is
giving him, right and then taking it further. I pulled
a quote from Jay Z and this is on the
Aims from Sierra Leone remix. And we've all heard this
quote a million one times. But Jay says, I'm not
a businessman. I'm a business man. And he's talking about
cregating the the ultimate power and mastery of his life
(02:15):
by turning himself into a business. Right, he is a business,
he is a brand. Right, he is the one at
the center of everything that happens. Right, and that's the
ultimate control, that's the ultimate freedom and mastery of your
own destiny. Now, this, this kind of you know, goes
nicely into a quote from one of the Stoics here
(02:36):
at Petitus, right, and he says, he who possesses an
undiminished and stable liberty, being free and his own master,
towers over all others. For what can possibly be above
a man who has mastered his life and is thus
above fortune, right. And he's talking about you know, having
(02:59):
the old timant freedom right, being your own master. And
he's of course mentioning that you know, you are above fortunate,
above wealth. But but I think the idea of the
modern world that we we live in. Of course, you're
not supposed to be obsessed with money or chasing money
for no absolute reason. But I think if you really
(03:19):
broke down what is at the core of of most
of us, who are you know, chasing uh, you know,
the the idea of of building up some sort of
financial portfolio, right, or or giving ourselves a better life
when it comes to money and making more money and
and building wealth in general. Right, Like I think we
we all don't realize that at its core, we're not
chasing the money itself, right, We're not chasing the dollar sign,
(03:42):
the number that ends up in the bank. We are
are talking about freedom here, right. That is what money
gives us. It's what money represents. It's the ultimate freedom
to be in control of our lives and to be
our own master. Right. And I love what he says,
you know, being free and his own master, you tower
above all others, right, And this is such a beautiful thing.
(04:05):
To keep in mind, particularly in the world that we
live in today. I mean, you know we're going through
you know what is is you know, being called by
many a recession. Right hasn't officially gotten that title, but
there are a lot of people who are losing their
jobs and inevitably will continue to do so. Right, and
even further down the line, people will will be replaced
for someone cheaper, or their job is going to be
(04:25):
automated through AI, whatever it might be. You know, you
are are not in control there and and that's the
the idea of being a a nine to five worker
and not thinking anywhere beyond that, which we will get
into a little bit further down the line. But you
know that is you relinquishing your control. And what all
of these people are saying is is placing value on
(04:46):
having the power over what happens to you, right, having
the power over being able to protect yourself, your family,
take care of your own needs, right, having that ultimate freedom,
being the master of your own life. And you cannot
do that when you rely on some sort of outside
entity to be you know, your end all be all right.
And let's talk a bit about how I relate to
(05:06):
this right, because I think this is something that has
been so incredibly personal for me in my journey. And
and this is my my first year. We're coming off
of my first year of being on you know, self employed.
I have partnerships and and things like that, but at
the end of the day, I am self employed. I
don't have a nine to five job anymore. And that's
(05:26):
been the ultimate goal, of the ultimate dream for me.
And and I think it started with sort of never
getting to attached to a job or a particular position, right,
and and understanding that everything that happened for me while
being somebody who was, you know, a nine to five worker,
all of that was was simply stepping stones for me
(05:47):
on my my bigger journey, right, because I understood that
at any point in time, these people could decide that
they want to move on from me, that my position
is no longer needed, that they can you know, fire
me and the divide up all of the things that
I do amongst a few other people. And that's inevitably happened.
I've been hired from from jobs before, right, And that
(06:08):
was a great learning lesson sort of realizing that, you know,
I am not not replaceable, right, And that's something that
stuck with me, you know, and and why I always
kept the ultimate goal of one day being able to
work for myself, to be completely independent from having to
rely on one source for for all of my income.
You know. It's why I have multiple businesses, multiple sources
(06:28):
of income, and I think that that's provided me with
a peace of mind and a fulfillment that I can't
even really put into words, you know. Uh. And and
the beauty of having that control and not relying on
one thing is that, you know, when life inevitably throws
you a curve ball, you're going to be okay. Sure,
maybe you have to cut certain things out of your
your daily routine, but you are still living in control
(06:50):
of your own life. One thing cannot make or break
you one person, one company. And listen, I'm not gonna
say man, that you shouldn't be scared of the prospect
of going you know, independently and working for yourself. It
is scary, right, you could fail, But I think at
the end of the day, I would rather fail having
you know, chased after something that was incredibly important to
(07:12):
me than then having failed at something that I didn't
really give a shit about. But even if this journey
that I'm on right now, where I've done now about
a year and a half of working for myself. Even
if let's say it ends in a year and I
have to go back to that nine to five grind,
my heart will be so full knowing that I got
to live out my dream at least for a particular
period of time. And guess what if I have to
(07:32):
go back to that nine to five lifestyle, I will
then be planning ahead of how I can get back
to being my own master and living that independent life
that I think we all deserve. Of course, we have
heard from Man some of the greats, jay Z, Big Sean,
one of my favorite stokes Epictidious. I've talked about my
own story a bit. I want to kind of summarize
all of that into how you can actually apply this
(07:53):
to your life in a practical way. But first let's
take a quick break and then we'll be right back.
All right, So we have heard the words of Big
Sean today, we've heard the words of jay Z, one
of the stoics eptitious. I have talked about man my
(08:16):
own personal journey and and how I truly believe in
this stoic principle of being your own master and taking
purposeful action. Uh, now that we have heard you know,
everybody else's story, let's talk about you. How can we
make this your mantra for today? And I think at
first and foremost starts with thinking beyond the current life
(08:37):
that you have. Right, you have to set up goals
that give you in out And this has always been
an incredibly important cornerstone for me. Always have an exit plan, right,
Never assume that you know one thing is going to
be the thing that you do for the rest of
your life. Right, understanding that things change, and actually you
should be embracing that change. That's how you grow, That's
(08:58):
how you elevate. I mean, even if naturally, you know,
moving on to a new job is generally how you
end up making more money. Right. And and the reality
is like, we shouldn't have to wait until we are
sixty five years old to become the master of our
own lives. Right, Like that just never made sense to me.
It's this nonsense that we have been fed. And I
think we really have to begin to to break free
(09:20):
of that. And the reality is like, when you even
just think of building generational wealth, others outside of our
community have figured out a long time ago. Right, they
own real estate, they have invested in the stock market. Right.
They understand that simply working a nine to five is
not going to give them the generational wealth. The way
to get ahead in this country, in this world is
(09:42):
to have multiple things, you know, multiple multiple items in
the pot boiling for you. Right. The idea that we
can just survive off this one job and think that
we get out of college, we get this job, we
stay there till six or sixty five and in life
is amazing. Like, that's just not a reality for most
of us. And we have to think beyond this, you know,
the idea that we've all been brainwashed with. Right, And
(10:03):
we also, I think, have to adapt this idea of
using our nine to five as a stepping stone rather
than being the totality of our lives. Right. I would
give myself timetables. If I got a promotion, I big all, Right,
in a year from now, I'm going to move on
to something else. Like I never allowed myself to get
too comfortable in in whatever role that I was was given.
(10:23):
You know, the nine to five job provided me with security, Right,
It provided me with a consistent paycheck that I can
then use to invest in other things that would eventually
set me up to have a life of independence. And
that's exactly what I did. So you have to think
beyond the lessons that we've been taught of. Go to college,
get a nice job, and life works out for you.
It's just not a real reality. There is no real
(10:44):
security in this world unless you are the one in control,
unless you're the one signing the checks at the end
of the day. And when I talk about my own life,
you know, that's that's what I have done. I've never
allowed myself to rely on just one thing as my
source of income. I took my nine to five. I
used it as a stepping stone to create other incomes,
other areas of opportunity, and eventually, when I built those up,
(11:08):
I was able to go out on my own. And
that's exactly the life that I'm living right now. We're
not one person, not one company, not one job, not
one opportunity controls how I live my life. And that
is the ultimate source of fulfillment when you get to
have that peace of mind and that freedom in your life.
Now that said, thank you so much for checking out
(11:29):
the Street Stowick podcast. Do your best to apply these
concepts that we have discussed into your everyday life and
I would catch you next time. The Street Stoke podcast
is a production of My Hearts michaela podcast network
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