December 19, 2023 • 9 mins
We all have ideas, but few do what it takes to make them a reality. In this episode, Dramos takes lyrics from Russ and a quote from Epictetus to show that it's always up to ourselves to take the initiative necessary to reach our goals.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Yes, Yes, I am Dramos and this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bring you your daily dose of timeless stoic
philosophy remix for the hip hop generation. And with that
in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot
of inspiration. Now today we are going to be focusing
(00:39):
all around the stoic idea of taking action. And for me,
what came to mind today a song that's been really
inspiring me as I kind of dug back into his catalog.
It's from Russ and it's called do It Myself. And
I've been using this as like my song to kind
of hype me up when Adore slams in my face,
(01:00):
when somebody I'm working with disappoints me and falls short.
I use this as a reminder that I am capable
of bringing everything that I want in this world to life.
And this song is is Russ sort of declaring that
you know in this record, And fair warning if you
got the kids in the car, if I want to
earmuffs or press paws on this till they get out,
because this is not a clean quote here, right. But
(01:22):
Russ song do it Myself. He says I don't need her,
I don't need him. Bucket, I'll do it myself. No
one's got this, no one's got that, bucket. I'll do
it myself. Everyone's scared, everyone pussy fucket. I'll do it myself.
Everyone watch, just keep looking, Bucket. I'll do it myself.
(01:44):
And I don't think I've used that many F bombs
in a podcast in a long time. But this quote,
to me is powerful if you could look past the
sort of not safer work part of it. Right first
and foremost, I want to make it clear that we
all need help along the way at some point in time.
Right So this isn't to say that we should never
ask for help, never look for help, and think that
(02:05):
it's sort of possible to just do absolutely everything yourself.
But I think the point that I'm trying to make
here when we talk about the idea of taking action,
is recognizing that everything, first and foremost, it has to
start with us taking the steps towards what we want.
We can't sit back and expect somebody to save us.
We can't sit back and expect somebody to just hear
(02:28):
one of our good ideas and then all of a
sudden they just go run with it. And we could
reap the benefits of it. Right, everything first and foremost
starts with us. I mean, even the idea of asking
for help. That's an action that you first and foremost
need to take. And this leads perfectly little quote from
one of the Stokes Epictetus, where he says God laid
down this law saying if you want some good, get
(02:50):
it from your self. And I love this this quote
because I think oftentimes the excuse you'll hear from a
lot of people, and I've been there myself, is they
are waiting for somebody to give them an opportunity. Oh,
I have this idea, but nobody wants to give me
a shot, or people thinking somebody, you know, somebody already
(03:13):
started an idea, they had similar, so now they can't
do it, or they they sort of aren't able to
see the finish line, or aren't able to see the
steps clearly, so they sort of just give up before
even starting. At the end of the day, you have
to take action on your ideas, and you're more than
capable of doing so. Right, I think we all sort
(03:34):
of get caught up in this idea that we have
to have it all figured out, we have to be
this expert or else we should even bother trying. The
reality is you're going to stumble along the way, But
in that stumbling, you're going to learn. In that stumbling,
you're gonna get closer and closer towards whatever it is
that you're striving for. But it first and foremost starts
with the belief in yourself and then following that up
(03:56):
with action. Like I relate to this so deeply, and
it's literally the sort of building block of my career.
You know, I've made myself a person of many talents, right,
and I adapted and learned certain skills because I never
wanted someone else to dictate whether or not I could
do something right. And I know somebody like Nipsey Hustle,
(04:18):
whoever reference a lot, talks about this why he learned
how to, you know, be his own engineer and use
the software and all these different things because he never
wanted to slow down his creative idea when somebody said
it can't be done. He already had enough experience that
he knew that it could be or he could figure
out a way to do it himself right. And I
think that's what russ Is is talking about. And then
(04:38):
even Atpictitis on a more kind of spiritual level, it's like,
whatever you want, you can get it from yourself, right,
And that's not to say you might not need a
helping hand along the way. But again, it all starts
with you and you deciding to take action. Once you've taken,
you know, that first step, that first step towards whatever
it is that you want, then you can fine tune
(04:59):
it with somebody else who's an expert, but at least
start it with yourself, right, And again, it all starts
from you. You are the beginning, middle, and end of
everything that you want to do. Right, it all revolves
around you and your ability to take action and to
at least try to do something to get closer to
where you want to be. That's what it all comes
(05:21):
down to. At the end of the day, everything starts
and ends with you. Now, with that said, we've heard
from Russ, we have heard from Epictetus, you have heard
from myself around this idea of taking action. Now let's
talk about how you can make it your mantra for today. Well,
first let's take a quick break and then we'll be
right back. All right, Today we are talking all about
(05:50):
the stoic idea of taking action. Now we have heard
from Russ, we have heard from one of the Stokes Epictetus.
I've given you some insight into how I just pick
up random skills to make sure that I can always
try and at least do my best to bring an
idea to life. Now, let's talk about how you can
make it your mantra for today. And I think first
(06:13):
and foremost, it just starts with you asking a question,
what can you do to become more self sufficient in
your dream or in your journey in general? Right, all
the excuses that you're giving yourself as to why you
are not where you want to be, what responsibility can
you take in that You can't just sit on your
hands and accept that things are the way they are
(06:36):
and it just is what it is. Right, that's never
going to get you to where you want to be,
and you're always going to be stuck in place. You
have to take the first step. It all starts with you.
It all starts internally with you and your ability to
take action on the things that you want. Right, if
you are an artist and nobody's given you an opportunity, well,
what things can you do to get in front of
(06:57):
the people who can give you said opportunity, right, Can
you record some demos yourself? Can you go network at
an event? Can you figure out who represents a certain person,
then now you can try and figure out a way
to meet them. What events can you go to to
pay maybe run into this person and build a relationship
with them or rapport? What can you do? You are
(07:17):
not owed anything by anyone. Everything starts with you first
lighting the fire, deciding what you want and taking those
first steps out there towards getting it. And to recap
all we've been talking about, I mean, Russ is going
to the extremes here, right, because Russ is somebody who recorded, engineered,
wrote saying, you know, made all the beats everything for
(07:38):
his projects. Right. And this is him, you know, sort
of declaring that in do it myself, that he doesn't
need anybody, right. And again I think this is more
to get us hyped up on our own greatness rather
than to be taken literally. But it's recognizing that he
has all the power in himself. And epictetis right saying
that if you want some good, get it from yourself.
(08:00):
Stop looking for some external savior, stop thinking that you
need somebody else. To come and save you, or that
you're not good enough on your own. If you want something,
get it from yourself first and foremost. And again, this
is how I've lived my life. I've modeled my career.
I have picked up so many random little skills along
the way just so I can not have to rely
(08:22):
on people so much. Again, that doesn't mean I don't
ask people for help when it comes to polishing it,
to actually getting it across the finish line, to getting
it to where I want to be. But I understand
that I have the power in me to at least
first and foremost bring an idea to life, and then
from there we can figure out how to make it better.
But the power lies within me. I'm not going to
rely on anybody else to help me bring my ideas
(08:45):
to life at the end of the day, and that
is the philosophy that you have to adapt for yourself,
the mentality that you have to adapt. Everything starts and
ends with you. You just first and foremost have to
take action. Now, with that said, thank you so much
for checking out the Street Stoic podcast. Do your best
to apply these concepts that we discussed into your everyday life,
(09:06):
and I will catch you next time. The Street Stoke
Podcast is a production of Iheart's Micola podcast network.
Yes, Yes, I am Dramos and this is the Street
Stoic Podcast, bring you your daily dose of timeless stoic
philosophy remix for the hip hop generation. And with that
in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot
of inspiration. Now today we are going to be focusing
(00:39):
all around the stoic idea of taking action. And for me,
what came to mind today a song that's been really
inspiring me as I kind of dug back into his catalog.
It's from Russ and it's called do It Myself. And
I've been using this as like my song to kind
of hype me up when Adore slams in my face,
(01:00):
when somebody I'm working with disappoints me and falls short.
I use this as a reminder that I am capable
of bringing everything that I want in this world to life.
And this song is is Russ sort of declaring that
you know in this record, And fair warning if you
got the kids in the car, if I want to
earmuffs or press paws on this till they get out,
because this is not a clean quote here, right. But
(01:22):
Russ song do it Myself. He says I don't need her,
I don't need him. Bucket, I'll do it myself. No
one's got this, no one's got that, bucket. I'll do
it myself. Everyone's scared, everyone pussy fucket. I'll do it myself.
Everyone watch, just keep looking, Bucket. I'll do it myself.
(01:44):
And I don't think I've used that many F bombs
in a podcast in a long time. But this quote,
to me is powerful if you could look past the
sort of not safer work part of it. Right first
and foremost, I want to make it clear that we
all need help along the way at some point in time.
Right So this isn't to say that we should never
ask for help, never look for help, and think that
(02:05):
it's sort of possible to just do absolutely everything yourself.
But I think the point that I'm trying to make
here when we talk about the idea of taking action,
is recognizing that everything, first and foremost, it has to
start with us taking the steps towards what we want.
We can't sit back and expect somebody to save us.
We can't sit back and expect somebody to just hear
(02:28):
one of our good ideas and then all of a
sudden they just go run with it. And we could
reap the benefits of it. Right, everything first and foremost
starts with us. I mean, even the idea of asking
for help. That's an action that you first and foremost
need to take. And this leads perfectly little quote from
one of the Stokes Epictetus, where he says God laid
down this law saying if you want some good, get
(02:50):
it from your self. And I love this this quote
because I think oftentimes the excuse you'll hear from a
lot of people, and I've been there myself, is they
are waiting for somebody to give them an opportunity. Oh,
I have this idea, but nobody wants to give me
a shot, or people thinking somebody, you know, somebody already
(03:13):
started an idea, they had similar, so now they can't
do it, or they they sort of aren't able to
see the finish line, or aren't able to see the
steps clearly, so they sort of just give up before
even starting. At the end of the day, you have
to take action on your ideas, and you're more than
capable of doing so. Right, I think we all sort
(03:34):
of get caught up in this idea that we have
to have it all figured out, we have to be
this expert or else we should even bother trying. The
reality is you're going to stumble along the way, But
in that stumbling, you're going to learn. In that stumbling,
you're gonna get closer and closer towards whatever it is
that you're striving for. But it first and foremost starts
with the belief in yourself and then following that up
(03:56):
with action. Like I relate to this so deeply, and
it's literally the sort of building block of my career.
You know, I've made myself a person of many talents, right,
and I adapted and learned certain skills because I never
wanted someone else to dictate whether or not I could
do something right. And I know somebody like Nipsey Hustle,
(04:18):
whoever reference a lot, talks about this why he learned
how to, you know, be his own engineer and use
the software and all these different things because he never
wanted to slow down his creative idea when somebody said
it can't be done. He already had enough experience that
he knew that it could be or he could figure
out a way to do it himself right. And I
think that's what russ Is is talking about. And then
(04:38):
even Atpictitis on a more kind of spiritual level, it's like,
whatever you want, you can get it from yourself, right,
And that's not to say you might not need a
helping hand along the way. But again, it all starts
with you and you deciding to take action. Once you've taken,
you know, that first step, that first step towards whatever
it is that you want, then you can fine tune
(04:59):
it with somebody else who's an expert, but at least
start it with yourself, right, And again, it all starts
from you. You are the beginning, middle, and end of
everything that you want to do. Right, it all revolves
around you and your ability to take action and to
at least try to do something to get closer to
where you want to be. That's what it all comes
(05:21):
down to. At the end of the day, everything starts
and ends with you. Now, with that said, we've heard
from Russ, we have heard from Epictetus, you have heard
from myself around this idea of taking action. Now let's
talk about how you can make it your mantra for today. Well,
first let's take a quick break and then we'll be
right back. All right, Today we are talking all about
(05:50):
the stoic idea of taking action. Now we have heard
from Russ, we have heard from one of the Stokes Epictetus.
I've given you some insight into how I just pick
up random skills to make sure that I can always
try and at least do my best to bring an
idea to life. Now, let's talk about how you can
make it your mantra for today. And I think first
(06:13):
and foremost, it just starts with you asking a question,
what can you do to become more self sufficient in
your dream or in your journey in general? Right, all
the excuses that you're giving yourself as to why you
are not where you want to be, what responsibility can
you take in that You can't just sit on your
hands and accept that things are the way they are
(06:36):
and it just is what it is. Right, that's never
going to get you to where you want to be,
and you're always going to be stuck in place. You
have to take the first step. It all starts with you.
It all starts internally with you and your ability to
take action on the things that you want. Right, if
you are an artist and nobody's given you an opportunity, well,
what things can you do to get in front of
(06:57):
the people who can give you said opportunity, right, Can
you record some demos yourself? Can you go network at
an event? Can you figure out who represents a certain person,
then now you can try and figure out a way
to meet them. What events can you go to to
pay maybe run into this person and build a relationship
with them or rapport? What can you do? You are
(07:17):
not owed anything by anyone. Everything starts with you first
lighting the fire, deciding what you want and taking those
first steps out there towards getting it. And to recap
all we've been talking about, I mean, Russ is going
to the extremes here, right, because Russ is somebody who recorded, engineered,
wrote saying, you know, made all the beats everything for
(07:38):
his projects. Right. And this is him, you know, sort
of declaring that in do it myself, that he doesn't
need anybody, right. And again I think this is more
to get us hyped up on our own greatness rather
than to be taken literally. But it's recognizing that he
has all the power in himself. And epictetis right saying
that if you want some good, get it from yourself.
(08:00):
Stop looking for some external savior, stop thinking that you
need somebody else. To come and save you, or that
you're not good enough on your own. If you want something,
get it from yourself first and foremost. And again, this
is how I've lived my life. I've modeled my career.
I have picked up so many random little skills along
the way just so I can not have to rely
(08:22):
on people so much. Again, that doesn't mean I don't
ask people for help when it comes to polishing it,
to actually getting it across the finish line, to getting
it to where I want to be. But I understand
that I have the power in me to at least
first and foremost bring an idea to life, and then
from there we can figure out how to make it better.
But the power lies within me. I'm not going to
rely on anybody else to help me bring my ideas
(08:45):
to life at the end of the day, and that
is the philosophy that you have to adapt for yourself,
the mentality that you have to adapt. Everything starts and
ends with you. You just first and foremost have to
take action. Now, with that said, thank you so much
for checking out the Street Stoic podcast. Do your best
to apply these concepts that we discussed into your everyday life,
(09:06):
and I will catch you next time. The Street Stoke
Podcast is a production of Iheart's Micola podcast network.
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