Book Ponder

The Greatest Roman Emperor

The first time I read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius it felt like I highlighted a third of the book. My second time through I was aghast by how much great content I had missed. I read it during two different periods of my life and many of the things I saved the first time did not relate to me like before, or it was a subject I no longer had an interest in. Ryan Holiday mentions reading Meditations many times and always finding new things in it. That’s why this is my most reread book and I try to pick it up again when I feel my life transitioning to a new stage. Meditations is also my go-to book for gifting to others. In my last read, the quote about concentration really stuck with me. Marcus says,

‘“Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that’s all even the gods can ask of you.”

Give Everything Your Full Effort

This is a recurring topic here but only signifies its importance. Give everything you do full effort and full attention. You will be astonished by how much more you can accomplish if you give all the activities you do, your undivided attention. I’m not talking about passive activities like taking a walk or mowing the lawn, there’s nothing wrong with listening to a good audiobook while doing yard work. I’m talking about being fully engaged in important activities like spending time with your kids, going out on a date with your wife, reading an important book, trying to solve a problem at work, or studying for an exam. When I was going back to college while working full time, I was barely passing my exams, even though I would spend hours studying. I read Cal Newport’s book Deep Work and my life was changed forever, Cal is a big proponent that if a task is given full attention, it requires far less time and yields greater results. Once I began to lock myself in our office without my cell phone and really spend distraction-free time studying, I aced every exam until graduation. I was learning more in one hour of undistracted studying over four hours of studying with breaks to check social media and responding to text messages. Try this with any important task in your life and reap the benefits that Marcus Aurelius did almost 2000 years ago.

Call To Action

Next time you have an important task to do, try to give it your full undistracted attention. At first do 15 minute sessions and work your way up to an hour. Initially, the desire to check your phone or let your mind wander is difficult, almost like meditating for the first time. Acknowledge what’s going on and redirect your attention to the task at hand. If you enjoyed this blog post and want to support the website, I would encourage you to sign up to our mailing list before or purchase any of the books listed through the images below.