Do your best, and forget the rest.

How you can create more, focus on your efforts, and not care about the outcome.

Photo by Lukas Eggers on Unsplash

Epictetus, a Stoic philosopher, said:

“Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing.”

There are things you control and things you don’t. Our job is to focus only on the first.

This idea is also known as the Dichotomy of Control in Stoicism.

Doing the work is within your control. For instance, consider the following:

• The time you get up and start working.
• The number of hours you spend doing your work.
• The number of hours you spend scrolling on your phone and wasting your time.
• The skills you learn.
• The people with whom you spend the most time with.