Today we explore the insights of both Aristotle and Murray Rothbard in terms of why we take the actions we take on a daily basis. In any given day we make hundreds upon hundreds of small, seemingly inconsequential decisions. The truth is that it its these small moments that truly shape our entire sense of reality and of the results we create in our lives.

Well, Hey, there everybody.

Jonathan Doyle with you.

Once again, welcome back to the daily podcast.

Thanks for tuning in regular listeners.

New listeners, welcome aboard friends, a little daily dose of encouragement

and positivity to sit you on your way.

I've been up early, done the training ride for those remotely

interested in my training processes.

Uh, because of lockdown, I've been known the trainer bike most of the time.

The stationary train a bike.

Somebody you'd be familiar with the Peloton program, but, uh, I'm

on swift using the swift program and usually I'm racing and doing

a bunch of stuff on there, but.

This kind of this bucket list thing that you sort of, some people do where

you, you have to ride every course in the virtual's whiffed universe.

Of which there are very, very many.

So the goal is to basically have written the entire.

You know, virtual cycling, digital world.

So I'm about to Eric.

I'm about two thirds of the way through.

Some of the final rides are like 130 kilometers each with five

kilometers of vertical climbing.

So it's going to be an interesting test, but, uh, that's one of the things

I've been doing to keep myself really engaged, keeping myself really busy.

I have been trying to explain this to people that in these challenging times,

I know you're all going to be in a different circumstance, listening in.

But for those of us still dealing with lockdowns kids at home,

homeschooling, trying to run your life with all these extra pressures.

You really got to be so proactive in your own mental wellbeing.

And I just build in a lot of structure.

I just think structure for me over the years has been a really powerful force.

That's sort of kept me.

From imploding at various times.

So don't let the day happen to you.

Is one of the things I always say you want to happen to the day.

So.

I'm pretty careful.

I'm pretty proactive from the minute I get up about this, then this, then

this, then this out of the studio today.

I'm schooling to do with the kids.

They're still stuck here at home, under lockdown.

So.

Send up a prayer for me, friends.

It's going to be interesting.

Uh, doing French with my son.

It's, uh, it's music.

We have a good time.

We have a few laughs.

Now, today.

We're going to talk about a quote from the inimitable Murray Rothbard

Murray Rothbard was a libertarian, a philosopher and economist.

Wrote a lot of very influential books.

And, uh, there's a beautiful line here where he says this all action.

Is an attempt.

To exchange a less satisfactory state of affairs.

For a more satisfactory one.

Listen to it again.

All action.

Is an attempt to exchange a less satisfactory state of affairs

for a more satisfactory one.

This is a really interesting insight.

This actually goes back way before Roth buy.

This goes back to when I read this, I knew where this was sort of coming from.

This is from Aristotle's Aristotelian ethics.

Oh, sorry.

Aristotle's Aristotelian ethics.

Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics.

Sorry, some of the philosophers would know why that's kind of funny.

So, uh, Aristotle of course, anything that our sort of wrote was in fact,

But I wrote this book called the Nicomachean ethics for his son.

His son's name was Nikka MCASS.

And so he wrote this, uh, Incredibly important text

called the Nicomachean ethics.

What he wanted to teach his son.

And years ago, I memorized the first line of chapter eight,

the first line of chapter eight.

Book eight.

In the Nick of McKean.

Ethics is all human action is action toward the good.

Now don't think of that as moral.

Good.

I think of it as perceived.

Good.

So let me link all this together for you and show you why it's

relevant to your life before Murray Rothbart Aristotle realized that

every action that we take in life.

Is action toward a perceived sense of good.

Now you notice that I use the word perceive that's really important.

Because, oh, I used to say this in seminars on stage that a

heroin addict sticking a needle in their arm or a meth addict.

Or an alcoholic.

All of those people are taking an action based on a perceived good.

They think that it is better to take this action too.

You know, take the drug.

To enter into addiction than it is to remain.

I guess outside of those things, right.

When people would look at that and go, that's crazy.

They're harming themselves at doing all this stuff again.

Yeah, sure.

But in that moment, they place more value on escaping reality

or pleasure or whatever than they do on health or wellbeing.

So it's always an action towards a perceived good.

And this is why Roth bod says that all action.

It's an attempt to exchange a less satisfactory state of affairs.

For a more satisfactory.

And let me give you a practical example.

You are sitting around somewhere you're starving.

You're hungry.

And you see these huge.

Box.

Of depending where you're listening in the world, my Australian listeners, Tim Tams.

American listeners, big box Oreos.

Let's just meet somewhere in the middle.

Let's call it pizza.

This is a huge pizza.

You're starving.

Now, right at that moment, you are experiencing a less than

satisfactory state of affairs, right?

You're hungry.

And you don't want to stay hungry indefinitely.

So you exchange that state for a perceived better, more satisfactory

state, which is you think that if you eat X, you will feel better.

Now, of course you may feel worse afterwards.

You might put weight on you.

Get the point.

What I'm trying to bring us to is to start to think in our

lives about this simple truth.

That every action we're taking at a particular time, even if

it's difficult or unpleasant.

Is because we're always trying to get something.

So I'll give you an example.

I've got to get out of the studio soon and I've got to go

and spend three to four hours.

On homeschooling with the kids.

Now they're on they're here on the lockdown, as I've said.

So this is challenging.

There's some benefits to it.

Uh, you know, I get to really give them some high quality assistance.

But it's not something that I would, you know, That I could say that I'm

super excited about doing what I am excited about is helping them flourish

and building relationship with them.

Right.

So the result of course, is that I'm exchanging a less satisfactory state, I

guess, the state of them not flourishing.

And I'm trying to exchange it for a state where they are flourishing.

So I'm taking actions based on this sort of sense of desire

of what I actually want.

So let's simplify it all.

What Aristotle and Roth butter reminding us is that every one of our

actions is aiming towards something.

The philosophy, I guess we call it teleology.

But it's, it's this process by we're all trying to attain something.

And all that all the time.

We're constantly doing it.

So, if you want to have a good life, what you have to do is start to

ask yourself, what am I aiming at?

What am I aiming at?

And are the actions that I'm taking, moving me towards the

thing that I am aiming at.

That's the question.

That's the question.

So look into your life now.

Think about some of the things that you are doing, um, In your life.

And are they moving you towards the state that you want to be in?

Are you.

Sort of constantly regularly.

Exchanging.

Less satisfactory states for more satisfactory states.

It's deep stuff.

Isn't it.

It's important that we start to think about it.

So that is it for me today.

Thank you, Mr.

Ross bird, Mr.

Rod, Mr.

Roth, bod.

Thank you, Aristotle.

Let's begin to realize that every single action we're going to take

today, from what we eat to, whether we exercise to how we speak to what we read

to, how we allocate our time, all of these things are taking us somewhere.

Uh, life is built on nothing other than a vast connection, a huge nexus of

decision points and decision moments.

So let's get switched on to those decision moments, friends.

Because those decisions are shaping our lives in real time.

All right.

Be encouraged.

Let's be traders in the commodity of hope.

As I've been saying recently, let's press on.

Into the challenging things that we're facing at the moment, knowing that these

things are going to make us stronger.

I think we are in for challenging times in our world.

And these things are going to make some of us stretch and strengthen.

And if we're not prepared, if we're not strong, if we're not

sort of mentally disciplined,

Then I think the challenges that come are going to prove

very difficult for some of us.

So friends switch on, bring your a game live well today, my name's Jonathan Doyle.

This has been the daily podcast.

Do me a favor, hit that subscribe button.

Hit that subscribe button, everything else.

It's on the website@jonathandoyle.co.

Um, I'm going to rebuild out one of the Facebook pages.

So I'll have some Facebook links and things for you tomorrow,

but get in touch friends.

Send me an email.

If you need to jonathan@jonathandoyle.co.

And I'm going to have another message for you tomorrow.