Wisdom Takes Work
Old man, look at my life.
I’m a lot like you were.
Old man, look at my life.
I’m a lot like you were. [^1]
Wisdom Takes Work
Ryan Holiday closes out his four-virtue Stoic series with Wisdom Takes Work. It earns the shelf space.
- Structure: Three sections — acquiring, protecting, and sharing wisdom. Roughly 15–17 chapters each.
- Method: Biographical stories that show wisdom’s good, bad, and ugly edges.
- Standout: The Abraham Lincoln chapters.
Go Deeper
Why it works. Wisdom isn’t easy, and most people earn it through the school of hard knocks. Reading how others got there, and what it cost them, is the shortcut worth taking.
The bibliography. Holiday links a chapter-by-chapter bibliography from the book. Good informative books do this. It’s a reading list baked in. I’ll be working through his Lincoln sources next.
What’s next from me. I plan to review the other three virtue books, plus more of Holiday’s work.
7-Word Summary
(described here)
I. The Agoge (your training ground)
- The Most Unusual Education
- Learn in order to live.
- Talk to the Dead
- Read books…converse with the dead.
- Be Curious
- Knowledge brings thirst for more knowledge.
- Ask a Good Question
- Ask a good question daily.
- Focus, Focus, Focus
- Focus is the skill wisdom depends on.
- Learn to Listen
- Shutup, listen and learn.
- Create a Second Brain
- Write it down, capture before forgotten.
- Find Your Classroom
- Choose your education. Learn your way.
- Find Your Teacher
- Your teacher inspires you to learn.
- Become an Apprentice
- Serve and learn.
- Join a Scene
- Find people that challenge, inspire, push you.
- Study the Past
- History reveals past, understands present, shows future.
- Hit the Road
- Travel to learn and understand.
- Acquire Experience
- Education and experience feed each other.
- Mens Sana in Corpore Sano
- Strong body supports strong mind.
II. The Sirens (the perilous rocks you must beware)
- The Storm Within Us
- Avoid hubris and delusion with personal feedback.
- Empty the Cup
- Our opinions can block our learning.
- Write to Think Right
- Writing drives our thinking.
- Assemble Your Board of Directors
- Good counsel averts disaster, ensures success.
- Don’t Be a Know-It-All
- Fear of embarrassment keeps fools foolish.
- Watch Your Information Diet
- Choose quality information. Garbage in, garbage out.
- Think for Yourself
- Do not conform to comfortable opinions.
- Don’t Break Your Brain
- Obsessive knowledge pursuit can cause burnout.
- Change Your Mind
- Allow knowledge to change you.
- Grow Up
- Treat your past wounds to grow.
- Don’t Be a Snowflake
- Ego hinders our growth.
- Seek Criticism
- Apply useful criticism. Discard the rest.
- Make Mistakes
- Make mistakes, but don’t repeat them.
- Go Deep
- Wisdom comes from deep, not surface, knowledge.
- Don’t Fall for It
- Beware the snake oil salesman.
- Understand People
- Ignore social dynamics at your peril.
- From Humility to Wisdom
- Ignorance is solvable with humility.
III. The Apotheosis (touching the divine)
- Shrewd, Sensible, Sound, Strong
- Good values build deeper human connections.
- Practice Empathy
- Empathy opens us to everything and everyone.
- Be Humble
- Think it possible you may be mistaken.
- Always Stay a Student
- Stay curious, hungry. Keep learning, growing.
- Be a Teacher
- Teach to grow others and yourself.
- Embrace the Mystery
- Uncertainty is a fact of life.
- Be Self-Aware
- Who am I? What am I? Why am I?
- Free Yourself
- Wisdom and freedom fuel each other.
- Be Happy
- Live well, do good, be happy.
- Suffer into Truth
- Suffer it, endure it, then transcend it.
- Laugh
- Humor brightens the world.
- Don’t Lose the Wonder
- Wonder elevates, sustains, and redeems life.
- Grasp the Essence
- Find what matters, lose the rest.
- Pass the Final Test
- End well what was lived well.
- Wisdom Is Virtue. Virtue Is Wisdom.
- Wisdom is worthless if not shared.
“for wisdom is better than jewels,
and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.” Proverbs 8:11 ESV
[^1] Old Man, Neil Young, 1971.