Jake and Michael unpack Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations—which weren’t meditations at all, but wartime journals written under pressure—to expose the Stoic principle most people miss: 👉 You don’t control outcomes. You only control standards. From gym goals and sales quotas to New Year’s resolutions that die by February, this episode breaks down why most people fail: they chase results instead of enforcing non-negotiable inputs. Marcus didn’t write about winning wars—he wrote about how to show up when outcomes are uncertain. That lesson still applies to business, health, money, and leadership today. This conversation reframes success as a function of discipline, execution, and refusal to tolerate mediocrity, not wishful thinking disguised as goals.