The Stoic Inner Strategy – A Leadership & Strategy Podcast

Ep 385 – Do the Next Required Thing

• Scott Smith, Principal Advisor • Season 2 • Episode 385

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Meta Description:
Stoic leadership turns uncertainty into action. Scott Smith explains why leaders should stop solving the whole future and do the next required thing.

🎙️ Episode Summary

Marcus Aurelius reminded himself to concentrate on the action at hand and do it with seriousness, honesty, and justice.

Stoicism teaches that the whole outcome does not belong to us. In this episode, Scott Smith reflects on the discipline of action and the importance of doing the next required thing instead of trying to solve the entire future at once.

For founders and executives, this is a critical leadership discipline. Large outcomes create pressure. Build the business. Repair the relationship. Finish the project. Change your health. Lead the team through uncertainty. These are worthy aims, but none of them can be completed all at once. They only move forward through the next action that belongs to you.

Scott explains that the Stoic distinction between what belongs to us and what does not becomes practical here. The final result may involve other people, changing conditions, timing, consequences, and luck. But your judgment, choice, and effort in the present moment are yours. That is where responsibility lives.

This episode challenges leaders to stop turning the future into one enormous mental roadblock. You do not need control over the entire outcome before you act. You need clarity about the next action. Make the call. Write the first page. Apologize without controlling the response. Give the clear decision. Tell the truth. Do the next required thing with wisdom, courage, justice, and restraint.

That is Stoic leadership for founders and executives: let restraint ask whether action is necessary, responsibility ask whether it belongs to you, judgment ask what the situation requires, and action make the answer real.

You do not have to solve the whole future today. Do the next required thing, do it well, and then look again.

🧠 What You’ll Learn Today

• Why large outcomes can create unnecessary pressure and paralysis
• How Stoic leadership brings attention back to the present action
• Why the whole outcome does not belong to you
• How restraint, responsibility, judgment, and action work together
• Why small actions are where meaningful change actually begins

🔍 Tags:
Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, Stoic Leadership, Founder Mindset, Leadership Discipline, Action, Decision Making, Responsibility, Self-Mastery, Executive Leadership

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The Stoic Inner Strategy is a leadership podcast for founders, executives, and other leaders who carry significant responsibility, even when they have a capable team around them.

Hosted by Scott Smith, Principal Advisor and founder of Akhada Consulting, each episode explores the judgment, discipline, and leadership capacity required to make sound decisions under pressure, develop stronger people, and build organizations that do not depend on one person carrying everything.

Stoic wisdom provides the foundation, but the focus is practical: how to lead yourself, strengthen the people around you, and meet responsibility with clarity, courage, and character.

New episodes are released Monday through Friday, with occasional interviews and special episodes. 

If this episode helped you see your leadership more clearly, subscribe to the show and share it with another leader who carries the weight.

Connect with Scott:

Memento Mori. Time is limited. Lead accordingly.

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