Mastering Chaos

A timeless recipe for staying grounded in turbulent times

Jason Griffing
March 16, 2025

In this edition, we lean on Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, unpacking a 3-part framework that can keep us steady through the choppiest of seas…

🎯 The Idea In a Nutshell:

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed even in stable times, to say nothing of periods of dramatic upheaval.
But Marcus Aurelius gives us a formula for staying grounded, no matter the circumstances:
- Cultivate clarity of thought.
- Avoid self-absorption.
- And accept the things that are out of your control.
Your power to live a good life isn’t decided by what’s going on out there.
It’s in your hands, and no one can ever take that from you.

📝 Diving Deeper

It’s easy to get swept up by external circumstances, even in the most ordinary of times; and these days are anything but mundane. Chaos reigns—political upheaval, geopolitical turmoil, roiling stock markets, the unknown implications of AI, looming trade wars. And all of this on top of the typical daily stresses we face.

But Marcus Aurelius reminds us: we don’t need the world to cooperate in order to live a good life. All we need are three simple ingredients — clear thinking, unselfish action, and willing acceptance:

❝

Objective judgment, now, at this very moment.
Unselfish action, now, at this very moment.
Willing acceptance—now, at this very moment—of all external events.
That’s all you need.

So quit doomscrolling and fanning the flames of your latest outrage with futile worrying and pointless arguments.

Save your energy for the battles that count.

Cultivating Objectivity:

Cut through the noise. Curate your information dier. Less social media. More books.
Form your own well-grounded opinion about what really matters.
Stop letting your imagination run wild with negative possibilities; Take a broader perspective. See things as they are, without unhelpful distortions.

Serving Others:

Stop fretting over how to change the world and focus instead on serving those around you.
Be a better father. A better husband. A better leader at work.
Build community. Volunteer. Call an old friend. Or get involved in local politics.

Accepting What You Cannot Control:

Get clear on your locus of control; it’s smaller than you think—your thoughts and your actions. That’s it.
From the plans of foreign adversaries to the side-eye from that dude at the grocery store, everything else is out of your hands.
The sooner you accept that, the better.

👉 Why it matters:

Acting as a steadying force—it’s hard to imagine a more critical role to play as a father, husband, and leader.
And keeping ourselves centered is a prerequisite for fulfilling this duty.
Aurelius’ words offer a timeless formula for staying grounded so we serve those around us.

🤔 Prompts for Reflection

Where are you letting the world’s noise cloud your judgment?
Where could you substitute unselfish action for self-absorption and rumination?
What’s one thing you’re getting stuck on that is completely out of your control?

Make today impactful,
~Jason