DAVE’s NOTES
Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values. Good Character. Good Deeds
by Ryan Holiday
2024 – Portfolio – 368 pages
Ryan Holiday’s “Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values. Good Character. Good Deeds” is the third book in his Stoic Virtues series, focusing on the practical application of ancient Stoic wisdom in modern life. He explores how individuals can cultivate good character and perform good deeds by adhering to timeless principles. He emphasizes the importance of integrity, truthfulness, and loyalty through vivid examples from the lives of notable historical figures such as Marcus Aurelius, Florence Nightingale, Jimmy Carter, Gandhi, and Frederick Douglass. These stories demonstrate how these figures’ virtues shaped their lives and legacies, serving as models for contemporary readers. I like how Holiday introduces a virtue and then provides Holiday’s real-life illustrations through interesting stories. He has an accessible writing style, which makes his books easy to read. In this one, we learn how important it is to improve our moral character and navigate today’s challenges with a Stoic mindset.
Five Highlights
1. Promise-Keeping: Holiday underscores the importance of keeping the promises you make, highlighting how this builds trust and reliability in personal and professional relationships.
2. Truthfulness: He advocates for being truthful and transparent, suggesting that living as an open book fosters authenticity and integrity.
3. Work Ethic: Holiday emphasizes the value of doing your job to the best of your ability, regardless of the nature of the work, as a reflection of personal honor and diligence.
4. Consistency Over Greatness: He encourages focusing on being consistently good rather than striving for greatness, suggesting that steady, reliable actions are more sustainable and impactful.
5. Integrity and Loyalty: Holiday highlights the importance of protecting your integrity, being loyal, and choosing a guiding principle or North Star to direct your actions and decisions.
Holiday emphasizes the necessity of developing and upholding a personal code of conduct, suggesting that this internal compass is essential for navigating life’s challenges and making decisions that align with one’s values and principles.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
“Justice stares us in the face. Do we act with it? Not only in big moments of responsibility but the little ones – how we treat a stranger, how we conduct our business, the serio0usnees with which we take our obligations, the way we do our job, the impact we have on the world around us.”
“The pursuit of justice does not begin in far-flung places. It begins at home. It begins with you. It begins with the decision about who you are going to be.”
“If we’re not going to fight for the little guy, do what we can for them, who will? And if we allow them to be hurt or exploited or left to suffer, what does that say about us?”
“The decision to live and work with transparency serves as a kind of immunization against corruption, dishonor or dishonesty.”
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