Something happens. A client goes quiet. Someone says the wrong thing. A decision starts weighing on you. And before you know it, you’re no longer dealing with what actually happened. You’re dealing with the story your mind has built around it. That’s the hijack. In this episode, Scott Perry shares a practical framework inspired by Stoic philosophy for interrupting that reaction and turning difficult situations into solvable problems. The central metaphor is simple: be the thermostat, not the thermometer. A thermometer merely reflects the temperature of the room. A thermostat notices the temperature and then does something about it. The same choice exists when life gets difficult. You may not control what happens, what someone else does, or how things ultimately turn out. But you can create enough space between stimulus and response to decide what you’ll do next. Scott walks through three tools for doing exactly that. The Gate Before spending time, attention, or emotional energy on a problem, ask: * Is it necessary? * Is it necessary now? * Is it necessary now by me? A surprising number of apparent emergencies disappear when they pass through those three questions. The Stoic Fork If something really does require your attention, separate what’s yours from what isn’t. You don’t control the outcome, other people, the past, or most circumstances. You do have agency over two things: * How you see the situation. * What you decide and do next. Letting go of everything else isn’t giving up. It’s surrendering responsibility for what was never yours to control. The Decision Triangle Once you know what’s yours, ask three more questions: * What’s now?Strip away the drama, assumptions, motives, and predictions. What are the actual facts? * What’s next?What are all the available actions—not just the first answer your mind rushes toward? * What matters?Which choice best aligns with your values, boundaries, character, and the person you want to become? Scott then puts the entire process to work in a live hot seat with Katherine Palmer, who wants to write a book but keeps allowing other people’s priorities to consume her time. Their conversation explores boundaries, people-pleasing, finite resources, the difference between responsibility and rescue, and what happens when the work that matters to you continually gets pushed aside. The episode also examines why intelligent people rush toward certainty, why better decisions can still produce bad outcomes, and why sometimes the most important move is getting the problem out of your own head and in front of a trusted fellow traveler. You cannot control the outcome. You can get better at the decision. And that space between the two is where possibility lives. Get Stepping Into Possibility These ideas come from Scott’s book, Stepping Into Possibility: Ancient Stoic Wisdom for Navigating Modern Life, Work, & Relationships. → Purchase Stepping Into Possibility: [CLICK HERE] Each chapter concludes with a practical invitation designed to help you apply Stoic wisdom to the real situations you’re navigating in your own life, work, and relationships. → Paperback: [CLICK HERE] Join Creative on Purpose For more practical ideas about living well, doing work that matters, and building something meaningful without betraying yourself, subscribe to Creative on Purpose: And subscribe to the Creative on Purpose YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeOnPurpose This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit creativeonpurpose.substack.com/subscribe
