How long will you wait before you consider yourself capable of the best, and of living in accord with reason? You’ve been through the reasoning and accepted the principles. What great master are you waiting for, so that you can stall your improvement until his arrival? You’re no longer a child, but an adult. If you’re negligent and lazy, keep delaying and making a collection of one good intention after another, naming day after day on which you’ll start to take care of yourself, you’ll just go on without getting better, and you’ll live and die miserable.

Right now, consider yourself worthy of living like a grownup, and someone who’s getting better. Let what seems right to you be an iron law. And if anything comes your way that seems like work, or seems tempting or glorious or disgraceful, remember that the struggle is on already, that the Olympics have begun and can’t be delayed, that what you do today – this minute – will determine whether progress is made or lost. Socrates became perfect this way, making everything an opportunity for his improvement, following only reason. Though you’re not yet a Socrates, you should live as though you intend to become a Socrates.