Epictetus: Keep two rules ready: nothing is good or bad…

A useful day does not require everything to go according to plan. It requires knowing where your responsibility begins and ends. You cannot choose the weather, another person's reaction, or whether a project hits an unexpected obstacle. You can choose preparation, honesty, attention, and how quickly you return to useful action. When you label an uncontrollable event as intolerable, you create a fight no effort can win. Instead, meet the event as material for judgment. Today, if something changes your plan, take one breath and ask: What part is mine to handle now? Then do that part well. This approach is not resignation. It is disciplined cooperation with reality, which preserves energy for the actions that can genuinely improve the situation.