Daily Stoic: Today, let’s root ourselves in what’s real as McCollum does, not in emotions—positive or negative.

The Portland Trail Blazers star C.J. McCollum isn’t worried about a slump. He isn’t excited when he’s on a streak either. Because he seeks, as he’s said in interviews, to maintain the Stoic state of apatheia. “I live with the result, man. I know who I am. I know what I can be out there. I have confidence in myself. I don’t get discouraged over a few poor shooting nights. I don’t get overly excited over a few great shooting nights.’’ He wasn’t always that way, in the past he’s cried over missed free throws. He’s felt his ego bloom after wins. But with time, he’s come to believe that emotion doesn’t play a productive role in his game. Instead, he wants to focus on what’s real. As he told NBC Sports, emotions are unstable, statistics are facts. Today, let’s root ourselves in what’s real as McCollum does, not in emotions—positive or negative. Because when we can do that, we can have the confidence to not only to do our job well, but to, as C.J. has done, resist the temptations and distractions of wealth, of fame, of stress and everything else that stands between us and our happiness.