The Daily Stoic

"Most of us internalize the wrong lesson. We think success = busy. We think that being busy is a sign of a good leader, an important person. Of course this is not true. A full calendar is the sign of someone who agrees to a lot of things, no more, no less."Ryan describes why we must not keep ourselves overly busy, or view a lack of free time as a virtue, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"We hear in Meditations Marcus Aurelius speak of “epithets for the self,” watchwords for his life. From Zeno to Marcus, the works of nearly every Stoic feature the repetition of four words, four virtues that go to the course of the philosophy: Courage. Justice. Moderation. Wisdom. These are mantras. These are reminders. A kind of living oral and written tradition for how to live and what kind of person to be."Ryan discusses how one songwriter created a mantra of her own on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https:/

Ryan contrasts the experiences of Seneca and Napoleon on the island of Corsica, and why perspective is so important in how we shape our experiences, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today’s Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan speaks with Eric Byrnes, a former professional baseball player, analyst, and endurance athlete. They talk about willpower, what it takes to succeed when times get tough, and more.Eric Byrnes played in Major League Baseball for over 10 years, in a career that took him from the Oakland A’s and Arizona Diamondbacks to the Seattle Mariners. In 2019, Eric ran, swam, and biked across the United States in support of his Let Them Play Foundation. Eric also hosts a podcast and has written a book, The F*It List: Life Lessons from a Human Crash Test Dummy.This episode is brought to you by the Theragun. The new Gen 4 Theragun is perfect for easing muscle aches and tightness, helping you recover from physical exertion, long periods of sitting down, and more—and its new motor makes it as quiet as an electric toothbrush. Try the Theragun risk-free for 30 days, starting at just $199.This episode is brought to you by Amazon Alexa. Amazon Alexa is the perfect system to use to set up your ho

"Successful, talented people are often frustrated for a simple reason: The world is constantly disappointing them. They expect everyone to be like them, to work as hard as them, to care as much as them, to hold themselves to the same standards as they do. And if not that, at the very least, we expect people to show up and do their jobs. It’s the difference between these expectations and reality that makes us angry. Angry at the man behind the counter who can’t even apologize that the flight is delayed because the airline couldn’t manage to get a pilot onto the plane. Angry at the delivery person who bent and smashed your mail into the box. Angry at the employee who disregarded instructions and made a costly mistake. Angry at this, angry at that, day after day. It’s understandable… but that doesn’t make it okay."Ryan describes why you have an obligation not to take your anger out on others on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.Sign up for Daily Stoic's Tame Your Temper challenge: http://dailystoic

"Joy is good. Who doesn’t like joy?The question is where does it come from—is it accidental or is it something you pursue? The Stoics would say that it’s neither. To Marcus Aurelius, joy was something you did. It was a process."Ryan talks about making the pursuit of joy part of your life on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan tells the tale of Seneca, one of the three most important Stoic philosophers who advised an emperor and authored countless works of fiction and advice.This episode is brought to you by Amazon Alexa. Amazon Alexa is the perfect system to use to set up your house with Smart Home functionality—and with the new Amazon Smart Lighting Bundle, it’s easy to get started. Just connect your Amazon Echo Dot with your first Sengled color changing light bulb and you’re on your way. Visit Amazon.com/dailystoic to get 20% off the bundle.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy

On today’s podcast, Ryan talks with Paul Kix about the French Resistance (the topic of Kix’s first book), what we can learn from historical events and the people who made them happen, and more.Paul Kix is a writer, editor, and podcaster. Kix is a deputy editor at ESPN who both writes and edits articles. He has written for outlets such as The New Yorker, GQ, and The Wall Street Journal. Kix’s first book, The Saboteur, discusses the wartime exploits of a French aristocrat who fought against the Nazi occupation of France.This episode is brought to you by Fast Growing Trees, the online nursery that delivers beautiful plants to your doorstep quickly and easily. Whether it’s magnificent shade trees, fruit trees with delicious apples and pears, privacy hedges, or beautiful flowers, Fast Growing Trees is the best place to buy your plants. And their 30-day Alive and Thrive guarantee means that you’ll be happy with whatever you buy. Visit FastGrowingTrees.com/stoic now and get ten percent off your entire order.This epi

"You worry. You get stressed. You want to get there early. You want it to go well. You don’t want anything bad to happen—to your loved ones, to you, to anyone. In the tunnel vision of your anxiety, these are all the things you can think about."There's never been a more stressful year in any of our lifetimes. On today's Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan outlines the costs of that stress and anxiety, and tells us how to handle it.Sign up for Daily Stoic's Slay Your Stress challenge: http://dailystoic.com/stress***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy

"Marcus Aurelius reminded himself, and us, two thousand years ago that we are all made for each other. The Stoics talked repeatedly about the idea of the common good. To leave someone hanging, turning your heart to stone because there is so much pain and suffering in this world? That is to betray this philosophy."Ryan shows why it's so critical that we take care of one another on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-

"Right now, this feels like an unprecedented crisis. Nearly a million people have died worldwide from a virus for which there may or may not be a vaccine depending on who you ask... Nobody really knows what’s going on. Nobody trusts anybody. Nobody knows who to believe. And both lives and livelihoods are hanging in the balance. It’s a nightmare. Will we ever survive this?"Ryan puts the world situation in perspective and tells us what we can do to cope on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy

On today’s podcast, Ryan talks with Scott Barry Kaufman about passion versus purpose, what psychology can tell us about our political leaders, how to foster empathy in other people, and more.Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., is an author, psychologist, professor, and podcaster. Kaufman hosts The Psychology Podcast, the number-one psychology podcast in the world. His new book, Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, reimagines the idea of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.This episode is brought to you by Amazon Alexa. Amazon Alexa is the perfect system to use to set up your house with Smart Home functionality—and with the new Amazon Smart Lighting Bundle, it’s easy to get started. Just connect your Amazon Echo Dot with your first Sengled color changing light bulb and you’re on your way. Visit Amazon.com/dailystoic to get 20% off the bundle.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the mor

"One day late in the fourth century BC, the Phoenician merchant Zeno set sail on the Mediterranean Sea with a cargo full of Tyrian purple dye. Prized by the wealthy and by royalty, who dressed themselves in clothes colored with it, the rare dye was painstakingly extracted by slaves from the blood of sea snails and dried in the sun until it was, as one ancient historian said, “worth its weight in silver.” This was Zeno’s family trade. They trafficked in one of the most valuable goods in the ancient world, and as it has always been for entrepreneurs, their business was on the line seemingly every day.On that fateful day, a day not unlike one you may have experienced, Zeno lost everything."Find out the rest of Zeno's story in today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily

"Whether you thought things were about to go back to normal or you’re entering another long month of quarantine or your country is locking down due to a second wave, we are all in the same boat: We’re all getting a little stir-crazy."Ryan describes how to cope with new pandemic restrictions—or any delays that you may face in the pursuit of your goals—on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.Sign up for Daily Stoic's Alive Time Challenge: dailystoic.com/alive***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice

In today's episode, Ryan reads his recent article about the lessons we can learn from the smallest moments in the lives of the philosophers and scholars who inspire us.Read the article here: https://ryanholiday.net/study/Get Lives of the Stoics: https://dailystoic.com/livesThis episode is brought to you by Amazon Alexa. Amazon Alexa is the perfect system to use to set up your house with Smart Home functionality—and with the new Amazon Smart Lighting Bundle, it’s easy to get started. Just connect your Amazon Echo Dot with your first Sengled color changing light bulb and you’re on your way. Visit Amazon.com/dailystoic to get 20% off the bundle.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.ins

On today’s podcast, Ryan talks with Ryder Carroll, the designer and creator of the Bullet Journal system, about how it feels to release a product into the world, the power of keeping a journal, and the best way to get started with your own.Ryder Carroll is a product designer who created the popular Bullet Journal method of journaling. Carroll originally devised the Bullet Journal method to help him cope with his learning disabilities, and began sharing it online in 2013. It has since become a worldwide phenomenon, being covered in outlets like the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Fast Company and more.This episode is brought to you by the Theragun. The new Gen 4 Theragun is perfect for easing muscle aches and tightness, helping you recover from physical exertion, long periods of sitting down, and more—and its new motor makes it as quiet as an electric toothbrush. Try the Theragun risk-free for 30 days, starting at just $199.This episode is also brought to you by Future. Future pairs you up with a remote

"In 1859, before he was president, before he suffered through that harrowing train ride to Washington on his way to office where many thought he would be killed before he arrived, before the Union tore itself to pieces and around 750,000 people died in the Civil War (the total number dead is still unknown), Abraham Lincoln gave a speech at the Wisconsin State Fair. The subject of the speech was supposed to be agriculture, but Lincoln decided to go a little deeper."Find out what Lincoln discussed, and why it's so important to remember nowadays, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.Today's podcast is sponsored by Epic Provisions, a maker of great protein snacks. Ryan and Epic Provisions are asking everyone to #TakeAnEPICBreak. Whether it's a small micro-break or a longer rest, taking a break is critical in these stressful times. Epic Provisions makes delicious high-protein snacks that are perfect for regaining energy during a break, like their incredibly satisfying protein bars.***If you

"Cato did not want a civil war. Julius Caesar probably thought that if he marched on Rome, Cato’s opposition would evaporate. He was mistaken. James Garfield didn’t want a civil war either. As the South ratcheted up their aggression in the 1860s, Southern fire-eaters assumed that the North would compromise, as they had time and time again. They weren’t counting on resistance like the kind they found in men like Garfield and Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. 'Of course I deprecate war,' Garfield famously said later in life, 'but if it is brought to my door, the bringer will find me home.' In a way, this perfectly captures the Stoic approach, not just to war but to life."Ryan describes how a Stoic treats the obstacles and problems that they encounter on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and m

"In Meditations, we have Marcus Aurelius writing notes to himself about who he wanted to be, what he expected of himself. In Book X, he writes about how he never wants to be overheard complaining—not even to himself. In Book X, he talks about greeting death cheerfully, bravely, because what choice do we have?But as we’ve said before, to talk about something is one thing, to do it is another. That’s what makes Marcus Aurelius so inspiring."Ryan describes why Marcus stands out amongst the Stoics on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.Get your copy of Ryan's new book, Lives of the Stoics (https://geni.us/LUN7). To get the special bonuses for ordering the book, visit dailystoic.com/lives.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https:

On today’s podcast, Ryan talks with co-author Stephen Hanselman about their latest book, Lives of the Stoics, and what their experience has been writing it for the past year. This is the first part of the interview that Ryan recorded as a bonus gift for pre-ordering Lives of the Stoics; to hear the rest, just visit DailyStoic.com/Lives.Stephen Hanselman is a longtime collaborator of Ryan’s, having worked with him on their previous books, The Daily Stoic and The Daily Stoic Journal. Stephen has worked in the publishing business in various roles for over three decades. He is also a graduate of Harvard Divinity School.Get Lives of the Stoics now: http://DailyStoic.com/lives***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicIn