The Daily Stoic

On this weekend episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan takes the stage to address 200 senior leaders from Herzog Technologies, Inc., a distinguished and leading rail and heavy highway contractor spanning across North America. Renowned for his profound insights into Stoic philosophy and practical wisdom, Ryan shares his invaluable thoughts on the transformative power of disciplined habits in achieving unparalleled success. ☎️ Herzog Technologies Inc.Twitter / XInstagram ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan talks with entrepreneur and wisdom seeker behind Farnam Street Shane Parrish on Why people who are popular on social don’t succeed when they write books, The mark of wisdom is looking downstream and seeing how a decision affects your life, Delaying gratification isnt easy but is important to learn and his book Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results a must-have manual for optimizing decision-making, gaining competitive advantage, and living a more intentional life.-Shane is the entrepreneur and wisdom seeker behind Farnam Street and the host of The Knowledge Podcast, where he focuses on turning timeless insights into actions. Shane’s popular online course, Decisions by Design, has helped thousands of executives, leaders, and managers around the world learn the repeatable behaviors that improve results. His expertise is rooted in personal experience–he started working at an intelligence agency in 2001. Clar and critical thinking became a matter of life or death for him. He had to quicly learn how to methodize good judgment and make better decisions under pressure. He’s since dedicated his life to mastering these lessons and sharing them with others. Shane’s work has been featured in nearly every major publication, including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. X: @ShaneAParrishIG: @FarnamStreet✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s hard to keep a Stoic down or hold them back. They push through. They see obstacles as opportunities. They are not deterred by difficulties or criticism or friction. Like the old motto of the Royal Air Force, the Stoics believed that perseverance and determination were key. Per ardua ad astra–it reads–Through adversity to the stars.This way of thinking makes someone a winner, it makes them a great leader. It can also make them dangerous. To themselves and others.The author SC Gwynne, recently discussed this on the Daily Stoic podcast (a must listen/watch episode) as well as in his fascinating new book His Majesty’s Airship. He explained how when it came to experimental aircraft, the attitude of “press on regardless,” was courageous, it was also responsible for countless crashes…and countless deaths.-And with today's meditation on the day's Daily Journal excerpt, Ryan reminds us that processing our feelings and pushing forward, sitting with our pain and accepting the grief, and finding help if and when needed helps us conquer. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

People spend a lot of money to buy nice land. They want to be in a good neighborhood with good schools. They want to have a beautiful view. Just look at what happened during the pandemic when people rushed to outbid each other for houses outside of major cities–because they wanted safety and space and change of scenery. For centuries, armies have clashed over territory–some of it valuable, some of it not–willing to pay in blood for control over a piece of dirt.Meanwhile, some of the most valuable real estate in the world sits, ignored. What’s that? We referred to it in The Girl Who Would Be Free as “the empire between your ears.” How many people spend an enormous amount to keep up their estates, but then let their brain fall into disrepair. How many of them protect their property, as Seneca said, but let people waste their time or influence their choices?-And in today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan talks stoics and answers questions in NYC on Obstacle is the way for 160 Hunter Douglas leaders from across the world. Hunter Douglas is the world’s leading manufacturer of window coverings as well as a major manufacturer of architectural products. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We know the world throws a lot at us. We know it’s noisy out there, and there are competing influences. We know we can be pretty forgetful too. How are we supposed to remember the most essential and important Stoic truths and principles for life?By simplifying. By repeating powerful and key ideas time and time again (with both words and actions).✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today’s episode of the Daily Stoic podcast Ryan speaks with author Kate Flannery on how having worked for American Apparel gave Kate a bad reputation, It’s hard to get someone to see something that their salary depends on them not seeing, the difference between quitting and getting fired along with her first book Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles.Strip Tees is her first book where she details her experience in a landscape of rowdy sex-positivity, racy photo shoots, and a cult-like devotion to the unorthodox CEO and founder of American Apparel. The line between sexual liberation and exploitation quickly grows hazy, leading Kate to question the company’s ethics and wrestle with her own. Kate Flannery was born and raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Bryn Mawr College and currently works for the Emmy Award-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race.IG: @KateCFlannerywww.kate-flannery.com✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wisdom isn’t just what you seek out. In fact, much of the most important wisdom we learn in life seeks us out. The piece of unsolicited advice from someone who has been in our position. The painful consequences of a bad decision that become undeniably clear. The feedback from the audience or the customer after all those years of work.Epictetus said we can’t learn that which we think we already know. Zeno reminds us that conceit is the impediment to growth and change. If you’re not willing to be taught, you cannot learn.-And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan shares 11 Stoic Books That Will Improve Your Life. But what if you wanted to go deeper? What if you wanted to read commentary and biographies on the practitioners? How did the philosophy develop over the years? What do the critics have to say? How did Stoicism inspire Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy? Or maybe you want to find a fiction book that is inspired by Stoicism? Or just a simple introductory text for beginners? In this video excerpt Ryan Holiday talks about some of the essential books that you should read about Stoic philosophy.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It doesn’t feel like much. It’s just a perfunctory part of the morning. A little bit of tidying up, a way to get a little dose of inspiration. A way to keep track of the date. But as you tear the page of that little calendar that sits on your desk–the Daily Stoic version perhaps?!?–it hardly occurs to you what’s happened. You miss it, but it does not miss you. A tragedy has occurred. A death…yours.For an easy way to start the day with a good quote, check out our Daily Stoic Page-a-Day Calendar. The 365 day tear-off calendar features the best Stoic quotes from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and others. And this calendar is now perennial! So you can purchase it any month, and use it for any year. Click here to learn more.---And in today's Daily Stoic journal reading, Ryan reminds us to be stingy with our time just as we do with money and possessions. Life is long enough, and its proven to bring us great benefits if we use our time wisely.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marcus Aurelius was chosen by Emporer Hadrian to be his eventual successor. In 161, Aurelius took control of the Roman Empire along with his brother Verus. War and disease threatened Rome on all sides. Aurelius held his territory, but was weakened as a ruler after the death of his brother Verus. His son Commodus later became co-ruler in 177, only three years before Aurelius died on March 17, 180.Today, Ryan reads from his book Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius to share the winding and often confounding story of one of the most important figures of Stoicism.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today’s episode of the Daily Stoic podcast Ryan speaks with author Kate Flannery on Dov Charney and their early journey at American Apparel, the evolution of feminism, imposter syndrome vs being qualified and the difference between quitting and getting fired along with her first book Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles.Strip Tees is her first book where she details her experience in a landscape of rowdy sex-positivity, racy photo shoots, and a cult-like devotion to the unorthodox CEO and founder of American Apparel. The line between sexual liberation and exploitation quickly grows hazy, leading Kate to question the company’s ethics and wrestle with her own. Kate Flannery was born and raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Bryn Mawr College and currently works for the Emmy Award-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race.IG: @KateCFlannerywww.kate-flannery.com✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On his way to work each day in Boston, John Adams would hear a man singing. As his great biographer David McCollough writes in John Adams, it was a beautiful, almost joyful song that inspired him as he headed to his law office in the mornings. One day, Adams decided to track the source of the music down. Inside a single room house, packed to the brim with a large family, he found a poor shoemaker. Sensing that the man was struggling, Adams ordered a pair of shoes as a gesture of charity. As they settled the transaction, Adams asked if the man had trouble getting by.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Book 7 of Meditations, Marcus writes to himself (as the Gregory Hays translation, which you can grab a special edition of here, has it):"Take care that you don't treat inhumanity as it treats human beings."What does that mean? What exactly does Marcus mean by “inhumanity”? Hurricanes are inhuman. ChatGPT is inhuman. They might be ruthless forces of nature or technology, but they’re not out to get human beings. Does it matter how you treat them? With a passage like this, it is helpful to, as we’ve done a few times now, look at various translations.In his great annotated edition of Meditations, Robin Waterfield translated that same passage like this:✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

People say they love learning. And sure, they pick up books and go to museums and watch documentaries, and yes, they sat through their college courses. But this is only superficial evidence of a true student.There’s a joke from Churchill where he said that yeah, he likes learning, but he hates being taught. Most of us are like that: We like learning when it’s easy, when it doesn’t challenge us. We like it when it comes neatly packaged in a book or in a YouTube video. But everything else? We ignore that.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today’s episode of the Daily Stoic podcast Ryan speaks with Whitney Cummings, comedian, actress, writer, producer, director, entrepreneur, and host of the hit podcast “Good for You". In part 2 of 2 they discuss having no sense of what life is because you’re not living one, discipline is really important in the beginning but it’s important to know when to update, Rerouting addictive behavior and her latest uncensored stand-up special "MOUTHY" on Only Fans TV (OFTV).IG, X, and Tiktok: @WhitneyCummingsTo follow her on OnlyFans @Whitney✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Unfortunately, it’s been happening for a long time: People doing horrible things to each other. Marcus Aurelius was betrayed. Seneca was exiled on trumped-up charges. There were Stoics who were cheated on. There were Stoics who were persecuted. Stoics who were tortured.How did they get over it? Did they get even? Get justice? The great Dr. Edith Eger (whose books we highly recommend and has been on The Daily Stoic Podcast twice) endured the Holocaust at Auschwitz. She was a victim of one of the most heinous crimes in human history. How did she get over it? Did she get even? Get justice?✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We got together with family. We reminded ourselves what was important. We enjoyed the bounties of the Earth. Perhaps when we took the rolls out of the oven we noted, as Marcus Aurelius did in Meditations, the way the bread cracks open on top, a nod to nature’s inadvertence.We gave thanks.And then the next day, what did millions of people do? They rushed out to get a deal on a flat-screen television or crowded into department stores to take advantage of Black Friday deals. Then today, they sat down at their computer or on their phones to spend even more money for Cyber Monday.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today’s audiobook reading, Ryan talks with 150 Local Business Leaders and Marketing Directors who are Twins Brand Partners about Challenges we face, Overcoming adversity in leadership roles and work life balance.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today’s episode of the Daily Stoic podcast Ryan speaks with Whitney Cummings, comedian, actress, writer, producer, director, entrepreneur, and host of the hit podcast “Good for You". In part 1 of 2 they discuss having no sense of what life is because you’re not living one, discipline is really important in the beginning but it’s important to know when to update, Rerouting addictive behavior and her latest uncensored stand-up special "MOUTHY" on Only Fans TV (OFTV).IG, X, and Tiktok: @WhitneyCummingsTo follow her on OnlyFans @Whitney✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marcus Aurelius would have recognized the feeling you feel right now. So would Seneca and Cato and many of the other Stoics. The Romans, like Americans, loved a good feast. They loved wine. They loved breaking bread with family.We know this because their writings abound with descriptions of overflowing tables and dinners that went long into the night. But you know what doesn’t appear in their writings very often, just as it does not occur to us often enough?How some people don’t know this feeling at all.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It doesn’t seem that way of course. The economy is a mess, the government is dysfunctional, the virus is still there, screwing up plans and making us sick. People are annoying. People are frustrating. Your co-worker is a jerk. Your kid just broke his arm. Everything is expensive, so expensive.This isn’t how things are supposed to be is it? Well, it’s pretty much how things have always been. Look at Marcus Aurelius, in his reign and life, he knew all those things intimately, plus many other tragedies. A few years ago, a Daily Stoic reader wrote in to make an interesting observation. In Meditations, Marcus is vague about some things and very specific about others. As a general rule, Marcus does not talk much about the plague he lived through or the grief he felt. Nowhere does he bemoan the disasters which happened with such frequency that one ancient historian described Marcus Aurelius’ reign as an unending series of troubles. Marcus skips over all this, but you know what he spends a full 10% of Meditations talking about in very clear detail? The gratitude he felt to the people who had helped him, who had inspired him, who had taught him. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s not that the Stoics didn’t love. It’s not that they didn’t like the nice stuff that they had or the jobs they had worked hard to earn. Of course, they liked these things and would have preferred to keep them, would have preferred a world in which fortune was less fickle, where everything lasted and no one ever grieved or missed or regretted.When Richard Feynman was in high school, he fell in love with a woman named Arline Greenbaum. They had a lovely, youthful kind of happiness that seemed like it would last forever. But while Feynman was a graduate student at Princeton, Arline was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Despite the terminal diagnosis and their parents' protest, they married a year later. She died within a year and a half. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan speaks with assistant professor and MFA program at George Mason University, Timothy Denevi The economics of a book being different than the media, How much do you internalize the tumult and danger around you as a journalist, Fundamentally journalism is a form of lying and an act of aggression and his book Freak Kingdom · Hunter S. Thompson's Manic Ten-Year Crusade Against American Fascism.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have a false picture about how success happens. We often only see the results and almost never the process of things, so we tend to think that the finished product—a book, being in shape, being wise—is impressive, and therefore the process by which that event was created must have been equally brilliant.In fact, it’s not.All success happens the same way: “action by action,” as Marcus said. Just after the release of Metallica’s eleventh album, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich explained the simple secret to their high output:See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Amazon tells us that’s one of the most highlighted passages in the digital version of Stillness is the Key. It’s an idea that’s impossible to disentangle from Stoicism. Epictetus said there were things that were up to us and some things were not. Ok, but then what? Remind yourself, Marcus Aurelius writes in Meditations, that the past and the future are not in our power, only the present is. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today’s audiobook reading, Ryan presents an excerpt from one of the seminal texts of Stoicism, the Discourses of Epictetus, read by Michael Reid. As a series of lectures given by Epictetus that were written down by his pupil Arrian in 108 A.D., these discourses provide practical advice to think on and practice in order to move oneself closer toward the ultimate goal of living free and happy. In this third section, Epictetus discusses how we should see ourselves in comparison with the gods.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan speaks with assistant professor and MFA program at George Mason University, Timothy Denevi on mastery in learning the entire playbook so that you can throw it away, How the information makes us blind to the facts, Fundamentally journalism is a form of lying and an act of aggression and his book Freak Kingdom · Hunter S. Thompson's Manic Ten-Year Crusade Against American Fascism✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oscar Wilde was the victim of a terrible tragedy and a terrible injustice. At the height of his artistic powers, he was thrown in jail–an awful prison which contained the germs that later killed him. It was intolerance and tyranny, plain and simple. Everything he cared about was taken from him.His family. His freedom. His work.As he sat in that dark cell, rotting, festering, angry, he had a kind of slow but life-changing spiritual awakening. Coming out of his resentments and fear and despair, gifted with some paper by a sympathetic politician, he decided that his position would, “force on me the necessity of again asserting myself as an artist, and as soon as I possibly can. If I can produce even one more beautiful work of art I shall be able to rob malice of its venom and cowardice of its sneer and to pluck out the tongue of scorn by the roots.”✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A man walks through a field of flowing grain, the grass bending low under its own weight. The wind blows softly on a cold day. He looks and sees a small bird sitting on a branch, the steam rising off the ground behind it. The bird takes flight and he follows it with his eyes, smiling at the beauty of nature’s inadvertence.But when the man turns, you see that he is surrounded by darkness–uprooted trees and thick mud. An army marches to get behind thick, sharp palisades. Weapons of war are being prepared to do terrible damage. Within seconds, ferocious, ceaseless, primal violence will erupt.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marcus Aurelius spent 14 years at war with the Marcomanni. It was a brutal, grinding campaign which he eventually won at great cost and risk. His victory was celebrated as a triumph, immortalized in a 97 foot tall marble tower which winds upward, showing in brilliant detail, "the heroic emotion and despair of Roman soldiers along with the unwavering leadership of Marcus Aurelius."And some 19 centuries later, this monument to his accomplishments still stands, disproving, you might say, Marcus Aurelius’s reminders to himself in Meditations that posthumous fame doesn’t last, that no one would remember him.Except it’s more complicated than that. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan speaks with book athour & screenwriter Steven Pressfield on fewer possessions, superstition in memorabilia, the impact of working without any attachments to the outcome, and his new books The Daily Pressfield. Steven is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. He’s most known for The War of Art, Do The Work, Turning Pro, Gates of Fire, and Government Cheese. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Seneca thought he knew Nero. He was confident in his ability to teach or contain or even control him. Other Stoics knew better. Thrasea (whose story we tell in Lives of the Stoics) opposed him from the start. Agrippinus (another fascinating Stoic in Lives) wouldn’t even attend Nero’s parties, because it was clear to him that the man was a tyrant.Surely these men (and women) communicated their concerns to Seneca. Surely people raised questions. But Seneca thought he knew better. He was also paid so handsomely by Nero, was so powerful as a result of his position as Nero’s teacher and advisor, that it became hard for him to see what was there. It was a classic case of that problem outlined by Upton Sinclair many centuries later: It’s very hard to get someone to see something that their salary (or status or identity) depends on them not seeing. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s fascinating to think of all these different translators sitting down and seeing this same bit of writing and having such wildly different interpretations. How much each one was a reflection of their time and place, how much room there was for personality, for re-creation, and re-imagination and yet also still, how the same essential truth comes through.So it goes with philosophy and with life. Nothing, not even philosophy, is completely objective. It’s all in how you see it. It’s in what you need to see in it. It’s about what you do with it.We happen to think that the Gregory Hays translation is the best and that’s why we worked with him to put out what we think is the absolutely best edition of Meditations. It was designed in the U.S. by Ryan Holiday and made in the U.K., and features:Genuine leather from the best Bible manufacturer in the United Kingdom. This edition includes a gold foil-stamped leather cover, gilded-edge pages printed on premium-grade paper.Custom illustrations to delineate each section.Custom gold foil-stamped box to protect your copy.In-depth biography on the life of Marcus Aurelius written by Ryan Holiday from his book Lives Of The Stoics.To learn more about this special edition of Meditations, visit dailystoic.com/meditations. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Epictetus taught that philosophy is a way of life and not simply a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control; he argues that we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan speaks with book athour & screenwriter Steven Pressfield on fewer possessions, superstition in memorabilia, the impact of working without any attachments to the outcome, and his new books The Daily Pressfield. Steven is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. He’s most known for The War of Art, Do The Work, Turning Pro, Gates of Fire, and Government Cheese. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From the outside looking in, author Philipp Meyer had the kind of success that is easy to not just be envious of, but angry about. His first two published novels, American Rust and The Son, were massive critical and commercial hits (we carry them both at The Painted Porch for good reason–they sell!). American Rust won the 2009 Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and The Son was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2014. Both were adapted into TV series. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nobody wants to be criticized. It doesn’t feel good when people judge what you’ve done. We want the right people to like us, we want all people to like us. We want to be accepted, appreciated, and celebrated. So we try to be like other people, like the people that everyone likes.But in the end, does this effort pay off? No, it doesn’t. You work hard to preempt criticism, to appeal to the trends, to make people like you and then what happens? They still criticize you. Somebody finds something to find fault with you about. Think of how Marcus Aurelius was savaged by critics in his own time, just as he is today by many academics and philosophers, written off by many historians.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

John Adams' life was not an easy one. First, because it was just hard to be alive in the 18th century. It was hard to make dinner. It was hard to stay warm in the winter. It was hard to travel even short distances. It was hard to not die of the endless diseases and injuries that were so tragically common.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan speaks with Adam Kinzinger on losing the things in life that become normal to us, freeing ourselves from fear, his new book Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country, and putting his job on the line for a better purpose. Adam Daniel Kinzinger is an American former politician and senior political commentator for CNN. He served as a United States representative from Illinois from 2011 to 2023.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It would be wonderful to live in a time where people got along. It’d be better if the economy was roaring. It’d be nice if the political landscape wasn’t dominated by grifters and demagogues. And of course, who doesn’t wish that our parents had taken better care of the environment, had protected our institutions better, and invested more for the future.But they didn’t. And here we are. People don’t get along. The world is scary. Stuff is falling apart…traditions are crumbling…The guidance of wisdom and virtue. That’s what separates Marcus from the majority of past and present world leaders. Just think of the diary that he left behind, which is now known as his Meditations: the private thoughts of the most powerful man in the world, admonishing himself on how to be more virtuous, more just, more immune to temptation, wiser. Those thoughts are now a landmark of Stoic philosophy that have guided some of history’s greatest men and women. For good reason.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When you’re tired, you stop. When you’re not feeling it, you put it off until tomorrow. When it’s hard, you make an excuse. You listen to that little voice inside you that lets you off the hook, that gives you a break, that gives you more time.And with today's meditation on the day's Daily Journal excerpt, Ryan talks about the real power that can’t be taken from us, the power in conquering our own throne. Stoicism 101 is a 14-day course dedicated to teaching you the tools to live your best life. To distill down the absolute best lessons of Stoicism and teach you what the philosophy is really about. Again, this will be a live course. Beginning on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH all participants will move through the course together at the same pace.Registration will close on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

also known as Cato the Censor and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write history in Latin with his Origines, a now fragmentary work on the history of Rome. Ryan reads from his book Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius to share the a fascinating historical figure from ancient Rome, admired for his unwavering virtue and commitment to the Roman Republic, and a famous vocal opponent of the leadership of Julius Caesar.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan speaks with American country music singer Morgan Wade on physical and mental benefits to our routine, getting sober, ideas while walking, and knowing the vitcory in starting. Morgan Wade is a native of Floyd, Virginia. She began writing songs as a freshman in college, and in 2018, she recruited musicians through Craigslist to record her first album Puppets with My Heart, which was credited to The Stepbrothers. IG @morganwademusicTwitter @themorganwade✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marcus Aurelius was a true philosopher king, but he wasn’t the first or the last amongst the Stoics. The first emperor, Octavian, studied under Athenodorus and Arius Didymus. Hadrian took classes from Epictetus and Antoninus was a kind of natural Stoic.--And in today's excerpt from The Daily Stoic, Ryan reminds us to to stop fighting against the thing and use it as a prescription, that it is unfortunate that it happen but its fortunate that it happen to me.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There can be so much about the study of this philosophy that can be overwhelming that’s intimidating. When did Stoicism start? Where did it begin? What the hell is a Stoa Poikile?? Put aside that it focuses on some of the most pressing and complicated topics in the world–good, evil, our mortality–philosophy is also filled with paradoxes and counterintuitive arguments. More pressing and practical for many of us, philosophy is filled with unpronounceable names and big words, often from languages we don’t speak.Stoicism 101 is a 14 day guided journey through the best of Stoicism. What is Stoicism? Who were the Stoics? Why have some of history’s greatest leaders practiced Stoicism in their daily lives? How can I consistently apply Stoicism to my life?If you’re thinking any of those things, you’ve come to the right place. We set up Stoicism 101: Ancient Philosophy For Your Actual Life to give you the absolute best of Stoicism in 14 days, with Ryan Holiday as your personal teacher—all for just $25.Registration is only open until TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, so we hope you’ll take a moment and sign up now.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Yesterday was Halloween here in America, which is a fun holiday for children. It’s full of masks and candy and staying up late. In Mexico, however, today is the beginning of Día de los Muertos, a much more adult and philosophical holiday. All throughout Mexico, and places where the holiday is celebrated, people will gather not for treats but to celebrate and remember their friends and family who have died. It is, in a sense, a three day commemoration of the idea of memento mori—a kind of collective bereavement mixed with the fun of a jazz funeral.⏳ You can view our entire Memento Mori Collection at dailystoic.com/mm✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan Speaks with Eileen Canney Linnehan on Yips, performance anxiety, and mental block on todays episode of the daily stoic podcast. Eileen Canney Linnehan was a star pitcher at Northwestern who suddenly could not throw to first base. Now she helps young athletes get through the debilitating issue. Eileen Canney Linnehan is a consultant who helps athletes at various levels get over the yips.www.ConsultWithECL.com ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You might think that the Stoics were above silly things like superstitions. After all, these were rational folks, serious people. Certainly, they wouldn’t believe in ghosts, right? They wouldn’t have time for something as juvenile as a ghost story, would they?--And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan talks parenting goals, the most important role philosophy can play in all of your lives is in guiding the example you set for them. In the principles you embody. In the standards you hold yourself to. This is the area in which you can have true multi-generational impact.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Not everyone thinks Marcus Aurelius was so great. And it’s true, his record is not unblemished: He fought in imperial wars. He didn’t stop the persecution of the Christians. His son was disturbed and unfit to succeed him.So can we really call him a “philosopher king?” How great a Stoic was he actually?--And with today's meditation on the day's Daily Journal excerpt, Ryan talks about us accepting things that are out of our control, that pushing back and questioning the stoics only get us closer to their teachings.  Stoicism 101 is a 14-day course dedicated to teaching you the tools to live your best life. To distill down the absolute best lessons of Stoicism and teach you what the philosophy is really about. Again, this will be a live course. Beginning on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH all participants will move through the course together at the same pace.Registration will close on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today, Ryan answers questions on purpose and stoic wisdom at Dr. Edith Egar's workshop. Dr. Eger’s story as a Holocaust survivor & work as a renowned therapist has impacted millions around the world. As someone who lived through unthinkable trauma, Dr. Eger intimately knows the greatest prison is not the one created by the world… it is the prison created in our own minds.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan speaks with organizational psychologist and book author Adam Grant on seeing things in the context of where they actually sit, learning to be pleased but not satisfied, current sports culture and his new book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things.Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton, where he has been the top-rated professor for seven straight years. His pioneering research on motivations and meaning has enabled people to reach their aspirations and exceed others’ expectations. He has been recognized as one of the ten most influential management thinkers and Fortune’s 40 Under 40. His books have sold millions of copies, his TED talks have more than 30 million views, and he hosts the podcast Re:Thinking.IG: @AdamGrantTwitter: @AdamMGrantwww.adamgrant.net✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.