The Daily Stoic

Today Ryan talks with Buzz Williams, head coach of the men’s basketball team at Texas A&M. They discuss the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on college sports, the personal progress they have made during the pandemic, how they practice reading, and more. Get your copy of Stillness Is the Key for just $3.99 on Amazon: https://geni.us/StillnessSale This episode is brought to you by Future . Fut...

"For all the poverty he practiced and Stoic philosophy he wrote, clearly there was some part of Seneca that was dazzled by money. Even though he was born into a wealthy family, he wanted more and more of it. That’s what drew him into Nero’s service, where he accumulated a net worth of millions and millions of dollars. So too with Cicero, who was born to a less prestigious family, but still st...

"Shakespeare waited out a plague. So did Isaac Newton. The poet John Keats spent 10 days in a harbor, waiting out a typhus epidemic. Think of the soldiers who spent years being posted overseas. Think about the ones who spent years recovering from their wounds. Life is full of waiting. It’s filled with moments of forced stillness. We’re delusional to think we’ll be exempted from this—that thin...

"It’s always been tempting to talk a good game. People have been doing it for thousands of years. But today, it’s never been easier to talk and virtue-signal. There are whole social networks designed to enable you to do this. They reward you for what you say, for the image you project. They don’t much care for what you do." Ryan talks about the importance of backing up your words with ac...

Today Ryan talks with author and reporter David French about the balance between personal and civic responsibility, the ability to take criticism, the polarizing battles between the left and right in today’s politics, and more. This episode is brought to you by Mack Weldon, an amazing online retailer for men’s basics. Mack Weldon believes in smart design, premium fabrics and simple shopping—and th...

"What does a Stoic say to adversity? To recessions? To pandemics ? To setbacks and struggles and months stuck inside? To uncertainty and cramped quarters and a collapse of confidence? What do they say to the looming question that has so many people scared—'What if things get worse?'" Find out on today's Daily Stoic Podcast episode. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, w...

"It’s easy to look at history and learn the wrong lesson. You see Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar and can’t help but connect their enormous ego to their incredible successes. Or you watch Elizabeth Holmes escape consequences for her frauds and Adam Neumann, the founder of WeWork, get rewarded with a golden parachute and think: the upside of ego is enormous and the downside is pretty mini...

Today’s podcast features Ryan talking to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks football team, discussing how you can use Stoicism in a practical way to keep learning, make (and stick to) your own standards, and make the most of your defeats. This episode is brought to you by WHOOP . WHOOP is a fitness wearable that provides personalized insights on how well you’re sleeping, how much you’ve re...

Today Ryan talks with writer and historian Andrew Roberts about the process of writing about historical figures, the ways that character is tested during trying times, Roberts’ take on figures like Napoleon and Lloyd George, and more.  Books by Andrew Roberts Churchill: Walking with Destiny: https://geni.us/vi8z Napoleon: A Life: https://geni.us/p3JMb9n Leadership in War: https://geni.us/MCzyPy Th...

"It’s easy to think—given their spurning of so many of the pleasures that other people chase—that the Stoics didn’t want or like anything. When you see the lengths that Seneca and Marcus go to criticize luxury, you might assume they lived like paupers. Or when you hear about how blasé Epictetus was about his crippled leg , that maybe he had gotten so philosophical that like one of those monks...

"These are rough times.  Then again, times are always rough for someone. If not for us, then for someone else. And according to the Stoics, that means they’re rough for everyone. What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee, Marcus Aurelius wrote . Meaning: we’re all in this together. Our fates are all tied up with one another. " Learn more about what you can do to help in today's Dai...

Today Ryan talks with Coby Karl, a former member of the Los Angeles Lakers and current head coach of the NBA G League’s South Bay Lakers. They take questions from Daily Stoic readers and listeners about the merits of coaching, and how to stay physically and mentally healthy with the tenets of Stoicism. This episode is brought to you by Future . Future pairs you up with a remote personal trainer th...

"It’s key then, if you want to be good and do good, that you have a kind of North Star in your life that keeps you centered. A role model who draws you back on course when the events of life or the drift of inertia subtly misdirect you." Learn more about the importance of role models in today's Daily Stoic Podcast **** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a...

"For thousands of years people have been turning to Stoicism when they had problems, big and small. Obviously you know that on some level or you wouldn’t be reading this email. But do you really practice this? Or, are you treating philosophy like some sort of side gig, as Seneca put it, or treating it, as Marcus termed it, like a stepmother? Whatever you’re going through, the Stoics have writ...

"Seneca wrote a lot of letters to his friend Lucilius. We don’t know a lot about Lucilius, only that he was from Pompeii, he was a Roman knight, he was the imperial procurator in Sicily then its Governor, he owned a country villa in Ardea. For all his success though, we get the sense that he struggled with many of the things we all struggle with: Anxiety. Distraction. Fear. Temptation. Self-d...

In today’s episode, Ryan reads his latest article about the unpredictability of life, and how we should always be prepared for the worst and the best that it has to offer us. Read the original article here: https://geni.us/rLEd0 This episode is brought to you by WHOOP . WHOOP is a fitness wearable that provides personalized insights on how well you’re sleeping, how much you’ve recovered from your...

In today’s episode, Ryan talks about the new box set ( https://geni.us/A6gX ) of his first three books on Stoicism. He reads from Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic ( https://geni.us/GMzk ) and tackles your questions, too. This episode is brought to you by WHOOP . WHOOP is a fitness wearable that provides personalized insights on how well you’re sleeping, how much you’ve recovered from your workouts, a...

"Here we are in tough times. A global pandemic has struck wide swaths of the population. Governments are struggling under the load. Economies are crashing. These are the kinds of moments that make average people want to shrink, to turn inward, to focus on themselves.  A Stoic resists that impulse." Find out what a Stoic does instead, in today's Daily Stoic podcast. **** If you enjoy...

"Like any person in power, any person in the public spotlight, any person striving to be great, Marcus struggled with caring too much about what other people thought of him. Good or bad—as animals, we are designed to think this matters, lest our evolutionary ancestors risk being driven from the tribe. So Marcus worked to remind himself that praise and criticism were really the same thing: a c...

In today’s episode, Ryan talks with his mentor, author and strategist Robert Greene. They discuss historical links to today’s pandemic, the 2020 US presidential election, Robert’s thoughts on making alive time out of the state-imposed quarantines, and more. This episode is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. Four Sigmatic is a maker of mushroom coffee, lattes, elixirs, and more. Their drinks all tast...

"Maybe right now you’re stuck at home, maybe you’re not working. Your kids might be home with you. Certainly the normal way of doing things has been significantly altered. Well, now is the time to follow the Stoic practices more than ever." Find out what kind of practices you should incorporate into your life in today's Daily Stoic podcast. **** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, w...

"It seems crazy now, but amongst the Stoics in the ancient world there was once intense disagreement over whether philosophers should have “precepts” or sayings to remind them of their teachings. Stoics like Aristo , who lived around the time of Zeno , believed that this was cheating. A wise man, properly trained, should just know what to do in any and every situation. " Ryan discusses h...

"It just doesn’t make sense, does it? They have every incentive in the world to get it right, and they can’t. They’re putting their own livelihood at risk. All the information is out there. They had the same opportunities as you did, maybe even better ones.  And yet… and yet… " Ryan discusses how you can keep from being distracted by the actions of others. This episode was brought to you...

In today’s episode, Ryan describes how success rarely comes in one fell swoop, but rather is built a little more every day, bit by bit. Building success day by day is just one of the many things you can do with an effective, efficient habits regimen. Get your habits in order with Daily Stoic’s Habits for Success, Habits for Happiness (https://geni.us/DShabits) course. It’s six weeks of challenges...

In today’s episode, Ryan talks with NBA All-Star, Laker legend and humanitarian Pau Gasol. They discuss everything from Pau's reading habit to his advocacy for female coaches in basketball and more. 1:51 - Intro 6:22 - Being a big reader—and how that was encouraged by Phil Jackson 8:22 - What Pau gets out of fiction 10:32 - Phil Jackson recommendations 11:52 - Stoicism and reading 16:02 - The...