The Daily Stoic

Ryan speaks with Lori Gottlieb about the profound effect that stories have on our lives, why we are all unreliable narrators, how we can make real steps toward positive change by practicing self-compassion, understanding other peoples’ experiences by listening to their stories, and more. Lorr Gottlieb is a physiotherapist, writer, speaker, and podcast host whose work focuses on the role that stori...

One of the things that separates us from other people—indeed that has been responsible for our success—is our ability to be strict and self-disciplined . Where other people are fine making excuses or taking shortcuts, we are not . Where other people wing it or do what’s easiest, taking the path of least resistance, we don’t . That’s really the essence of Stoicism and why those of us who have commi...

Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington profited from slavery, but both knew it was wrong. Yet at the end of their lives, it was Washington who freed his slaves, not Jefferson, who had written far more eloquently about human equality as well as the eternal shame of slavery. Why was that? --- And in today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan answers questions in a virtual Q&A about how he gets intereste...

A successful day for a Stoic is simple. It’s not about making more money. Or getting more famous, or dazzling more people with your accomplishments. It’s whether or not you got better . Specifically, it’s whether you get better at life—more prepared for the troubles, for the temptations, for the opportunities that lay ahead. As Seneca wrote to Lucilius, the prescription for this philosophy is simp...

Ryan speaks with Wes Larson about how and why he dedicated his life to working with bears, the feeling of being alive that he gets when working up close with bears in the wild, what our inherent fear and fascination with dangerous forces can teach us about our relationship to nature, how we can better live with animals rather than dominating them, and more. Wes Larson is a wildlife biologist and t...

You don’t get a joke, so you say it’s not funny. You don’t like something, so you believe it sucks. You’re white, so you’ve always taken it for granted that the color ‘nude’ roughly matches your skin. You drive on the right side of the road, so it’s weird when you go somewhere and people drive on the left side. You love your job, so you have no patience for people complaining about theirs. You’ve...

In retrospect, so many of the decisions the Stoics made are baffling. Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus . Seneca and Nero. Their attitude toward women, toward slavery, toward violence, toward what society was supposed to look like. Even more recently, what of Stockdale and the complicated nature of the war in Vietnam. Didn’t they know? Didn’t they know better? Sometimes…but not always. --- And...

Ryan presents the first of six readings of Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes . Cicero was considered Rome’s greatest politician, and he has survived as one of history’s most enduring chroniclers of Stoic philosophy and the Stoics themselves. As Ryan explains in Lives of the Stoics , these paradoxes are designed to question commonly held beliefs in order to promote reflection and discussion. In that spirit,...

Ryan speaks with Zach Braff about his new Stoicism-inspired movie A Good Person , how the idea of Amor fati has helped him translate recent personal trauma into art, what he has learned about supporting people who need help in the wake of a friend’s tragedy, and more. Zach Braff is an actor, voice actor, director, screenwriter, and entrepreneur. He is most known for his starring role on the TV com...

In the year 165 AD, a plague began to break out in Rome. Brought back from the far eastern corners of the empire, the virus spread from person to person, house to house, until nearly all of Rome was overwhelmed. The doctors could not keep up. Neither could the morticians or the grave diggers. Rome’s economy was devastated. Millions died, millions fled. And the plague simply dragged on, year after...

We get so used to having our way. We live in a time when the skies have been conquered. When so many diseases have been vanquished. When technology allows us to do and have things that were inconceivable even just a generation ago. Consequently the eternal battle for our attention, between the things we control and the things we don’t , becomes even harder for us to wage. The lessons and warnings...

Ryan speaks with Steve Scott about his book Hey, Tiger―You Need to Move Your Mark Back: 9 Simple Words that Changed the Game of Golf Forever , why having integrity is such a crucial part of being a good athlete and human being, the cautionary tale of Tiger Woods, and more. Steve Scott is an American former professional Golfer and the current PGA Head Golf Professional of The Outpost Club and Found...

The busier we get, the more we work, even the more that we learn and read, the further we tend to drift from our center. We get in a rhythm. We’re making money, being creative, we’re stimulated and busy. It seems like everything is going well. But if we’re not careful, those  other  things grow and grow until they take over completely; and what once felt like a rhythm now feels like a ru...

We like to think that someday, things will be slower, more peaceful. That we’ll get a break. That after the holidays, after this busy season, then we’ll be able to get serious–about that thing we needed to think about, about that exercise we wanted to start doing, about taking that vacation. Once I get away from the city, from the office, then I can relax, we tell ourselves. It’s never going to ha...

People probably thought Marcus Aurelius was strange. The time he spent alone in his room. The long walks he took by himself. We know they thought it was strange that he was seen reading and writing in the Colosseum, ignoring the carnage of the games below. “The world today does not understand, in either man or woman,” Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes in Gift from the Sea , “the need to be alone.” Perh...

In today’s episode, Ryan presents an excerpt from The Tao Of Seneca produced by Tim Ferriss’ Audio. In this letter, Seneca talks about examining the causes of our fear, the unavoidable threat of death, and more.  📖 Check out the PDF of The Tao of Seneca for free and the Penguin Edition of Seneca’s Letters at the Painted Porch .  ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailyst...

Ryan speaks with Rob Dyrdek about finding happiness and fulfillment by managing his time and energy in more intentional ways, transitioning from self-preservation to generational preservation, how journaling and applying Stoic principles has changed his life for the better, and more. Rob Dyrdek is an American entrepreneur, actor, producer, reality TV personality, and former professional skateboard...

Meditations , you could say, is Marcus Aurelius exploring himself. That’s literally what the title means–the book isn’t for you and I, it’s “things to one’s self,” to himself. He’s exploring his fears, his desires, his flaws, his virtues. That’s the journey that philosophy took Marcus on. Since he was a young man until right before his death, he was exploring himself, trying to understand himself...

One of the criticisms of the Stoics is that they left certain things unaddressed. Nowhere in Seneca’s writings , for instance, does he directly address Nero or criticize him by name. Even after he left Nero’s service, as the man spiraled out of control, Seneca stuck with the code that General Mattis would stick with centuries later–keeping their opinions about the administration they once served t...

Ryan speaks with Bozoma Saint John about her new book The Urgent Life: My Story of My Story of Love, Loss, and Survival , how intense personal traumas have shifted her perspective on life, why the best legacy to leave behind is to have treated people well, viewing grief as a choice, and more. Bozoma Saint John is an American businessperson and marketing executive who has served as the Chief Market...

Today marks the anniversary of the death of one of humanity’s greatest specimens. On March 17th, 180, in what is now modern day Vienna, Emperor Marcus Aurelius breathed his last breath and died. We don’t know exactly what his last words were. Cassius Dio claims that Marcus spoke his last sentence to his guard, saying to him, “Go to the rising sun, for I am setting.” Given the incredible legacy of...

There’s a lot of things to try to do in your life. You should feel the ecstasy of falling in love. You should try to catch the sunrise on one coast, and the sunset on another on the same day. You should feel the pride of * mastery* in your chosen line . You should experience the joy of raising children. The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat. Plenty of people who were not Stoics have chased th...

Marcus Aurelius was strict with himself. He slept on a hard mattress. He didn’t drink or eat to excess. He didn’t have affairs or lose his temper. Cato was strict with himself too. He didn’t wear fancy clothes or live a life of ease. But what’s remarkable about both these men, given this strictness, is the love and affection they both had for their brothers–who had very different approaches to lif...

Today, Ryan presents the second and third of six readings of Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes . Cicero was considered Rome’s greatest politician, and he has survived as one of history’s most enduring chroniclers of Stoic philosophy and the Stoics themselves. As Ryan explains in Lives of the Stoics , these paradoxes are designed to question commonly held beliefs in order to promote reflection and discussio...

Ryan speaks with Carli Lloyd about the intense discipline that it takes to be a professional athlete at the highest level, how she was able to bounce back from being cut from the Women’s National Under-21 team, how Stoicism informed her soccer career, and more. Carli Lloyd is a former American professional Soccer player who retired in 2021. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time FIFA Wo...