The Daily Stoic

"Nothing gold can stay. All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade.  We know this. We know that glory is fleeting. That even the best and the brightest eventually burn out, that we are all born to die.  So what does this mean? That nothing matters? That we shouldn’t try? Absolutely not." Ryan points out the one thing that does matter and to which we should all strive on today's...

"The political strategist and pollster Frank Luntz is fond of the expression, 'It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.' His point is that politicians often think they come across to the public one way, but in fact are seen and heard quite differently. The same goes with issues, which might seem straightforward but in fact are interpreted with all sorts of baggage and context.&...

Ryan speaks with groundbreaking pro racer Danica Patrick about performing under pressure, life as an athlete before and after retirement, and how to take risks in the face of mortality  Danica Patrick is a former professional race car driver. As a driver, she set a number of milestones for women in professional racing: first to win an IndyCar series, first to earn pole position in a NASCAR Cu...

"In Cato’s time, Caesar’s partisans wanted to cast his usurpation of the Republic as somebody else’s fault. The system is broken, they said. The old ways don’t work anymore. Don’t blame Caesar, it’s really Cato’s fault, they said. He is too uncompromising, too resistant to change. Why couldn’t he be more like Cicero, willing to go along? By being so difficult, they said, he forced Caesar’s ha...

"You’re frustrated. You’re scared. You have a million things you have to do. Happiness, hell, even just not feeling bad, seems a million miles away.  What do you do? Is there some secret that can give you the peace and pleasure you crave? Yes, there is. And it’s simple: Stop thinking of yourself. Start thinking of others." Learn more about the inner serenity that being kind to others can...

"One thing addicts trying to get sober quickly discover is just how resilient their addiction is. They quit booze and suddenly find themselves smoking a lot more pot. They quit pot, but now issues are popping up with eating or with sex. Or they get rid of all those bad habits, and realize for the first time that they have a temper or a procrastination issue or terrible anxiety." Ryan tal...

Today's episode features Ryan's conversation with Digg Founder Kevin Rose at the Commonwealth Club as part of the launch tour for his newest book, Lives of the Stoics. Get Lives of the Stoics: https://geni.us/LUN7 *** 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 in...

Ryan speaks with Uyghur activist Ferkat Jawdat about the repression carried out by the Chinese government in his home province of Xinjiang, Jawdat’s journey to the United States, and what you can do to help protect human rights in Xinjiang. Ferkat Jawdat is a Uyghur activist who raises awareness of the crackdown on the Uyghur people by the Chinese government in Xinjiang. Jawdat emigrated to the Un...

"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 Pod...

"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...

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 eve...

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...

"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 reali...

"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 l...

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 Ec...

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 firs...

"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 stres...

"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 t...

"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...

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 Scien...

"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...

"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....

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/lives This episode is brought to you by Amazon Alexa . Amazon Alexa is the perfect system to use to set up your house with S...

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 h...

"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 w...