BONUS | The Daily Routine That Built Marcus Aurelius
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. 2,000 years ago, Marcus Aurelius is the most powerful man on earth.
Why was Marcus Aurelius considered the most powerful man in the world?
He controls an empire of tens of millions of square miles, controls the lives of tens of millions of people. He controls the most powerful army on earth. He has the power of life and death. over other people. He could have done whatever he wanted. He could have retreated to pleasure and indolence. He could have easily descended into insanity from stress and overwork. Yet he manages, as one biographer would say, to prove himself worthy of all the responsibility and power placed upon him. He manages, I think just as impressively, to manage it. He isn't corrupted by it. He doesn't break under the stress by it. He acquits himself well. So what's his secret? What is the life of this guy look like? How does Marcus Aurelius manage his day?
Well, because of Marcus Aurelius' meditations, the private thoughts of this totally unique singular man, we have some idea. And that's what I want to talk about today. The daily routine of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher king. Like all people, it starts with the morning for Marcus Aurelius. We know that Marcus Aurelius wakes up early. We know this because he talks in meditations about struggling with this, right? He's a morning person, but not by nature. He's a morning person by habit. At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, he says, tell yourself, I have to go to work as a human being. Is this what I was created for, to huddle under the blankets and stay warm? It's nice here. And he says, but are you made to feel nice?
No.
How did Marcus Aurelius use a morning routine to stay disciplined?
Marcus Aurelius attacks the dawn. He gets up. He gets after it, as I think most productive, successful people do. You start the day with a conscious choice, a choice to do the thing that isn't easy, but starts the day off right. And we can imagine he is doing some of his meditative work, his study of philosophy, his writing, his journaling there in the morning before he was besieged by inquiries, people who wanted favors, before the bad news had been delivered, before he had to get up and travel, before the battle begun. He was carving out a little time for stillness and reflection. What he's not doing is the equivalent of what so many of us do in the morning, which is we go straight to this thing.
Before our feet hit the floor, we're sucked into the phone. We're sucked into the to-do list. We're not cultivating that stoic state of ataraxia, of freedom from disturbance. We're not being reflective. We're not being intentional. We're just putting out fires from the minute we wake up. And it's very clear that Marcus Aurelius is using this little bit of time in the morning to be in a meditative, philosophical, intentional state. This is how he opens book two of Meditations. Again, he's talking about the morning here. He says, when you wake up in the morning, tell yourself the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. He's not saying, hey, the day sucks.
He's trying to think, who are the kind of people that I'm going to meet today? What are they going to be like? And then he's saying, look, How can I be patient? How can I be understanding? How can I deal with this? How can I anticipate this? This is one of the stoic ideas. Seneca says that the unexpected blow lands heaviest. If you expect everyone to be wonderful and awesome, if you expect to get nothing but green lights all day, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Marcus is instead trying to anticipate, do this idea of premeditation and then you know what he says in this passage? He says, look, why are they like this? And what is my job in relation to them? He's saying, don't lose your temper with them.
Don't write them off. Try to find the good in them, right? So Marcus is trying to anticipate how the day is going to go and set himself up for success. But because Marcus Aurelius does have a difficult job, because there is immense amount of responsibility on them, he has to get to work.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:20
2
Why was Marcus Aurelius considered the most powerful man in the world?
0:20–1:49
3
How did Marcus Aurelius use a morning routine to stay disciplined?
1:49–4:42
4
What Stoic practice did Marcus use to prepare for difficult people and situations?
4:42–7:09
5
How did Marcus structure his workday to avoid distraction and maintain focus?
7:09–12:10
6
What role did physical exercise and nature play in Marcus’ daily habits?
12:10–15:24
7
How did Marcus use reading, journaling, and self‑review to improve himself?
15:24–19:30
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Daily Stoic
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11 Stoic Lessons Ryan Learned in Rome
Inside the Final Years of Marcus Aurelius
BONUS | 3 Stoic One-Liners You Need Today
No Time Like The Present To Drink These Draining Seconds | The Most Secure Fortress
Does The Tantrum Help? | 6 Stoic Reminders You Need to Hear