Just Start Journaling
21 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's audiobook excerpt, Ryan cracks open his best-selling book Stillness Is The Key to read th...
Renée Mauborgne On Blue Oceans, Disruption, And Succeeding By Being Yourself
20 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Renee Mauborgne about her new book Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth w...
Money Isn’t Rare | Learn, Practice, Train
19 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s interesting how infrequently money comes up in Meditations. Here was a guy who had incre...
Find A Way To Use What Life Hands You | Ask DS
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Change is a constant in life, and embracing it is key to living a fulfilling and meaningful existenc...
Do You Have This Kind of Clarity?
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Warren Buffett, whose net worth is north of $100 billion, lives in the same house he bought in 1958 ...
General Ty Seidule On Our Responsibility To Study, Understand And Grapple With History
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Ty Seidule about his book Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the M...
Handle What You Control First | Robert Greene's 6 Stoic Concepts For A Fulfilling Life
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Life is frustrating. You’re waiting for people to get back to you. You’re waiting for approval o...
When Are You Going To Get This Together? | Count Your Blessings
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It doesn’t matter how old you are, it looms before you. Not death–although that’s always there...
The Life Of Chrysippus
14 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's audiobook reading, Ryan presents the biography of the great Greco-Phoenician Stoic philos...
MMA Legend Frank Shamrock On Conquering The Ego and Developing Honor
13 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Frank Shamrock about his memoir Uncaged: My Life as a Champion MMA Fighter, the con...
What Gets The Best Part of Your Day? | Kindness Is Always The Right Response
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In those first moments you’re awake, how do you decide to start this fresh day? By reaching for th...
Do You Make Time For this? | Ask DS
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Even when he was president, Jimmy Carter tried to carve out space for reflection and study. Just a f...
When Is The Last Time You Challenged Yourself?
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s very easy to get comfortable. To build up your life exactly how you want it to be. Minimize i...
Gretchen Rubin On The Power Of Exploring Your Senses
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Gretchen Rubin about her new book Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got...
The Personal Is Universal | Short Stoic Lessons From All Of Ryan Holiday's Books
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many artists—songwriters, poets, comedians, and so on—have said some version of the same idea: t...
This Is A Great Pleasure | We Are A Product Of Our Habits
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Of the four Stoic virtues, Marcus Aurelius said justice was the most important. To him, it was “th...
Ryan And Guy Raz On Controlling Only What You Can
07 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When a recent Q&A session between Ryan and Robert Greene fell apart just hours before the confer...
Kevin Kelly On The Courage It Takes To Live Your Own Life
06 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Kevin Kelly about his new book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known...
Tie Your Well-Being To This | You Are The Project
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we know F. Scott Fitzgerald as one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century. Tragically,...
The Trouble Of Too Many Opinions | Ask DS
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It goes without saying that the man has changed the world for the better. He’s reinvigorated the A...
Jason Singer Of Michigander On The Reality Of Being A Rock Star
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Jason Singer of the band Michigander about he and his wife getting back on track af...
Keep In Mind How Fast Things Pass By
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1859, before he was president, before he suffered through that harrowing train ride to Washington...
This Is The Secret | 6 Stoic Examples Of Living A Great Life
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It seems obvious. If you want to be better at your job, work more. If you want to be more successful...
This Predicts Everything | Show, Don't Tell
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Who a person is determines what will happen and what they can do. It’s true in sports. It’s true...
Control Your Emotions
30 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's audiobook excerpt, Ryan presents his reading of the section of his own book The Obstacle ...
Actor Alexander Ludwig on How Stoicism Helped Him Get Sober
29 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Alexander Ludwig about how studying Stoicism gave him the discipline to quit drinki...
Now That You Know, Do Better | Wants Make You A Servant
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We look back on things we clearly messed up. We were too preoccupied. We were too harsh. We were wro...
Make Them Do Their Own Stuff | Ask DS
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There is a great story about a young Spartan woman, Gorgo, who would one day become queen. Despite h...
Rachel Hollis on Empathy and Emotional Acceptance
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of a two-part discussion, Ryan speaks with Rachel Hollis about how her success has been...
Don’t Let Them Make You Bitter Or Mean
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Whatever you decide to do with your life, whatever path you decide to walk, people are going to ...
Don’t Waste Your Gifts | The Secret To Better Habits in 2023
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There is, as we have talked about many times, a tinge of sadness in the story of Seneca. This immens...
You Can Never Do This Twice | The Freedom Of Contempt
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first time was revelatory. The first time you watched Mad Men. Or The Godfather. Or cracked open...
The Life of Cleanthes
23 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's audiobook reading, Ryan presents the biography of the great Stoic philosopher, boxer, and...
Sarah Bakewell on Humanism and The Power of Connection
22 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Sarah Bakewell about her new book Humanly Possible: seven hundred years of humanist...
There Is No More Or Less Time | Don't Let Your Attention Slide
21 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three years removed from those eerie and strange days of the early pandemic, one thing that strikes ...
Can You Fight To See Their Side? | Ask DS
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One gets the sense that Seneca, like many smart and active people, was often frustrated by othe...
Comedian Katherine Blanford on Laughing At Life
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Katherine Blanford about her earning things throughout her comedy career, her Catho...
To Have A More Peaceful Home, Have Fewer Of These
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is an excerpt from Ryan Holiday’s latest book The Daily Dad (which you can pre...
There Are Dreams That Cannot Be | 9 Habits The Stoics Want You To Stop Doing
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius certainly hoped his reign would be peaceful and prosperous–as the fates had blesse...
It Works If You Work It | Impulse Control
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's felt like things have been a little off lately. You have been irritable. You have been stressed...
We Can Always Be Born Again | The Life of Zeno
16 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the year 33, a philosopher was executed by the Roman authorities. This was not an uncommon thing ...
Molly Bloom on Trusting the Process and Making Daily Progress
15 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Molly Bloom in-person at the new Daily Stoic podcast studio in the second of a two-...
Pain Is A Part Of Life | Become An Expert In What Matters
14 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is an excerpt from Ryan Holiday’s latest book **The Daily Dad.**“Even though you have these...
This is What Winners Do | Ask DS
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In April 1960, the writer Richard Whalen was trying to meet with Diane Nash and the sit-in students ...
Don’t Suffer In Advance
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There is a balance to Stoicism between awareness and anxiety. The Stoics want you to be prepared for...
Timothy Egan on Extremism and Fear
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Timothy Egan about his new book A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot t...
You Must Make This Shift | How Stoicism Helps You Deal With Big Challenges
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius ruled over millions of people, and he didn't care what any of them thought about him...
Have You Read The Books? | Test Your Impressions
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We say we want to get better. We say we want to learn about this or that. We say we want to make a c...
Seneca on Being
09 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, Ryan presents an excerpt from audiobook The Tao Of Seneca, which is essentiall...
Author Philipp Meyer on Channeling History, Philosophy and Failure into Art
08 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Philipp Meyer about his novels American Rust and The Son, processing the morally qu...
Are You Showing Them How To Be A Student? | Expect To Change Your Opinions
07 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is an excerpt from Ryan Holiday’s latest book The Daily Dad.If you think back to when you wer...
Beware This Thief Of Time | Ask DS
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Not long ago we talked about the Stoic view on punctuality. It’s a pretty simple one: Being on tim...
Edith Hall on Aristotelian Ethics, Intention, and Human Decency
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Edith Hall about why she wants to open up Aristotle’s works to the world at large...
You Need To Cultivate People Like This In Your Life
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Where did Marcus learn to be Marcus? Ernest Renan writes that Marcus was very much a product of his ...
Try To See The World This Way | Why Facing Death Is The Key To Success
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After serving as an officer in Vietnam, Paul Woodruff decided to dedicate his life to teaching and w...
What Will You Choose? | What Can Go Wrong Might
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
All of our upbringings were different. Some were given two parents, others only one. Maybe it took a...
Ryan Holiday on The Art and Stoicism of Digital Marketing
02 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Ryan presents a live talk that he gave in September 2022 to a group of business leaders about...
Lori Gottlieb on Changing Your Life by Changing the Story
01 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Lori Gottlieb about the profound effect that stories have on our lives, why we are ...
Your Standards Are For You | You’re a Product of Your Training
31 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the things that separates us from other people—indeed that has been responsible for our suc...
This Helps You Be A Better Person | Ask DS
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington profited from slavery, but both knew it was wrong. Yet a...
Just Do This Daily | 8 Stoic Strategies For Controlling Your Anger
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A successful day for a Stoic is simple. It’s not about making more money. Or getting more famous, ...
Wes Larson on Respecting the Awesome Power of Nature
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Wes Larson about how and why he dedicated his life to working with bears, the feeli...
Don’t Make Assumptions
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You don’t get a joke, so you say it’s not funny. You don’t like something, so you believe it s...
How To Better Understand The Past | Say No to the Need to Impress
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In retrospect, so many of the decisions the Stoics made are baffling. Marcus Aurelius and his son Co...
Cicero on The Paradox of the Fool
26 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan presents the first of six readings of Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes. Cicero was considered Rome’s ...
Zach Braff on Healing and Helping with Art and Stoicism
25 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Zach Braff about his new Stoicism-inspired movie A Good Person, how the idea of Amo...
Have You Been Infected Yet? | There is Philosophy in Everything
24 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the year 165 AD, a plague began to break out in Rome. Brought back from the far eastern corners o...
Don’t Make This Lesson More Painful | Ask DS
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We get so used to having our way. We live in a time when the skies have been conquered. When so many...
Steve Scott on Winning in Life
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Steve Scott about his book Hey, Tiger―You Need to Move Your Mark Back: 9 Simple W...
Here’s How To Get Out Of A Rut
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The busier we get, the more we work, even the more that we learn and read, the further we tend to dr...
They’ll Never GIVE It To You | 6 Simple Stoic Lessons To Feel More Peace
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We like to think that someday, things will be slower, more peaceful. That we’ll get a break. That ...
There Is No Greatness Without This | The Portable Retreat
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
People probably thought Marcus Aurelius was strange. The time he spent alone in his room. The long w...
Seneca on Conquering the Conqueror
19 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, Ryan presents an excerpt from The Tao Of Seneca produced by Tim Ferriss’ Aud...
Rob Dyrdek on the Power of Living With Intention
18 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Rob Dyrdek about finding happiness and fulfillment by managing his time and energy ...
How Well Do You Know These Backroads? | The Beauty of Choice
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meditations, you could say, is Marcus Aurelius exploring himself. That’s literally what the title ...
You Can Keep It To Yourself | Ask DS
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the criticisms of the Stoics is that they left certain things unaddressed. Nowhere in Seneca’...
Mark Your Exit With Grace
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today marks the anniversary of the death of one of humanity’s greatest specimens. On March 17th, 1...
Bozoma Saint John on the Power of Embracing Memento Mori
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Bozoma Saint John about her new book The Urgent Life: My Story of My Story of Love,...
The Only Experience Worth Chasing | These Stoic Quotes Will Improve Your Life
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a lot of things to try to do in your life. You should feel the ecstasy of falling in love....
This Is What Discipline Looks Like | Think About It From The Other Person's Perspective
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius was strict with himself. He slept on a hard mattress. He didn’t drink or eat to ex...
Is Virtue All that is Needed for Happiness?
12 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Ryan presents the second and third of six readings of Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes. Cicero was co...
Carli Lloyd on Fueling Greatness with Discipline
11 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Carli Lloyd about the intense discipline that it takes to be a professional athlete...
Winning Isn’t As Fun As It Seems | Find Yourself a Cato
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s an old joke: When the Gods wish to punish us, they give us everything we’ve ever wanted....
Why You Can’t Worry | Ask DS
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve said before that a Stoic focuses on what they control. That is the essence of Epictetus’s ...
To Find Pleasure, Look for Purpose
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It might seem like the Stoics didn’t have fun, didn’t experience pleasure. They did write, after...
Dr. Shadi Bartsch on Eastern vs. Western Philosophy
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Dr. Shadi Bartsch about her new book Plato Goes to China: The Greek Classics and Ch...
Marcus Had A Dream | The Most Life Changing Marcus Aurelius Quotes
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It was last night 1,862 years ago that Marcus Aurelius had a dream.A few years earlier, when Marcus ...
How To Find Treasure | What Expensive Things Cost
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The reason we don’t get what we want is because we want it too much. We reach for it with too much...
The Escalation of the Rivalry that Destroyed Rome
05 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan presents the second of four excerpts from Josiah Osgood’s Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and Cato...
Rick Rubin on The Creative Act Part Two
04 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of a two-part interview, Ryan speaks with Rick Rubin about his new book The Creative A...
You Deserve Moments Like This | (Dis)integration
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are so busy. We think we’re supposed to be. We think that’s how we get better. We think that ...
This Is A Good Moment | Ask DS
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s hard not to look at the lives of Marcus Aurelius and Seneca and Epictetus and Cato and Zeno a...
The Best New Ideas Come From Old Books
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We live in modern, cutting edge times. Each day, there are breakthroughs in neuroscience, microcompu...
Rick Rubin on The Creative Act Part One
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of a two-part interview, Ryan speaks with Rick Rubin about his new book The Creative Ac...
We Are All Replaceable | This Stoic Virtue Will Change Your Life
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Stoics believed in the concept of "amor fati," or "love of fate." This means accepting and embra...
You Must Do This Dance | Cultivate Indifference
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While most of us will never be an emperor or a rock star, we can imagine what it would be like.It wo...
Life Is Too Short To Read Bad Books
26 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To the Stoics, it wasn’t that we read. It’s what we read. We should seek out books that make a d...
William D. Cohan on Power, Ego, and the Imperial CEO
25 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with William D. Cohan about his new book Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American...
Take This Seriously…But Not TOO Seriously | The Real Source of Harm
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Punctuality is a matter of self-discipline, but also respect. We must be aware of and in command of ...
They Are Not Your Rivals | Ask DS
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the opposite of Stoicism, this austere philosophy based on toughness and resilience, virtue...