Anthony Everitt on Nero, Rome’s Most Misunderstood Emperor
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Anthony Everitt about his book Nero: Matricide, Music, and Murder in Imperial Rome,...
You Can’t Turn Away From Things That Are Hard
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One way to go through life is to turn away from the things that are hard. You can close your eyes an...
Have You Considered This? | 60 Stoic Lessons In 1 Minute Or Less
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We all have reasons we don’t like something. We think a certain comedian isn’t funny or is a hac...
How To Achieve Things | Reduce Wants, Increase Happiness
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s always been difficult to concentrate. In one of his letters, Seneca talks about trying t...
How to Create Change in Your Life
19 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s audiobook reading features the second excerpt from The Way to Love: The Last Meditations o...
Sam Harris on Stoicism and Mindfulness Practice
18 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Sam Harris about the overlap between eastern and western philosophy, how mindfulnes...
Just Put It On My Tab | The Enemy of Happiness
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Life was just one thing after another for Marcus Aurelius. The plague. The flooding. The wars. He di...
This Isn’t The Way To Practice Detachment | Ask Daily Stoic
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Seneca wasn’t fond of philosophers you could recognize. Not by their fame, but by their unifo...
Massimo Pigliucci on Why Virtue Matters
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Professor Massimo Pigliucci about his new book The Quest for Character: What the St...
How To Be Free
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ruby Doris Smith died at age 25 of cancer. It was an unfair death, concluding a short, unfair life. ...
The Right Time Is Right Now | The Virtue That Made Marcus Aurelius So Great
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We know what we want to do–or need to do. We need to quit that job. We need to have that hard conv...
How To Become Rich | Watch Over Your Perceptions
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The writers Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five) and Joseph Heller (Catch-22) were at a glamorous par...
How to Enjoy Life Fully
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s reading features an excerpt from The Way to Love: The Last Meditations of Anthony de Mello...
Dr. Samantha Boardman on Turning Stress in Strength
11 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Dr. Samantha Boardman about her book Everyday Vitality: Turning Stress into Strengt...
How To Handle A Bad Call | Anger is Bad Fuel
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll made a decision that will be re...
What Will This Cause? | Ask Daily Stoic
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When horrible things happen to us, our instinct is always to ask why me? Why this? Why now? It’s u...
John Hendrickson on Embracing Disability with Stoicism
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with John Hendrickson about his new book Life on Delay: Making Peace with a Stutter, how...
Turn To This Friend Constantly
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In her beautiful book about the Los Angeles Public Library fire, Susan Orlean captures the magic of ...
Have You Considered This? | What Stoicism Can Teach Us About Mental Health
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Things go wrong. We get screwed over. We make mistakes. It happens. The idea that it shouldn’...
You Must Practice This Ritual This Year | Suspend Your Opinions
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius was a busy man. He was a smart and able and talented man. So why did he need to spen...
Epicurus’s Key to the Good Life
05 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Ryan presents a reading of Epicurus’s Letter to Menoeceus in which the philosopher and fath...
MLB All-Star Ian Happ on the Power of Discipline
04 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Ian Happ about how practicing Stoic principles helps him play better baseball, the ...
Why Did Marcus Write His Meditations? | The Source of Your Anxiety
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why did Marcus Aurelius write his Meditations? It wasn’t for an audience. It wasn’t si...
Very Little Is Needed | Ask Daily Stoic
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We think we need a lot to be happy. We think we need piles of money. And power. And fame. And to get...
The Worry Part Is A Choice
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We think if we just make enough money, someday we won’t have to worry about it anymore. We think i...
Dr. Nate Zinsser, Josh Peck, Annie Duke, Amy Morin, Paul Bloom, and Yung Pueblo on Building Better Habits
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan looks back on some of the best discussions of 2022 that he and his guests had about building be...
The Best Time Is Now | 9 Peak Performance Tips from Top Performers
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Obviously, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The earlier you get started on something t...
History Repeats And It Doesn’t | Focus On The Present Moment
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
History is the same thing happening over and over again, Marcus Aurelius said. There’s nothing new...
Cicero on The Paradox of Virtue
29 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan presents the first of six readings of Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes. Cicero was considered Rome’s ...
Professor Paul Woodruff on Philosophy, War and Justice
28 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Paul Woodruff about his book The Ajax Dilemma: Justice, Fairness, and Rewards, the ...
Are You Great Like This? | Ask Daily Stoic
27 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
People have different definitions of greatness or success.Maybe you think yourself powerful because ...
What To Do When You Have Fallen Short | The Three Areas of Training
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He had considered not going public with it. He had wanted so badly to be able to keep saying, to get...
Lean Into Their Strengths Rather Than Disdain Their Weaknesses
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius was clearly torn about his fellow man. He was loving and kind and spoke repeatedly o...
Professor Sarah Churchwell on Genius, Big Dreams and F. Scott Fitzgerald
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Sarah Churchwell about her book Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention ...
Come Back To The Rhythm | A Stoic Idea Worth Tattooing On Your Body
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius wasn’t perfect.With so many responsibilities competing for his time and attention,...
Don’t Abuse This Power | A Little Better Every Day
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In one of the weirdest passages of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius notes with pride that he never laid ...
How Cato’s Deadly Rivalry With Caesar Destroyed Rome
22 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan presents the first of four excerpts from Josiah Osgood’s Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and Cato’...
Molly Bloom on Turning Down 5 Million Dollars
21 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Molly Bloom about her book Molly's Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Be...
It’s Just Happening | Ask Daily Stoic
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It feels terrible to hear that someone is breaking up with you. Or that your retirement portfolio ha...
Are You In Touch With Your Future? | Wherever You Go, There Your Choice Is
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As Gandhi sat with a reporter one hot afternoon, he began experiencing some stomach pains. An attend...
Champion Distance Runner Lauren Fleshman on the Power of Sport
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Lauren Fleshman about her new book Good For a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man’s Wo...
You Know You’ve Made This Mistake
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It is certainly true that people can do some awful things to each other. We hear of a trusted repres...
A Person Without Boundaries Is Not a Person | 7 Stoic Keys To Happiness
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s clear when you read about Cato and Marcus Aurelius that these were men of great reserve. Anto...
The Things You Own…Can’t Own You | The Wake Up
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To the Stoics, there wasn’t anything wrong with having money. Marcus Aurelius came from money. So ...
Steven Pressfield on Creating Work That Lasts
15 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with his friend Steven Pressfield during an impromptu walk along Town Lake in downtown A...
Mark Manson and the Catastrophe of Success
14 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Mark Manson about the new documentary based on his astronomically successful book T...
Don’t Disgrace Yourself | Ask Daily Stoic
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Francis Bacon was a brilliant philosopher whose breakthroughs reverberate through our world today. H...
If You Are Studying Philosophy, It Is Well | The One Path To Serenity
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In one of his letters, Seneca tells us of an old Roman pleasantry that friends would exchange when g...
A Stoic Isn’t Born. They’re Made.
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius wasn’t born Marcus Aurelius (literally, his name was Marcus Catilius Severus Anniu...
Humble, The Poet on Being Free of Passion but Full of Love
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Humble, the Poet about his new book How to be Love(d), why our passions often get i...
You Can’t Keep It From Happening | How To Get Through Life's Most Difficult Situations
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When he was starting out in Hollywood, Judd Apatow began to have panic attacks. The stress of rewrit...
You Know What’s Coming | The Sphere Of Choice
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We worry about the future. About who might win an election we’re closely watching. About what some...
How Country Living Can Improve Your Life
08 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan celebrates country living with this presentation of the first in a four-part reading of MD Ushe...
Steven Pressfield, Robert Greene, Jack Carr, Meg Mason, and Adam Hochschild on Writing
07 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan looks back on some of the best interviews of 2022 about writing. Featuring Steven Pressfield on...
Don’t Join The Mob | Ask Daily Stoic - Habits
06 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan discusses how he cultivates better habits, people with habits that ...
Are You Ready For Combat? | Clarify Your Intentions
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not for posterity that the Stoics sat with their journals. It wasn’t whiney self-indulgence...
100 Lessons from Marcus Aurelius
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meditations is perhaps the only document of its kind ever made. It is the private thoughts of the wo...
Don’t Make It Someone Else’s Problem
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“If it is not right, do not do it,” Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations, “if it is not true, ...
How To Train Yourself | 4 (Stoic) Secrets To The Good Life
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You don't lift a weight one time and become strong. You aren’t taught something once and it stays ...
What We Want (And Deserve) More Than Anything | What’s Up To Us, What’s Not Up To Us
02 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We think we want to be rich. Or famous. Or powerful. We want to succeed, we want to achieve. We want...
5 Usable Practices From Stoicism | Ryan Holiday Speaks At Ole Miss
01 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In April of 2022 Ryan Holiday traveled to Oxford Mississippi to speak to the Ole Miss Football team ...
Tony Gonzalez, Keita Bates-Diop, Courtney Dauwalter, and Steven Rinella on Sports and Building Resilience
31 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan looks back on some of the best interviews of 2022 about sports and building resilience. Featuri...
It Was Terribly Unfair…Yet | Ask Daily Stoic
30 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 41 AD, Seneca was exiled from Rome. He was at the height of his senatorial career but found himse...
This Is The Year! | Give Thanks
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We all have vices. We all have flaws. We all have things we know we want to change.Make this the yea...
Transcend Your First Impression
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s perfectly reasonable to tremble in the face of danger, Donald Robertson writes in his wonderf...
James Clear on How to Build Better Habits
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan talks with author James Clear about practical ways to shift your internal narrative, how to beg...
This Will Not Free You | The Secret To Better Habits in 2023
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Seneca had money and privilege. Lots of it.Yet where did it get him?It didn’t save him from illnes...
How Much Longer Are You Going To Wait? | Turn Words Into Works
26 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is that weird time of year where we start to think about how we want the following year to go. ...
Theranos Whistleblower Tyler Shultz on Doing the Right Thing and Overcoming Fear
25 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with Tyler Shultz about his new audiobook Thicker than Water, the harsh realities of bei...
Habits and Addictions — Excerpt 2 from Steven Pressfield’s “Turning Pro”
25 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in October, Ryan presented the first of four audiobook excerpts from Steven Pressfield’s “T...
Push Through To The Finish Line | Ask Daily Stoic
23 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Cynic philosopher Diogenes was once criticized by a passerby for not taking care of himself in h...
It’s Time To Quit | Stake Your Own Claim
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dwight Eisenhower gave himself the order.Quit smoking.It had been a 38-year habit, and he knew it wa...
It’s Hard Work
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius wasn’t magically Marcus Aurelius. Cato wasn’t born that way. All their virtues–...
Former NBA Star Cuttino Mobley on Pursuing Greatness and Developing Balance in Life
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with former pro basketball player Cuttino Mobley about the challenges of adjusting to li...
This Is The Greatest Pleasure | 9 Habits the Stoics Want You to Stop Doing
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Stoics were not afraid of joy, but they found joy in a different place than most people. It wasn...
You’re Not There Now (That’s A Good Thing) | Stake Your Claim
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s easy to look at history and despair. Humans have been terrible to each other–going back to ...
18 Things You Didn’t Know About Marcus Aurelius
18 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It is amazing that Meditations, year after year and read after read, feels both incredibly timely an...
Jeremy Jones on Quieting the Mind and Confronting Fear with Snowboarding
17 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with snowboarder Jeremy Jones about his new book The Art of Shralpanism: Lessons from th...
Find a Way To Use It | Ask Daily Stoic
16 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It would be nice to be a comedian, wouldn’t it? Not because it might make you rich and famous, tho...
Difficult Things Are Good For You | A Simple Way To Measure Our Days
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When one thinks of a philosopher, they usually picture something like an ancient figure in a toga, o...
You Can't Give Up
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A new year is fast approaching, and it's that time of year in which some people will try again and s...
Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski on the Wonder and Discipline of Mr. Rogers
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with authors Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski about their new book When You Wonder, You're ...
It’s Your Fault, Not Theirs | How To Manage Your Time Like A Stoic (5 Time Management Tips)
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The causes of things are complicated, and rarely do they go how we’d like them to go. So it’s ea...
Where Are They Now? | Keep The Rhythm
12 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Marcus Aurelius loved history and he loved literature. He loved reading about the courts of past emp...
Musonius Rufus Stoic Fragments pt. 2
11 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Which is more effective: theories or practice? Should kings study philosophy? These are the question...
Peter Singer on Practicing Effective Altruism Daily
10 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with professor of moral philosophy, author, and activist Peter Singer about the 10th ann...
The Evidence Is In The Mirror | Ask Daily Stoic
09 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There was a message there in the mirror this morning. Did you see it? It must have been a strange ex...
There is Only One Thing To Do | Don’t Hide From Your Feelings
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It would be wonderful if the Stoics promised you some sort of breakthrough. One that solved for the ...
Passing Judgment Is No Way To Live
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You don’t know that someone acted wrongly or that they totally screwed a situation up, because you...
Professor Josiah Osgood on Cato, Caesar and the Battle for Rome's Legacy
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan speaks with historian of Rome Josiah Osgood about his new book Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and C...
It’s Not A Bad Experience | Living Like A Stoic For 30 Days
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A night spent at the airport. A prison sentence. A two week bout with COVID. The crazy rush of the b...
The Violence Of The Dog Days | Be Stingy With Time
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As summer now passes into fall and all too quickly fall turns to winter, it is worth stopping and th...
How To Be Content - The Search For The Good Life pt. 2
04 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nobody wrote about the “good life” more beautifully than Horace (65-8 BCE). In numerous writings...
Adam Hochschild on Our Obligation to the Common Good pt. 2
03 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of a two-part interview, Ryan speaks with one of the great non-fiction writers and his...
It's Not What Happens. It's How You Bear It. | Ask Daily Stoic
02 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It doesn't matter who you are, the facts are the same. Marcus Aurelius was Emperor. Epictetus was a ...
The Only Thing New In The World | Pretend Today Is The End
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We live in unprecedented times, we like to think. Our technology. Our conflicts. The state of the wo...
Adam Hochschild on Our Obligation to the Common Good pt. 1
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of a two-part interview, Ryan speaks with one of the great non-fiction writers and hist...
The Best Stuff Is An Accidental Byproduct
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius marvels at “nature’s inadvertence.” A baker, he writes, makes ...
No One Can Take This Away | Why Seeking Out Challenges Will Change Your Life
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“It is a vast kingdom to be able to cope without a kingdom,” Seneca wrote in his play, Thye...
What We Owe Each Other | Balance The Books Of Life Daily
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Roman Empire at that time was enormous. Jobs were scarce. Unemployment was high. Rapid expansion...