Ryan speaks with book athour & screenwriter Steven Pressfield on fewer possessions, superstition in memorabilia, the impact of working without any attachments to the outcome, and his new books The Daily Pressfield. Steven is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. He’s most known for The War of Art, Do The Work, Turning Pro, Gates of Fire, and Government Cheese. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoi...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 1896
Seneca thought he knew Nero. He was confident in his ability to teach or contain or even control him. Other Stoics knew better. Thrasea (whose story we tell in Lives of the Stoics ) opposed him from the start. Agrippinus (another fascinating Stoic in Lives ) wouldn’t even attend Nero’s parties, because it was clear to him that the man was a tyrant. Surely these men (and women) communicated their concerns to Seneca. Surely people raised questions. But Seneca thought he knew better. He was also pa...
Nov 14, 2023•17 min•Ep. 1899
It’s fascinating to think of all these different translators sitting down and seeing this same bit of writing and having such wildly different interpretations. How much each one was a reflection of their time and place, how much room there was for personality, for re-creation, and re-imagination and yet also still, how the same essential truth comes through. So it goes with philosophy and with life. Nothing, not even philosophy, is completely objective. It’s all in how you see it. It’s in what y...
Nov 13, 2023•10 min•Ep. 1898
Epictetus taught that philosophy is a way of life and not simply a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control; he argues that we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed bo...
Nov 12, 2023•29 min•Ep. 1897
Ryan speaks with book athour & screenwriter Steven Pressfield on fewer possessions, superstition in memorabilia, the impact of working without any attachments to the outcome, and his new books The Daily Pressfield. Steven is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. He’s most known for The War of Art, Do The Work, Turning Pro, Gates of Fire, and Government Cheese. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoi...
Nov 11, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 1893
From the outside looking in, author Philipp Meyer had the kind of success that is easy to not just be envious of, but angry about. His first two published novels, American Rust and The Son , were massive critical and commercial hits (we carry them both at The Painted Porch for good reason–they sell!). American Rust won the 2009 Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and The Son was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2014. Both were adapted into TV series. ✉️ Sign up for the Da...
Nov 10, 2023•10 min•Ep. 1895
Nobody wants to be criticized. It doesn’t feel good when people judge what you’ve done. We want the right people to like us , we want all people to like us. We want to be accepted, appreciated, and celebrated. So we try to be like other people, like the people that everyone likes. But in the end, does this effort pay off? No, it doesn’t. You work hard to preempt criticism, to appeal to the trends, to make people like you and then what happens? They still criticize you. Somebody finds something t...
Nov 09, 2023•21 min•Ep. 1894
John Adams' life was not an easy one. First, because it was just hard to be alive in the 18th century. It was hard to make dinner. It was hard to stay warm in the winter. It was hard to travel even short distances. It was hard to not die of the endless diseases and injuries that were so tragically common. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more. 📱 Follow us: Instagram , Twitter...
Nov 08, 2023•2 min•Ep. 1892
Ryan speaks with Adam Kinzinger on losing the things in life that become normal to us, freeing ourselves from fear, his new book Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country , and putting his job on the line for a better purpose. Adam Daniel Kinzinger is an American former politician and senior political commentator for CNN. He served as a United States representative from Illinois from 2011 to 2023. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 C...
Nov 08, 2023•57 min•Ep. 1887
It would be wonderful to live in a time where people got along. It’d be better if the economy was roaring. It’d be nice if the political landscape wasn’t dominated by grifters and demagogues. And of course, who doesn’t wish that our parents had taken better care of the environment, had protected our institutions better, and invested more for the future. But they didn’t. And here we are. People don’t get along . The world is scary . Stuff is falling apart…traditions are crumbling… The guidance of...
Nov 07, 2023•17 min•Ep. 1891
When you’re tired, you stop. When you’re not feeling it, you put it off until tomorrow. When it’s hard, you make an excuse. You listen to that little voice inside you that lets you off the hook, that gives you a break, that gives you more time. And with today's meditation on the day's Daily Journal excerpt, Ryan talks about the real power that can’t be taken from us, the power in conquering our own throne. Stoicism 101 is a 14-day course dedicated to teaching you the tools to live your best life...
Nov 06, 2023•9 min•Ep. 1890
also known as Cato the Censor and the Wise , was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write history in Latin with his Origines , a now fragmentary work on the history of Rome. Ryan reads from his book Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius to share the a fascinating historical figure from ancient Rome, admired for his unwavering virtue and commitment to the Roman Republic, and a famous...
Nov 05, 2023•35 min•Ep. 1884
Ryan speaks with American country music singer Morgan Wade on physical and mental benefits to our routine, getting sober, ideas while walking, and knowing the vitcory in starting. Morgan Wade is a native of Floyd, Virginia. She began writing songs as a freshman in college, and in 2018, she recruited musicians through Craigslist to record her first album Puppets with My Heart , which was credited to The Stepbrothers. IG @morganwademusic Twitter @themorganwade ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email:...
Nov 04, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 1882
Marcus Aurelius was a true philosopher king , but he wasn’t the first or the last amongst the Stoics. The first emperor, Octavian, studied under Athenodorus and Arius Didymus. Hadrian took classes from Epictetus and Antoninus was a kind of natural Stoic. -- And in today's excerpt from The Daily Stoic, Ryan reminds us to to stop fighting against the thing and use it as a prescription, that it is unfortunate that it happen but its fortunate that it happen to me. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic emai...
Nov 03, 2023•7 min•Ep. 1889
There can be so much about the study of this philosophy that can be overwhelming that’s intimidating. When did Stoicism start? Where did it begin? What the hell is a Stoa Poikile?? Put aside that it focuses on some of the most pressing and complicated topics in the world–good, evil, our mortality–philosophy is also filled with paradoxes and counterintuitive arguments. More pressing and practical for many of us, philosophy is filled with unpronounceable names and big words, often from languages w...
Nov 02, 2023•20 min•Ep. 1888
Yesterday was Halloween here in America, which is a fun holiday for children. It’s full of masks and candy and staying up late. In Mexico, however, today is the beginning of Día de los Muertos , a much more adult and philosophical holiday. All throughout Mexico, and places where the holiday is celebrated, people will gather not for treats but to celebrate and remember their friends and family who have died. It is, in a sense, a three day commemoration of the idea of memento mori — a kind of coll...
Nov 01, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1886
Ryan Speaks with Eileen Canney Linnehan on Yips, performance anxiety, and mental block on todays episode of the daily stoic podcast. Eileen Canney Linnehan was a star pitcher at Northwestern who suddenly could not throw to first base. Now she helps young athletes get through the debilitating issue. Eileen Canney Linnehan is a consultant who helps athletes at various levels get over the yips. www.ConsultWithECL.com ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check o...
Nov 01, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 1879
You might think that the Stoics were above silly things like superstitions. After all, these were rational folks, serious people. Certainly, they wouldn’t believe in ghosts, right? They wouldn’t have time for something as juvenile as a ghost story, would they? -- And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan talks parenting goals, the most important role philosophy can play in all of your lives is in guiding the example you set for them. In the principles you embody. In the standards you hold y...
Oct 31, 2023•14 min•Ep. 1885
Not everyone thinks Marcus Aurelius was so great. And it’s true, his record is not unblemished: He fought in imperial wars. He didn’t stop the persecution of the Christians. His son was disturbed and unfit to succeed him. So can we really call him a “philosopher king?” How great a Stoic was he actually? -- And with today's meditation on the day's Daily Journal excerpt, Ryan talks about us accepting things that are out of our control, that pushing back and questioning the stoics only get us close...
Oct 30, 2023•11 min•Ep. 1883
Today, Ryan answers questions on purpose and stoic wisdom at Dr. Edith Egar's workshop. Dr. Eger’s story as a Holocaust survivor & work as a renowned therapist has impacted millions around the world. As someone who lived through unthinkable trauma, Dr. Eger intimately knows the greatest prison is not the one created by the world… it is the prison created in our own minds. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail 🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic insp...
Oct 29, 2023•17 min•Ep. 1875
Ryan speaks with organizational psychologist and book author Adam Grant on seeing things in the context of where they actually sit, learning to be pleased but not satisfied, current sports culture and his new book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things. Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton, where he has been the top-rated professor for seven straight years. His pioneering research on motivations and meaning has enabled people to reach their aspirations and e...
Oct 28, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 1874
Epictetus, who was a slave, looked around at Nero’s court and saw rich and famous men who were less free than he was. Because they spent all their energy trying to get more than what they had , because their happiness was tied up in what other people thought, because their fears were based on things that were not up to them. In The Girl Who Would Be Free (our fable based on the life of Epictetus), Epictetus’ father says that to be great, we first have to focus on “the empire between our ears.” H...
Oct 27, 2023•7 min•Ep. 1881
He didn’t dress in fancy clothes. He didn’t support a large entourage. He liked to walk the streets of Rome, meeting his fellow citizens, being of use and helping them. As a politician, Cato traveled across the empire, again, without a large baggage train or an advance party to make sure he was treated with the respect accorded to his official position. -- And in today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan talks stoics and answers questions for 300+ Risk, Safety, Compliance & HR Leaders from across the co...
Oct 26, 2023•27 min•Ep. 1880
A Stoic sense of humor, a tough exterior–these are only the beginning of the process, of processing. Stoicism is a hard slog. It’s a practice. It’s an ongoing thing. It’s something you do. And learning how to practice more, how to actually apply Stoicism to your life everyday, is why we created Stoicism 101: Ancient Philosophy For Your Actual Life . The best practices and routines of Stoicism, all delivered in 14 days. Registration is only open until TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH. Take the next step in ...
Oct 25, 2023•5 min•Ep. 1878
Ryan speaks with Dr. Peter Attia on the philosophy and quality aspects of our lives, early morning routines we still practice from the stoics and quotes from Dr. Attia's new book OUTLIVE The Science & Art Of Longevity. Peter Attia, MD, is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their health span. He is also the host of The Drive podcast. Dr. Attia received...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 1871
The Stoics talk about how events don’t need your opinion , they aren’t asking to be judged or labeled or explained by you. They were saying what Depeche Mode once said, that sometimes words are very unnecessary–that they can only do harm. --- And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan shares 10 stoic Laws from his mentor Robert Greene. Like the Stoics, Robert Greene has spent decades operating within and around the halls of power. And trying to understand human nature and psychology. And mas...
Oct 24, 2023•18 min•Ep. 1877
On the surface, there are not many phrases designed to be less appealing. “Stoic philosophy” is like a double whammy of negative for most people, representing emotionlessness on the one hand and abstract or academic thinking on the other. Who wants to be the former? Who has time for the latter? --- And with today's meditation on the day's Daily Journal excerpt, Ryan challenges us to build self confidence in others. The art of leadership is getting people to do things becauce they want to do them...
Oct 23, 2023•10 min•Ep. 1876
More than 60 years ago, a young boy in Pittsburgh, PA was curious about philosophy. He went to his high school library and found a book of the writings of Kant. Excited, smart for his age, he started reading…and only made it a few pages before he threw it aside, hopelessly confused. It was later that day, when he explained what happened to his father, that the boy’s life was changed forever. Because his father had a brand new copy of the beautiful Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. These pages, thi...
Oct 22, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1867
Ryan speaks with Dr. Peter Attia on the philosophy and quality aspects of our lives, early morning routines we still practice from the stoics and quotes from Dr. Attia's new book OUTLIVE The Science & Art Of Longevity. Peter Attia, MD, is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their health span. He is also the host of The Drive podcast. Dr. Attia received...
Oct 21, 2023•49 min•Ep. 1866
It was an awful period of Roman history. A fifteen year plague that killed millions. Political corruption and deceit. Historic floods. Tragic wars on distant frontiers. Marcus Aurelius experienced all the disasters that could befall a leader, smack dab in the middle of a period we now see as the beginning of the decline and fall of the whole empire. - And in today's excerpt from The Daily Stoic, Ryan reminds us to let our princeples be the source of desire and action, removing any source of evil...
Oct 20, 2023•8 min•Ep. 1873
