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In the first half of this two-part conversation, Ryan talks with computer science professor and bestselling author, Cal Newport. They discuss the facade of hustle culture, understanding what really moves the needle in your process, Cal’s latest book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, and more. 

Cal Newport is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. His scholarship focuses on the theory of distributed systems, while his general-audience writing explores intersections of culture and technology. He is the author of eight books, including Slow Productivity, Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work. Newport is also a contributing writer for the New Yorker and the host of the Deep Questions podcast.

Watch or listen to Cal’s podcast, Deep Questions.

Subscribe to Cal’s newsletter, here. 

Listen to Cal’s take in The Wealthy Stoic: A Daily Stoic Guide To Being Rich, Free, and Happy. 

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In today's weekend episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan reminds us How To Remain Calm When The Rest Of The World Is Freaking Out: 9 Tips From The Stoics by the way of voice actor Michael Reid.

The article delves into specific Stoic practices, such as mindfulness, self-reflection, and the deliberate contemplation of worst-case scenarios, to empower individuals to confront challenges with equanimity. Additionally, it highlights the importance of maintaining perspective, recognizing the impermanence of external events, and reframing hardships as opportunities for personal development. Overall, the article serves as a practical guide for applying Stoic philosophy in modern times, offering readers a timeless toolkit to remain composed and centered when the world around them seems to be unraveling.

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It’s good that you’re tough. It’s good that you’re a fighter—maybe even trained in wrestling, as so many of the Stoics were. It’s good that you’re a risk taker, that you’ve put yourself out there, pushed through fear and doubt to do what others were afraid to do.

But it’s important you don’t forget that there is more to the virtue of courage than just this. There’s a great song that talks about “being too much a coward to admit when you’re in need.” Marcus Aurelius makes a similar note to himself in Meditations, reminding himself that even the bravest, toughest soldiers sometimes have to reach a hand up and ask a comrade for help. What of it, he basically says, that’s part of the job too.

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In today's Daily Stoic excerpt, Ryan reminds us that philosophy is intimidating, that we begin our journey into philosophy when we become aware of the ability to analyze our own minds.

You can grab the leatherbound edition of The Daily Stoic here.

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Ryan speaks with author Morgan Housel in the first of a two-part conversation to discuss his near death experience as a teenager, the ephemeral and potentially toxic nature of success, his latest book Same As Ever, and more. 

Morgan Housel is the New York Times Bestselling author of The Psychology of Money and Same As Ever. His books have sold over 4.5 million copies and have been translated into more than 50 languages. He is a two-time winner of the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and winner of the New York Times Sidney Award. In 2022, MarketWatch named him one of the 50 most influential people in markets. 

IG and Twitter: @MorganHousel

Grab a signed copy of Same as Ever and The Psychology of Money from The Painted Porch!\

If you want to check out the Q&A with Ryan and Morgan, go to dailystoic.com/wealthy. 

If you want to listen to Ryan and Morgan’s first discussion from 2022 click here.

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People are out of their minds and always have been. You get the sense in Seneca’s writings that Rome drove him crazy. You see the same in Epictetus’ writings, perhaps more so. Both men looked at what was happening in Nero’s court and were baffled. People were currying favor with Nero’s cobbler to try to get ahead in the world. People were bankrupting themselves to impress people they didn’t even like. And things were no different by Marcus Aurelius’ time, that’s for sure.

But for as long as there have been these wack jobs out there, the Stoic response has been the same: Tuning it out. It’s saying to yourself: I ain’t got time for that, ain’t got time to argue, ain’t got time to change you, ain’t got time to even try to understand. That’s what Marcus is effectively opening Meditations with! He’s saying, look people today are going to be remarkably dumb but I can’t let them implicate me in their ugliness. I can’t get bogged down in it. I can’t try to reform them. I just need to do my job. Things are not asking to be judged by you, Marcus says later in Meditations, leave them alone.

Life is very short. Too short for silly arguments, too short for beating your head against the wall, too short to try to understand things that don’t matter, that are not asking to be understood by you. Leave them alone. Focus on what you have to do. Don’t get implicated in ugliness.

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We wrote an email over at Daily Dad (please subscribe if you haven’t!) recently which notes Robert F. Kennedy’s troubled childhood in the troubled Kennedy household. His family mourned the loss of his older brother. They put their hopes in his brother John. They fretted about his sister. His father thought that Bobby had little potential, that he wasn’t everything a young Kennedy should be, so the boy, as one Kennedy aide observed, was “overlooked.”

That was unfair. It must have been painful. Yet Kennedy’s biographer, Evan Thomas, would write that this turned out to be a gift, arguing that he “had been saved by neglect.” Because it meant Bobby didn’t have to deal with all the pressure. It let him develop at his own pace. It also allowed him to develop a conscience and an ability to empathize that most of the rest of the family lacked.

When we look at the life of Marcus Aurelius (if you want a biography try Lives of the Stoics or How To Think Like a Roman Emperor), we can see a similar pattern. His early days as a boy were defined by loss. His father, Verus, died when he was just three.

If you want to do more reading on these topics, we highly recommend Dying Everyday by James Romm (and we have a podcast with him on this topic). Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe is a great modern read on one of the biggest crimes of the 20th/21st centuries. And for more on the life of Seneca and Thrasea and some Stoics who did resist Nero, check out Lives of the Stoics (signed copies here).

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Ryan speaks with Mick Mulroy in the first of a two-part conversation about the simplicity of Stoicism but the difficulties people have in practicing the philosophy. They also discuss Marcus Aurelius’ character and the traits we seek for in modern leaders, and more. 

Mick Mulroy is the Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Middle East Institute senior fellow, retired CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer and U.S Marine. After leaving the Pentagon, he co-founded the Lobo Institute, became a Special Advisor to the United Nations, an ABC News National Security Analyst, and the co-president of End Child Soldiering. Mulroy’s post-service efforts focus on educating people on global conflicts, combating extremism, and the philosophy of Stoicism.

Click here to learn more about Lobo Institute, End Child Soldiering, Third Option Foundation, Aurelius Foundation, and the Plato's Academy Centre.

X: @MickMulroy

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Maybe you don’t see yourself as an artist, just like Socrates didn’t see himself as an athlete, but maybe you are. According to Mikel Jollett, the founder of the band The Airborne Toxic Event and the author of a fascinating and haunting memoir about his troubled childhood, we have to “take our pain and make it useful. That’s what it means to be an artist.” His own art came from growing up in a cult his mother had joined, then living with her series of messed up husbands, struggling with addictions, getting in trouble at school, not knowing what he ought to do with his life. But all this struggle ultimately shaped him and in turn shaped the art he would make.

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P.S. Building the skill to take the challenges life throws at you and transform them into something useful takes practice. That’s why we created the Daily Stoic Challenge Deck, full of actionable daily challenges for you to push and develop yourself year round. Bundle your pack with the Challenge Deck Vol. II and save—available over at the Daily Stoic Store!

If you want to do more reading on these topics, we highly recommend Dying Everyday by James Romm (and we have a podcast with him on this topic). Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe is a great modern read on one of the biggest crimes of the 20th/21st centuries. And for more on the life of Seneca and Thrasea and some Stoics who did resist Nero, check out Lives of the Stoics (signed copies here).

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And today's Daily Stoic Journal reading, Ryan discusses what the Stoics teach us about keeping constant watch over the flood of perceptions that fill our minds. Ryan quotes Mark Manson's Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life reminding us to find the right things to care about.

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In today's weekend episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan reminds us How To Plan Your Day Like Marcus Aurelius by the way of voice actor Michael Reid. Two millennia ago, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius penned his personal reflections in a journal titled "To Himself," not anticipating its widespread publication. Known as the last of the "Five Good Emperors of Rome," Marcus' enduring legacy lies in the honesty of his words. Today, amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis and rising unemployment, Marcus' timeless wisdom, documented in "Meditations," has seen a surge in popularity. This article explores Marcus Aurelius' daily habits, offering insights into how his routines can be integrated into modern life. From waking up early to embracing negative visualization, journaling, and seeking stillness, Marcus' practices provide a roadmap for cultivating a Stoic life in the face of adversity.

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On this episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan continues his conversation with one of the world's top high-performance psychologists and leading experts on the relationship between the mind and human performance, Dr. Michael Gervais. Together they talk about living in the present moment, Austin Kleon's “people would rather be the noun than do the verb”, and the tension of virtue in Stoic texts.

Dr. Michael Gervais has spent his career being called on by the best of the best across the worlds of business, sport, the arts, and science. His client roster includes Super Bowl winning NFL teams, Fortune 50 CEOs, Olympic medalists, internationally acclaimed artists, and so many more. He is also the founder of Finding Mastery and the founder/host of the Finding Mastery Podcast, and the co-creator of the Performance Science Institute at USC. His work has been featured by NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, ESPN, NFL Network, Red Bull TV, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Outside Magazine, WIRED, and ESPN Magazine.

Signed copies of Dr. Gervais' is latest book, THE FIRST RULE OF MASTERY: STOP WORRYING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF YOU is available at The Painted Porch.

IG and X: @MichaelGervais

YouTube: @FindingMastery

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They were different. Some of them were downright weird. Cleanthes made quite a spectacle of himself in Athens, a philosopher who did manual labor for a living. Cato walked around bareheaded and barefooted, violating most of the social and class norms of his time. Marcus Aurelius was seen reading books at the Coliseum, indifferent to the popular past times that got everyone else excited.

Agrippinus, one middle Stoic who lived in the time of Nero, cared nothing for the niceties and obeisance expected of the citizens of Nero’s tyrannical regime. As we explain in Lives of the Stoics, Agrippinus claimed that he wanted to be the red thread in the sweater of life—the little bit of color that stood out and made the garment beautiful.

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Ryan Holiday speaks to the United States Military about some of the key Stoic ideas behind being a great leader in the modern world.

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Marcus Aurelius knew this, but he didn’t let it get him down. In fact, he found some reassurance in it. “When we cease from activity, or follow a thought to its conclusion,” he observed, “it is a kind of death.” But this doesn’t harm us, he pointed out. In fact, we look forward to many of these cessations and conclusions. “Think about your life,” he said, “childhood, boyhood, youth, old age. Every transformation a kind of dying. Was that so terrible?”

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In today's Daily Stoic Journal reading, Ryan explores the Stoic idea of bettering oneself with small steps every day by reflecting on quotes from Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

The Stoics and future generations kept the idea of Memento Mori close by with jewelry, writing, art, and music because death doesn’t make life pointless—it makes life purposeful. They were trying to remember: We can go at any moment. We must not waste time. And that’s why we decided to add to the rich history of Memento Mori with our Memento Mori medallion, signet ring, and pendant—each reminders we must live NOW, while there is still time. 

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In the muck and mire of daily life, it’s easy to get frustrated with people. It’s easy to prioritize the wrong things, to lose perspective. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment or forget the actual magnitude of your problems.

Which is why the Stoics remind us to zoom out. At least twice in Meditations, Marcus Aurelius speaks of taking “Plato’s view” and by that he means getting up high and looking down on humanity. “To see them from above,” he writes, “the thousands of animal herds, the rituals, the voyages on calm or stormy seas, the different ways we come into the world, share it with one another and leave it.”

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In today's Daily Stoic Journal excerpt, Ryan examines the power of a mantra through the Marcus Aurelius.

“Erase the false impressions from your mind by constantly saying to yourself, I have it in my soul to keep out any evil, desire or any kind of disturbance—instead, seeing the true nature of things, I will give them only their due. Always remember this power that nature gave you.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.29”

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On this episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan talks with successful hospitality entrepreneur and bestselling author Chip Conley on boutique hotels and stimulating the 5 senses, the importance of reflection, understanding what the ego is telling you but not identifying with it, the most powerful idea from the Stoics, along with his New York Times bestselling book Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age.

Chip Conley is on a mission to reframe our relationship with aging. As the founder of MEA, the world's first midlife wisdom school with regenerative communities, Conley is disrupting both the idea of higher education and senior living. He has both a BA and MBA from Stanford University and an Honorary PhD in Psychology from Saybrook University. He’s been a TED speaker at the prestigious annual conference multiple times.

☎️ X and IG: @ChipConley

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It feels like it will make a difference, that long awaited trip. That exciting new job that will keep you very busy, make you very rich. That pioneering new plant medicine. That distracting pleasure.

“Thus does each man flee himself,” Seneca says, quoting Lucretius, in his criticism of those Romans who sought out every opportunity to indulge their wanderlust. We like to think we can get away from our problems, that it will be different there, that a change of scenery will change us.

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The Obstacle Is the Way has become a cult classic, beloved by men and women around the world who apply its wisdom to become more successful at whatever they do. In this episode of the podcast, Ryan reminds us to revert to the present moment by focusing on what we can control. This is how we see the opportunity within the obstacle and that results from self discipline and logic.

Get The Obstacle Is The Way from The Painted Porch Bookstore

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On this episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast, Ryan talks with American author, lawyer, and legal scholar Kermit Roosevelt III on Honoring and doing what is right, Why peoples values and sense of honor are collapsing, How many people know who Marcus Aurelius is because of Gladiator, and his book The Nation That Never Was.

Kermit is an American author, lawyer, and legal scholar. He is a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a great-great-grandson of United States President Theodore Roosevelt and a distant cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt worked as a lawyer with Mayer Brown in Chicago from 2000 to 2002 before joining the Penn Law faculty in 2002. Roosevelt's areas of academic interest include conflicts of law and constitutional law. He has published in the Virginia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the Columbia Law Review, among others, and his articles have been cited twice by the United States Supreme Court and numerous times by state and lower federal courts.

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It’s just not true. The Stoics were not magically stronger, wiser, more mentally tough than you. In fact, they were exactly the same as you. They felt fear. They felt frustration. They felt annoyance. They had expectations. They had desires.

And when things didn’t work out for them? They got upset. But it’s what happened next that separates them from us. The one habit that Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca—a slave, an emperor, a power broker and playwright, respectively—had in common?

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In today's Daily Stoic excerpt, Ryan examines Epictetus's assertion that the one path to serenity is in "giving up all else outside of your sphere of choice."

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Even the people who obstruct us, who fight against progress are playing a role. Certainly every historical period has had those people, so why should our moment be any different? That’s the role the play of life picked out for them, that’s who their character happens to be.

When we understand that everyone is playing a part, that we’re all involved in the same big, messy project that is the world, we can be more understanding. We can be more patient. At the very least, we can be more tolerant and accepting and stop expecting the impossible.

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And In today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan talks Obstacle, Ego, & Stillness to 150 Executives at the Cannonball Leadership Growth Conference with Chad Sanschagrin, a well-known executive leadership and sales coach. He founded Cannonball Moments to empower, motivate, and encourage others to reach their full potential.

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Like any normal person, part of Marcus Aurelius did not want to wake up, especially early. No, he wanted to “huddle under the blankets and stay warm,” he would say. It was nicer there. Easier there. But another part of him knew he wasn’t created to feel nice, to have it easy. “I have to go to work — as a human being,” he said, hauling his feet up and onto the floor.

This is the internal back and forth so many of us have every morning. Not Arnold Schwarzennegger though. “My rule in the morning is, ‘don’t think,’” he said on a recent episode of the Daily Stoic podcast. To prevent the internal back and forth, the negotiating, the rationalizing, the justifying, Arnold recommended, “Make it a rule where you say, ‘Okay, there are certain things that I would do before I start thinking…I’m going to work out before I start thinking.’ Don’t think. Just go. Get out on a walk. Get on that bicycle. Get to the gym.”

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And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan outlines 14 small mindset changes. For the most part, we can’t change the world. We can’t change the fundamental facts of existence–like the fact that we’re going to die. We can’t change other people. So one way to think about Stoicism itself then is as a collection of mindset shifts for the many situations that life seems to thrust us in. Indeed, Seneca’s Letters, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, and Epictetus’ Discourses are filled with passages, anecdotes, and quotes which force a shift in perspective.

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