The Daily Stoic

Latest Episodes:

The Things You Own…Can’t Own You | The Wake Up Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

To the Stoics, there wasn’t anything wrong with having money. Marcus Aurelius came from money. So did Cato. Seneca came from money and also made a lot of it. In fact, pretty much all the Stoics except for Cleanthes and Epictetus were incredibly rich.

Money, nice stuff, living the comfortable life…this was not necessarily the problem.

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Steven Pressfield on Creating Work That Lasts Jan 15, 2023

Show notes

Ryan speaks with his friend Steven Pressfield during an impromptu walk along Town Lake in downtown Austin, Texas. The two discuss the life experiences behind Steven’s new book Govt Cheese a memoir, the lessons that they've learned from their many mentors, the value of repurposing content, and more.

Steven Pressfield wrote for 27 years before he got his first novel published. During that time he worked 21 different jobs in eleven states. Steven taught school, drove tractor-trailers, worked in advertising and as a screenwriter in Hollywood. He worked on offshore oil rigs, and picked fruit as a migrant worker. His books include the best-stelling Turning Pro, The War of Art and Gates of Fire.

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Mark Manson and the Catastrophe of Success Jan 14, 2023

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Ryan speaks with Mark Manson about the new documentary based on his astronomically successful book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, how being highly successful can ruin one’s life, what he is striving to disrupt in the self-help industry, and more.

Mark Manson is a self-help blogger and the author of four books, including the New York Times Bestsellers Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope, Will, and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. His work focuses on providing life advice that is science-based and pragmatic, and it can be found on his website markmanson.net. Mark also releases a free newsletter to subscribers that features one idea, one question, and one exercise every week.

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Don’t Disgrace Yourself | Ask Daily Stoic Jan 13, 2023

Show notes

Francis Bacon was a brilliant philosopher whose breakthroughs reverberate through our world today. He was also a human being and a politician. Less glorious than his intellectual achievements were his travails in the public sphere, which ultimately ended in his conviction for accepting bribes.

No one was more disappointed in this than Bacon, who lamented at the end of his life that he had wasted himself, “in things for which I was least fit, so as I may truly say, my soul hath been a stranger in the course of my pilgrimage.”

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In today's Ask Daily Stoic, Ryan answers questions from the audience as part of his Stoicism 101 course. This is the first of a four part series, and it covers focusing on your own choices as opposed to other peoples', why trying to anticipate everything that could happen is a fool's errand, how to study Stoicism without a sense of superiority, and more.

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If You Are Studying Philosophy, It Is Well | The One Path To Serenity Jan 12, 2023

Show notes

In one of his letters, Seneca tells us of an old Roman pleasantry that friends would exchange when greeting each other: “If you are well,” one would say after inquiring how someone was doing, “it is well and I am also well.”

It’s a nice little custom, isn’t it? If you’re good, I’m good, and everything is good. Nothing else matters. Well, Seneca took it one step further.

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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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A Stoic Isn’t Born. They’re Made. Jan 11, 2023

Show notes

Marcus Aurelius wasn’t born Marcus Aurelius (literally, his name was Marcus Catilius Severus Annius Verus). Epictetus wasn’t born a sage–to say he was would be to deprive him of the enormous credit due to a man who went from a lowly slave to a wise and powerful philosopher.

No, becoming a Stoic takes work. It takes practice.

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Humble, The Poet on Being Free of Passion but Full of Love Jan 11, 2023

Show notes

Ryan speaks with Humble, the Poet about his new book How to be Love(d), why our passions often get in the way of real love, viewing love as a service to others rather than a reward for ourselves, and more.

Kanwer Singh, professionally known as Humble, the Poet, is a Canadian poet, author, YouTuber, rapper, and spoken word artist, as well as the son of immigrant Indian Punjabi Sikh parents. In 2010, he left his job as an elementary school teacher in 2010 to become a poet, and since then, he has authored three books, including Unlearn: 101 Simple Truths for a Better Life and Things No One Else Can Teach Us. He received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 2014 Streamy Awards. His work can be found on his website, his YouTube channel, and on Twitter and Instagram @humblethepoet.

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You Can’t Keep It From Happening | How To Get Through Life's Most Difficult Situations Jan 10, 2023

Show notes

When he was starting out in Hollywood, Judd Apatow began to have panic attacks. The stress of rewriting a script. Getting a film in on time. Managing all the moving pieces on a project. He felt the enormity of the pressure and like a lot of us, he took that to an irrational extreme.

The Stoics would say panic, stress, and anxiety are feelings, and you can’t prevent them from happening. And if you try to suppress these emotions, like stuffing junk in your closet, it eventually comes exploding out. The bill inevitably comes due…and with interest attached.

Today, Ryan explores how the Stoics approached getting through life's most difficult situations using the same principle that Friedrich Nietzsche developed as a formula for human greatness: Amor Fati - a love of fate.

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You Know What’s Coming | The Sphere Of Choice Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

We worry about the future. About who might win an election we’re closely watching. About what some foreign leader might do. About the markets and your portfolio. About the climate. It’s so uncertain, we think, unpredictable and potentially overwhelming.

But is it really?

In today's Daily Stoic Journal reading, Ryan explores why the Stoics viewed the soul as a sphere which is strengthened or weakened only through one's choices, and how meditating on this can set us off on the right foot in 2023.

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How Country Living Can Improve Your Life Jan 08, 2023

Show notes

Ryan celebrates country living with this presentation of the first in a four-part reading of MD Usher’s translation of Princeton University Press’s How to Be a Farmer: An Ancient Guide to Life on the Land. This excerpt examines the benefits of living with nature, dealing with good and bad days on the farm, being neighborly in the country and more.

Ryan’s conversation with MD Usher can be heard here

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