The Daily Stoic

Latest Episodes:

Failure Doesn’t Define You—Neither Does Success | Always The Same Nov 10, 2025

Show notes

Ulysses S. Grant knew what the Stoics knew—that outside circumstances don’t say anything about us, that it didn’t matter, as Epictetus said, what we bear, only how we bear it.

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The Surprising Habit Hack from Aristotle Nov 09, 2025

Show notes

What is the "Tortoise Method" and how can it help us build habits for happiness? Look no further than this excerpt from Chapter 9 of the audiobook of Aristotle’s Guide to Self-Persuasion: How Ancient Rhetoric, Taylor Swift, and Your Own Soul Can Help You Change Your Life by Jay Heinrichs (last week's guest on The Daily Stoic Podcast!).

Jay Heinrichs is a New York Times bestselling author of Thank You For Arguing and is a persuasion and conflict consultant. Middlebury College has named him a Professor of the Practice in Rhetoric and Oratory. Jay has conducted influence strategy and training for clients as varied as Kaiser Permanente, Harvard, the European Speechwriters Association, Southwest Airlines, and NASA. He has overseen the remake and staff recruiting of more than a dozen magazines.

Pick up a copy of Jay’s latest book Aristotle’s Guide to Self-Persuasion: How Ancient Rhetoric, Taylor Swift, and Your Own Soul Can Help You Change Your Life

Follow Jay on Instagram @JayHeinrichs and check out more of his work at www.jayheinrichs.com

Thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for granting us permission to run this excerpt from Aristotle’s Guide to Self-Persuasion.

🏛 The 2025 LIVE session of Stoicism 101: Ancient Philosophy For Your Actual Life starts November 10th. Don’t miss your chance to join us! Read on for more about the unique opportunities you get from joining the LIVE course.

📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

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Persuasion Expert: "You Can TRAIN Your Mind to See the Positive" | Jay Heinrichs (PT. 2) Nov 08, 2025

Show notes

It takes a trained mind to see wonder and awe in the middle of everyday struggles. In today’s PT. 2 episode, Ryan and persuasion expert Jay Heinrichs dive deeper into discipline, the power of our inner dialogue, and what it really means to have agency. Jay shares the story of having breakfast with the Dalai Lama and how the Stoics, Buddhists, Aristotle, and even Taylor Swift all point to the same truth about how we see and respond to life.

Pick up a copy of Jay’s latest book Aristotle’s Guide to Self-Persuasion: How Ancient Rhetoric, Taylor Swift, and Your Own Soul Can Help You Change Your Life

Follow Jay on Instagram @JayHeinrichs and check out more of his work at www.jayheinrichs.com

📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

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This Is The Point of Philosophy | You're Wasting Your Life Nov 07, 2025

Show notes

What’s the point? What is philosophy for?

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📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

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BONUS | Ryan Holiday Curates a Reading List for Nick Thompson Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

After their interview, Ryan and Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and author of The Running Ground, headed into The Painted Porch to talk about their favorite books and swap recommendations.

🎥 You can watch this episode on Ryan Holiday's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHT1krHB6Wg

🎙️ Listen to Nick Thompson's episode on The Daily Stoic Podcast | Apple Podcasts, Spotify

📚 Full list of books that Ryan gave to Nick:

Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall by Helena Merriman

Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James Romm

The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen

Notes to John by Joan Didion

Necessary Trouble by Drew Gilpin Faust

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius(Gregory Hays Translation)

Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami

Letter to the Father by Franz Kafka

What I Talk about When I Talk about Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami

Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green

Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther

Check out Nick’s new book The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports

Follow Nick on Instagram and X @NXThompson

📚 Sign up for Ryan’s free monthly reading list newsletter: https://ryanholiday.net/the-reading-list/

📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

🎥 Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast

✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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Take This Seriously | Ask Daily Stoic Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

This is what Stoicism has done throughout history. It’s made people the best they could be.

👉 Get Stoicism 101: Ancient Philosophy For Your Actual Life & all other Daily Stoic courses for FREE when you join Daily Stoic Life | dailystoic.com/life

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📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

🎥 Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast

✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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Persuasion Expert: "You Can Manipulate Yourself Into Doing Hard Things" | Jay Heinrichs (PT. 1) Nov 05, 2025

Show notes

You’re not lazy, you’re just losing the debate in your own head. In today’s episode, Ryan talks with Jay Heinrichs, bestselling author of Thank You for Arguing and one of the world’s leading experts on rhetoric and persuasion. Jay has spent decades studying how we influence others, but in this conversation, he flips that lens inward to show how we can use the same tools to influence ourselves.

Ryan and Jay talk about the fascinating overlap between Stoicism and rhetoric, how Marcus Aurelius used rhetoric to his advantage, and why self-persuasion might actually be more powerful than raw willpower. They discuss the rhetorical tricks Jay used on himself and what the best tools are for getting unstuck.

Pick up a copy of Jay’s latest book Aristotle’s Guide to Self-Persuasion: How Ancient Rhetoric, Taylor Swift, and Your Own Soul Can Help You Change Your Life

Follow Jay on Instagram @JayHeinrichs and check out more of his work at www.jayheinrichs.com

🎟️ Come see Ryan Holiday LIVE: https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

🎥 Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast

✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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This Is Not What We Fight For Nov 05, 2025

Show notes

The Stoics were not passive. They did impressive things. They were impressive people. They were fighters. But you know what? They, like the rest of us, sometimes got carried away, sometimes hung on too long, went after the wrong things.

🎟️ Come see Ryan Holiday LIVE: https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

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✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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When The Statues Still Had Paint On Them | The Real Power You Have Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

History isn’t something that other people lived through and we get to read about. We all live through history and we all can make it if we choose.

📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

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This is How To Be Smart (Or At Least Not Dumb) | Following The Doctor's Orders Nov 03, 2025

Show notes

We can avoid being swept up in the newest fad or the oldest con. We can stop reliving the same mistake.

📖 Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday is out NOW! Grab a copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work

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📘 Grab the hardcover edition of The Daily Stoic here: https://store.dailystoic.com/

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✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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