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As a business owner, I'm super familiar with how important a strong Internet connection is to keeping everything running smoothly. A slight delay in the Internet connection in the store, it could mean missed sales. A lag in a zoom call or a podcast recording could mean you lose everything you were doing. When every minute matters, every transaction, every customer, you cannot rely on a subpar Internet connection. You need a provider that's reliable. You need Spectrum Business. Spectrum Business keeps businesses of all sizes seamlessly connected with fast, reliable Internet, advanced Wi, Fi, phone, TV and mobile services. They offer 100% US based customer support 24. 7 to help you stay up and running and are sure to have the right plan for you. With tailored connectivity solutions and packages built for every business budget, millions of business owners rely on Spectrum Business to keep them connected. Visit spectrum.combusiness to learn more. Restrictions apply Services not available in all areas welcome to the daily Stoic podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues courage, discipline, justice and wisdom into the real world. Skip the shortcut, take the long way. Instead, there's a great exchange between Epictetus and a student that encapsulates how the Stoics likely would have felt about artificial intelligence. Tell me what to do, the student says. It would be better to say Epictetus corrects him. Make my mind adaptable to any circumstances. In our fast paced world, we are constantly bombarded with promises of shortcuts to success, happiness, fulfillment. We advertise get rich quick schemes and productivity hacks on social media, which is itself kind of a shortcut to human connection. And now artificial intelligence presents itself as perhaps the ultimate shortcut, offering to write our emails, draft our essays, create our art, even think and plan for us. AI promises to do the intellectual heavy lifting while we reap the rewards, suggesting we can bypass the learning process altogether. Marcus Aurelius, despite being Emperor of Rome, still made time every day to write in his journal, examining his thoughts and actions. He understood that wisdom required ongoing effort, not once, but continually throughout his life. There's no app, no hack, no shortcut that could replace the necessary inner work. In our modern context, the Stoics would likely view AI and other shortcuts with caution, not because technology itself is the problem, but because the siren song that we can bypass hard work is fundamentally misleading. The Stoics would remind us that the struggle itself, the very difficulty we try to avoid, is often where the most learning value is created. It's often the very work we're trying to avoid. Where wisdom lies Wisdom cannot be outsourced. It cannot be hacked and it can definitely not be automated. It has to be earned. The slow way, the hard way, the right way. Wisdom takes work. That's what Seneca said. He said, no man is wise without toil. Don't take the shortcut, take the long way. That's what's going to get you what you want and ultimately get you where you want to go. You can check out Wisdom Takes Work, by the way, which was a lot of work. It was the culmination of six plus years of writing, many more years of research and thinking before that. And in fact, the whole Virtue series is that courage is calling, discipline is destiny, right thing right now, and wisdom takes work. You can grab the whole set, sign them for you. I'll link to that in today's show. Notes.
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I'm here on a job site with Tim, who owns his own electrical contracting business.
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Three employees and two work trucks.
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Tim traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance. We're positively here where he needs us most.
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They sure are.
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With step by step help on all his insurance needs, all for shockingly low rates.
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Shockingly low, huh?
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Just a little bit of electrician humor. Do you get it?
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I got it.
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You know, it feels like we have a real connection. All right, I'll stop, get a commercial
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auto insurance quote today@geico.com and see how
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much you could save.
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It feels good to Geico.
The Daily Stoic
Episode: Skip The Shortcut. Take The Long Way Instead.
Air Date: May 27, 2026
Host: Ryan Holiday
This episode of The Daily Stoic explores the Stoic perspective on shortcuts—technological or otherwise—in the pursuit of wisdom, happiness, and success. Drawing from the teachings of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca, Ryan Holiday challenges the allure of easy paths, focusing particularly on the rise of artificial intelligence as the latest promise of bypassing genuine effort. The recurring message: wisdom and fulfillment can’t be outsourced or hacked—they must be earned through deliberate, difficult work.
Holiday introduces a story from Epictetus, where a student asks for instructions, but Epictetus counters:
"It would be better to say... ‘Make my mind adaptable to any circumstances.’"
Modern society is saturated with promises of “shortcuts” everywhere: get-rich-quick schemes, social media, productivity hacks, and now, artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is positioned as the “ultimate shortcut”, promising to:
Holiday warns that:
"AI promises to do the intellectual heavy lifting while we reap the rewards, suggesting we can bypass the learning process altogether." (01:45)
Marcus Aurelius is highlighted as a model:
"Despite being Emperor of Rome, [he] still made time every day to write in his journal, examining his thoughts and actions. He understood that wisdom required ongoing effort, not once, but continually throughout his life."
There’s an emphasis on the non-transferability of wisdom:
"There's no app, no hack, no shortcut that could replace the necessary inner work."
In contemporary contexts, the Stoics would likely caution about seductive technologies—not because technology itself is bad, but because of the false promise that struggle can be avoided.
The struggle itself is often where the deepest growth happens:
"The Stoics would remind us that the struggle itself, the very difficulty we try to avoid, is often where the most learning value is created. It's often the very work we're trying to avoid. Where wisdom lies." (03:05)
Wisdom, according to Holiday (channeling Seneca):
"Wisdom cannot be outsourced. It cannot be hacked and it can definitely not be automated. It has to be earned. The slow way, the hard way, the right way."
Direct quote of Seneca:
'"No man is wise without toil."' (03:23)
Bottom line:
"Don't take the shortcut, take the long way. That's what's going to get you what you want and ultimately get you where you want to go." (03:30)
Holiday references his own work as an example of “the long way”:
"You can check out Wisdom Takes Work, by the way, which was a lot of work. It was the culmination of six plus years of writing, many more years of research and thinking before that."
Mentions his larger Virtue Series:
Epictetus on adaptability:
"Make my mind adaptable to any circumstances." (01:15)
On artificial intelligence:
"AI promises to do the intellectual heavy lifting while we reap the rewards, suggesting we can bypass the learning process altogether." (01:45)
On the necessity of work:
"Wisdom cannot be outsourced. It cannot be hacked and it can definitely not be automated. It has to be earned. The slow way, the hard way, the right way." (03:10)
Seneca’s timeless reminder:
'"No man is wise without toil."' (03:23)
Ryan Holiday’s delivery is thoughtful, direct, and motivational—characteristic of The Daily Stoic’s pragmatic but hopeful approach. He invokes ancient Stoic wisdom with a modern sensibility, urging listeners to value genuine effort over quick fixes.
Ryan Holiday’s central message this episode is clear: despite enticing technological advances and modern productivity hacks, there is no substitute for the hard, personal effort required to gain wisdom and live a virtuous life. “Don’t take the shortcut, take the long way. That’s what’s going to get you what you want and ultimately get you where you want to go.” The struggle is not only unavoidable—it is necessary and deeply valuable.