Loading summary
Transcript32 lines
- [00:00]
Ryan Holiday
Foreign welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a Stoic inspired meditation designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life. Each one of these episodes is Based on the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. Help you learn from them, to follow in their example, and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom. For more, visit Dailystoic.com Take this seriously after seven years in a Vietnamese prison camp, Admiral James Stockdale was thinking about taking his study of Stoicism, the philosophy he credited with helping him survive those horrific years, even more seriously. He wasn't exactly sure what that might look like in practice, though. Would he write more about it? Read more about it, apply practices like the dichotomy of control? More? Again, he wasn't exactly sure. At a conference not long after he returned home, Stockdale met the great philosopher Will Durant and brought up his interest in Stoicism. Durant wasn't much help as far as clarifying what the next step might be, but he shared Stockdale's interest and pointed him to a passage in his book Life of Greece. Stoicism was a noble philosophy, it said, and proved more practical than a modern cynic would expect it. It brought together all the elements of Greek thought, and though it naturally won only a small minority to its standards, those few were everywhere the best. Like its Christian counterparts, Calvinism and Puritanism, it produced the strongest characters of its time. Theoretically, it was a monstrous doctrine of an isolated and pitiless perfectionism. Actually, it created men of courage and saintliness and goodwill by like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Cato the Younger. That's what Stoicism has done throughout history. It has made people the best they could be. It's produced some of the strongest characters of all time. Certainly that's what it had already done for Stockdale. And yet there he was, like Marcus Aurelius, who was famously seen heading off to philosophy lectures even as an old man, remaining a student and still getting better as he went. And that's what it can do for you if you take it seriously. But maybe you, like me, like Stockdale, are always wondering about what that next step is, how to continue your studies of this philosophy. Well, that's why we created our course, Stoicism 101 Ancient Philosophy for your actual life, to help you do exactly that. It's the best practices and routines of stoicism, delivered in 14 custom emails, delivered daily that's 20,000 words of exclusive content. You learn what a Stoic does, what a Stoic doesn't do. The Stoic Secrets to Success, the Stoic Secrets to Resilience the Stoic Secrets to Productivity, the Stoic Secrets to Virtue and what sets Stoicism apart from other philosophies and how to live your best life for less than the tuition even of one Intro to Philosophy class at a community college. Here, you'll learn all you need to know about Stoicism, and you'll learn it from yours truly. How much progress shall I make? This is Seneca's question. He said, just as much as you try to make. He says, don't wait. Wisdom comes haphazard to no man. But this course is beginning on November 10, which is right here around the corner and we'd love to have you join us together and you can sign up right now@dailystoic.com 101 and remember, Daily Stoic Life members get this course and all our Daily Stoic courses for free. Foreign this on a Monday and Monday is our grocery store day. In our family. I usually pick my kids up from school and we go over to Whole Foods get all our groceries for the week. Although here very shortly we're going to go over there to get our Thanksgiving turkey because they've got a bunch of great options. Turkeys start at 1.49a pound. If you have prime with organic birds at $2.99 a pound and they only carry no antibiotic ever, turkeys that will quality to your table at a great price. Whole Foods has great everyday prices on all your Thanksgiving essentials. Whether you celebrate with a massive family or just a few close friends, everything they sell has high standards to help you shop with confidence. Enjoy so many ways to save on your Thanksgiving spread at Whole Foods Market. Look, when you're hiring, you don't want just anyone. You need the right person with the right background who can move your business forward. And when I need candidates who match what we're looking for at Daily Stoic for any of my businesses, we trust Indeed Sponsored Jobs because when you're hiring, Indeed is all you need. You can give your job the best chance to be seen with Indeed's sponsored jobs. They can help you stand out and hire quality candidates who can drive the results you need. And according to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed are 90% more likely to report a higher than non sponsored jobs because you reach a bigger pool of quality quality candidates and you should join the 1.6 million companies that sponsor their jobs with Indeed. People are finding quality hires on Indeed right now in the minute we've been talking. Companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. Now with Indeed Sponsored Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help you get your job the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com dailys stoic just go to Indeed.com dailystoic right now to support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com Daily Stoic terms and conditions apply. If you're hiring, do it the right way with Indeed. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another Thursday episode of the Daily Stoic podcast. Back in September, I got to give a talk here in Austin. It was a lovely morning. Got up, took my kids to school. I went for a long run around Town Lake, went swimming in Barton Springs. And then I went to the office and worked for a bit. And then I got to go give a talk here in my adopted hometown. You know, usually I'm in and out of the venues because I'm on the road, but this time it was local. We got to, you know, invite all the employees out. A bunch of our friends came. It was lovely. And I actually got to meet like you guys. Right. Most of the talks that I do are not available to the public. They're companies or corporations or nonprofits. Like, you can't just buy a ticket and come. But this one in Austin I did was so that was really cool. I answered questions after. And I'm going to be doing that again in basically a month. On December 3rd, I'm going to be in Seattle. So you can come to that. In February, I'm going to be in San Diego and Phoenix. You can grab tickets to any and all of those@daily stoiclive.com thanks everyone who came out to the talk in Austin and asked these questions. I can't wait to see you in Seattle, San Diego and Phoenix. Dailystoiclive.com.
- [07:41]
Parent Audience Member
From one parent to another, a parent trying to teach his kids these virtues.
- [07:46]
Ryan Holiday
Sure.
- [07:47]
Parent Audience Member
Can you talk to me a little bit about how you try to give them this wisdom? As when I start to talk about Marcus Aurelius, my girls lose me in about five seconds.
- [07:57]
Ryan Holiday
Do you think my kids are interested in it? Because they're not at all, actually, often, you know, when they're like watching on their iPad or whatever, if we want to threaten them, we go, I'm going to turn on one of My videos. And that's the only thing you can watch.
- [08:14]
So.
- [08:14]
Look, I don't think kids are ever interested in things their parents are interested in, especially if the parents think that thing is educational. But I do try to find when there's the little slivers of interest, and then I want to put as much energy behind that as possible. You know, obviously, I've been talking to my son about the Romans and Marcus Aurelius and Seneca and Epictetus, and he was not interested at all. And then one day, he became obsessed with Greek history, which is not exactly what I'm interested in, but it's in the ballpark, and I'll take it, you know? And he became obsessed with this podcast called Greeking out, which we had to listen to an ungodly amount of times. And then we had to go to Greece to see all the places, and then we had to read all these things. And it's like, it's on one level, exhausting, and on the other, totally exhilarating and amazing. And you gotta take the opportunities when they're there. So I try to find the little spark of interest, and you see if you can get that going. And, you know, one out of 10 times you find something that really gets going. You know, right when you start to figure out dinosaurs, they're like, I don't care about dinosaurs anymore. And then. And then, you know, that's kind of part of it, too. And just, like, I just try to love this period that we're in where we're excited about this thing. And then I also try to do my best, as excruciating as it is to be, you know, interested in Mr. Beast and stuff like that.
- [09:41]
Audience Member from Iceland
Adding to the countries that are here tonight. I come from Iceland.
- [09:44]
Ryan Holiday
Wow.
- [09:45]
Audience Member from Iceland
I would have to say I'm an Austinite now at this point. My question is very simple. I've been reading your books for a number of years now, and they've helped me through difficult periods. But as you mentioned to one of my fellow audience here that, yes, we tend to be lone wolves.
- [10:03]
Ryan Holiday
Yes.
- [10:04]
Audience Member from Iceland
Do you see yourself running workshops in the future? Because I feel like that's one of the things that I would really appreciate. This is an independent work for me. But if I get into the right community, is that something you would maybe establish in our area?
- [10:26]
Ryan Holiday
I haven't thought too much about it. I like the idea. What I love to do is really. I love to write books. That's my main thing. That's what lights me up. And one of the hard, weird parts about succeeding as a writer is people want you to do a lot of things that are not writing like this. This is the opposite of writing. No one becomes a writer because they want to talk to large groups of people in person. It's like you became a writer because the thought of that is mortifying. So I've got a lot on my plate and I'm mostly trying to protect that. And I know my next couple books that I'm in the middle of, but maybe someday, obviously I love talking about this, as you can tell, and maybe smaller groups would be slightly less intimidating.
- [11:09]
Jess, Audience Member
I'm Jess, and I was really glad that you brought up John Mackey in Conscious Capitalism earlier, because I've been into libertarianism for a really long time. Lately I've gotten interested in self governance. I was wondering how communities can utilize Stoic ideas.
- [11:31]
Ryan Holiday
Yeah, that's probably beyond my pay grade, to be perfectly honest, but obviously the Stoics were obsessed with and fascinated with the idea of governance. We know Zeno writes a book called Zeno's Republic, which is unfortunately lost. Although as they excavate Pompeii, they're finding more and more of these tightly rolled papyri that they're able to scan and AI can slowly see what they say. So who knows, maybe this will come out at one point in the. All the Stoic writings on what a government should look like and how it should work will survive. But yeah, I think obviously the idea of personal liberty is essential to the Stoics. There's a passage in Meditations where Marcus talks about what he learned from his fellow Stoics. And he says, let me find it here because I love it. He says, I learned from my brother Severus to love my family, truth and justice. And he says it was through him that I encountered Thracia, Helvetius, who we talked about Cato, who we talked about Dion and Brutus, and conceived of a society of equal laws, governed by equality of status and of speech and of rulers who respect the liberty of their subjects above all else. Now, again, a bit rich to hear from the Emperor of Rome, an enormous exploitative colonial hegemon, but it's like hearing about how all men are created equal from Thomas Jefferson. The idea is good, and then we have to make that promise real. And that's obviously the project we're all engaged in, either on a local level or a national level.
- [13:07]
Jess, Audience Member
I was wondering if you teach younger students, because I would love to. To learn more about Stoicism and wisdom.
- [13:14]
Ryan Holiday
Oh, well, that's Very nice. I don't teach any students, but, like.
- [13:18]
Jess, Audience Member
Do you have any clubs or, like, anything like that?
- [13:22]
Ryan Holiday
Well, and especially now that I'm not allowed back at the Naval Academy, I teach even fewer students. But no, I mostly try to write my books and then I try, like, I don't watch a lot of YouTube videos. I definitely don't go on TikTok. But the reason we make content in all these different mediums is that I want to meet people where they are. I'm trying to translate my work in as many mediums as possible, and then I in turn learn by being in that medium. And of course, I am trying to teach my two kids, however uninterested they currently are in the Stoics. But you sound like you're already ahead of the curve and doing great, so thank you for your question.
- [14:03]
Marathon Runner Audience Member
I know you do hard things and you were in Athens, in Delphi, a few, some time ago. Yes, I plan to be there in November.
- [14:10]
Ryan Holiday
Are you going to do the marathon?
- [14:12]
Marathon Runner Audience Member
I am.
- [14:12]
Ryan Holiday
Oh, it's. It's going to be fun.
- [14:15]
Marathon Runner Audience Member
I know. Well, I saw you run it. I did. And I want to get some pointers from you. What? How do I survive the. The trip from Marathon to Athens?
- [14:26]
Ryan Holiday
Don't do it by yourself in the middle of July. That's my, my first tip. I should have started earlier because I definitely got heat stroke and I threw up all over the Olympic stadium when I arrived. Obviously discipline and sort of fortitude and strength and commitment, that's part of it. I did not really think at all about nutrition or caloric intake. I was just like, I can do this. And I did do it. It was just much more painful than it needed to be. So it's a. All concrete up and down course. It has almost 1000ft of elevation climb. It's pretty industrial, the whole, like, you see the ocean for a little bit, but then you're like under freeway underpasses. And it's like, not, obviously not what the Greeks did. On my birthday I did 20 and I had some gas in the tank when I finished. And when I'm looking at my time, I'd come out a little slower than I needed to. And I think I overcorrected in the marathon and I came out a little too fast. I think I was like, like in the low sixes for my first three or four miles, which is just not sustainable. Discipline is not just doing more and more, I guess, is what I'm saying. It's also about holding back and restraining and, you know, Being by myself, I had trouble pacing a little bit. And so that's, that's what I. That's what I learned. Also, you have to wear a shirt to enter the stadium. I found that out. I had to go find out wherever I'd put my shirt. And so that set me back a little bit too. Well, good luck. It's a beautiful thing. Hey, it's Ryan.
- [16:05]
Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoic podcast.
- [16:08]
I just wanted to say we so appreciate it. We love serving you.
- [16:12]
It's amazing to us that overseas, over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple years we've been doing it.
- [16:18]
It's an honor. Please spread the word, tell people about it. And this isn't to sell anything.
- [16:23]
I just wanted to say thank you.
- [16:34]
Parent Audience Member
The world is full of tours. But you don't choose a Toyota truck to follow the beaten path. You choose it to find the places in between the detours, where each adventure pulls you toward the next. And wrong turns turn out right. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour? Toyota Trucks.
- [17:04]
Toyota Trucks Advertiser
My family owns a 2023 Toyota 4Runner, and honestly, it's my favorite vehicle that I've ever owned. I Around town, it's smooth and reliable. But where it really shines is on our trips into the backcountry. We've taken it on backpacking adventures to Colorado and New Mexico, loaded up with gear and never had to think twice about whether it could handle the terrain. That's what Toyota Trucks are built for. Off road confidence, rugged durability, and the freedom to explore. Toyota has a long history with the outdoor community, and they're committed to helping more people get out there and experience what nature has to offer. From remote trails to scenic byways, Toyota Trucks empowers you to take the detour, roam freely, and discover places that still feel wild and untouched. And they're not just making great trucks. They're working to expand access to adventure so more people can connect with the outdoors and pass that passion on to the next generation. Discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota. Com Trucks Adventure Detours. That's Toyota. Com Trucks Adventure Detours.