The Daily Stoic Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: The Habit That Changes EVERYTHING | Nick Thompson
Release Date: October 29, 2025
Host: Ryan Holiday
Guest: Nick Thompson (CEO of The Atlantic, Author, American 50k record-holder)

Episode Overview

This conversation delves into running as a transformative habit, exploring how it shapes identity, generational connections, and resilience. Nick Thompson shares insights from his personal life, new book ("The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports"), and leadership experience at The Atlantic. Ryan and Nick draw parallels between running, writing, parenting, and the broader Stoic pursuit of self-mastery and meaning.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Enduring Relationship with Running

• Ryan’s Perspective: Once a reluctant high school runner, Ryan highlights his deep integration of running into his routines, tying it to writing, family, and mental health.
• Nick’s Journey: Running as a lifelong companion—starting as a bonding activity with his father, continuing through collegiate and adult competition, and now as a parenting tool and personal discipline.

“I hated running in school and I can't live without it now… It's part of my stillness practice. It's part of my writing practice. It's part of all of my practices.” – Ryan Holiday (07:41)

2. Efficiency & Life Integration

• Both speakers emphasize maximizing running’s efficiency: running to work, incorporating errands, using running as a vehicle for exploration when traveling, and including family (strollers, dropping off kids, etc.).

“Part of the way I've made it work with a busy job with three kids… is by like filling it into these cracks.” – Nick Thompson (26:18)

• Parenting Hacks: Use running as bonding time, errand time, and personal time–all at once.

3. The Mental vs. Physical Benefits

• Ryan: For many, running’s mental regulation outweighs the physical.
• Nick: Even a short run can break up a stressful day; longer distances are sometimes needed for deeper equilibrium.

“If I just run two miles, I might as well run zero miles, right? …I gotta go longer than that.” – Ryan Holiday (16:03)
“If I'm in like some hellacious week with board meetings… I can go run half a mile.” – Nick Thompson (16:42)

4. Music, Podcasts, and Mindful Training

• Nick: Avoids music when training hard—believes it disrupts physiological feedback and true pacing. Podcasts are OK for easy runs.
• Ryan: Enjoys music for reaching a meditative “void,” referencing Murakami’s writing on running.

“If you don't want to do [the hard work]...then you put on some music and run around campus drive.” – Nick Thompson (18:27)

5. Aging, Discipline, and Cumulative Habits

• Nick’s book explores why he ran faster marathons in his 40s than in his 30s—discovering that endurance, discipline, and wisdom can counteract many effects of aging.
• Both compare running and writing as disciplines where improvement is incremental, not instantaneous.

“Discipline is cumulative...if you do a hard thing first thing in the morning, it's easy to do the next hard thing.” – Nick Thompson (56:09)

6. Generational Transmission & Family Dynamics

• Nick recounts running with his father and now his own kids; explores legacy, habits, and the unpredictability of what parents pass down.
• Discussion of fatherhood as either becoming an ancestor (positive influence) or a ghost (negative/haunting shadow)—citing Bruce Springsteen.

“We can choose to be an ancestor or a ghost in our kids’ lives.” – Ryan Holiday referencing Bruce Springsteen (38:10)

7. Nick’s Complex Family Story

• Nick’s father: A once-promising scholar whose life unraveled through addiction, personal struggle, coming out as gay in a difficult era, and eventual chaos.
• Running provided a structure for his father during turbulent times.
• Nick reflects on inheriting both positive and cautionary lessons, striving for focus and discipline, and processing family legacy through running and writing.

8. Writing, Confidence, and Major Career Lessons

• Parallels between running and writing: Both require steady, incremental work. Success is cumulative.
• Nick’s pivotal moment: Being pushed by New Yorker editor David Remnick to write about the Boston Marathon bombing—an exercise in overcoming self-doubt.

“He closes the door and goes away. And so I'm like, okay. And so I wrote the story, and it was done in an hour… it was a really good lesson.” – Nick Thompson (60:04)

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Running and Stillness:

  “It's part of my stillness practice. It's part of my writing practice. It's part of all of my practices.” – Ryan Holiday (07:41)

• On Efficiency and Parenting:

  "Running to errands, that's super useful...you drop [the kids] at the camp...you run for an hour and a half...you're in the plus." – Nick Thompson (25:33)

• On Music and Training Philosophy:

  "If I'm running hard, I never listen to music...part of what you're trying to learn is how to get your own mind to get you to go when you want to stop." – Nick Thompson (17:32)

• On Aging and Endurance:

  “You don't stop running because you get old. You get old because you stop running.” – Nick Thompson (37:15)

• On Parenting and Legacy:

  “You don't know if you're breaking the cycle or perpetuating the cycle in just some new way.” – Ryan Holiday (41:04)

• On Discipline and Creativity:

  “If you do a hard thing first thing in the morning, it's easy to do the next hard thing.” – Nick Thompson (56:09)

• On Cumulative Progress:

  “If you run every day, and run hard from time to time, you get faster. It just happens.” – Nick Thompson (57:30)

Notable Segments & Timestamps

• 08:23 — Funny Shared History: Outbrain ads, digital publishing, and reader trust.
• 12:45 — Best Running Routes in the US (New Orleans, Austin, Manhattan, Santa Monica).
• 17:32 — Nick’s training philosophy: No music during hard runs.
• 25:33 — Parenting hacks for maximizing running time.
• 29:03 — Nick’s “sub 5-minute mile” challenge at age 50 with his son.
• 36:04 — Training his mother: Reflexes, aging, and active habits.
• 41:04 — Family legacies: cycles, ancestors and ghosts.
• 53:43 — Reverse parenting: Caring for a parent with chaotic adulthood.
• 56:09 — Discipline, daily practice, and writing lessons.
• 60:04 — Career-defining editorial moment at The New Yorker with David Remnick.
• 62:09 — Reflection on confidence, success, and expectations.

Episode Tone & Style

The conversation is candid, insightful, and often humorous. Both speakers bring open, self-reflective stories and a deep sense of curiosity about the ways habits shape lives and legacies. Nick’s anecdotes and Ryan’s analogies illuminate the broader Stoic message: enduring, thriving, and finding clarity through daily practice.

Final Takeaway

Running, though simple, becomes a profound habit when woven into daily life. It offers discipline, emotional regulation, intergenerational connection, and endless lessons about persistence and self-mastery—a mirror for writing, parenting, and living with intention. This episode is a reminder that the smallest habits, consistently upheld, can indeed change everything.