2,010 episodes

For centuries, all sorts of people—generals and politicians, athletes and coaches, writers and leaders—have looked to the teachings of Stoicism to help guide their lives. Each day, author and speaker Ryan Holiday brings you a new lesson about life, inspired by the thoughts and writings of great Stoic thinkers like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca the Younger. Daily Stoic Podcast also features Q+As with listeners and interviews with notable figures from sports, academia, politics, and more. Learn more at DailyStoic.com.
New episodes come out every day for free. Listen 1-week early on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday and to all episodes ad-free, with Wondery+ or Amazon Music with a Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.

The Daily Stoic Wondery

    • Education
    • 4.7 • 425 Ratings

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For centuries, all sorts of people—generals and politicians, athletes and coaches, writers and leaders—have looked to the teachings of Stoicism to help guide their lives. Each day, author and speaker Ryan Holiday brings you a new lesson about life, inspired by the thoughts and writings of great Stoic thinkers like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca the Younger. Daily Stoic Podcast also features Q+As with listeners and interviews with notable figures from sports, academia, politics, and more. Learn more at DailyStoic.com.
New episodes come out every day for free. Listen 1-week early on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday and to all episodes ad-free, with Wondery+ or Amazon Music with a Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    How to be an Honorable Leader and Combat Imposter Syndrome | Admiral Bill McRaven

    How to be an Honorable Leader and Combat Imposter Syndrome | Admiral Bill McRaven

    Ryan speaks with Admiral Bill McRaven about the nature of being a Stoic, imposter syndrome when being a leader, and how resilience is sometimes enduring injustice. They also discuss McRaven’s two books, The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple and Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…and Maybe Even The World.

    Admiral Bill McRaven is a retired US Navy four-star admiral. He served 37 years as a Navy SEAL leading men and women at every level of the special operations community. During those four decades, Admiral McRaven dealt with every conceivable leadership challenge, from commanding combat operations—including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Phillips, and the raid for Osama bin Laden.

    Get a signed copy of The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple and Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…and Maybe Even The World from The Painted Porch.

    Check out Admiral McRaven’s other books: Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare Theory and Practice, Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, and The Hero Code: Lessons Learned From Lives Well Lived.

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    You Can’t Change What Happened, But… | 13 Ways A Stoic Challenges Themselves Every Day

    You Can’t Change What Happened, But… | 13 Ways A Stoic Challenges Themselves Every Day

    With a business partner, some investors, and his life savings, Brent Underwood bought the abandoned mining turned ghost town, Cerro Gordo, in 2018.

    The plan was to bring the town back to life, to turn the 336 acres and 22 buildings into a historical destination. That plan largely revolved around the American Hotel, the literal and metaphorical center of town. But then on June 15, 2020, 149 years to the day it opened, the American Hotel caught fire and burned to the ground.

    “It was probably the most devastating day of my life,” Brent would recall. “You are literally watching your life savings and hopes and dreams burn in front of you.” As he stood atop the ashes, the town’s previous owner put his hand on Brent’s shoulder. “You can’t change what happened,” he told Brent, “but what happens from here is up to you.” More than just providing comfort, Brent wrote, those words were “a call to action.”

    It’s a reminder that for everything outside of our control, we retain—at the core of our being—an incredible power: The power to choose what we do with what happens to us. The power to decide what role an event will play in our lives. The power to write the end of our own story.

    No one can take that away from us. People can hurt us. Money can be lost. Jobs can disappear. Cars can crash into each other. Stoicism can’t change what happened. No philosophy is a time machine.

    But what we can do, what the Stoic practice is meant to help us do, is to prevail over what happened, and decide what comes next.




    You can read about what Brent did after the American Hotel burned down in his new book Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley. It’s just one of the many lesson-packed stories in the book about Brent’s time at Cerro Gordo. From facing isolation and the challenges of preserving historical integrity to confronting physical dangers like mine shafts and the elements, Ghost Town Living is story of adventure and tenacity, as well as a call to chase after audacious dreams, defy the conventional, and devote yourself to your own the pursuit of an extraordinary life.




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    • 17 min
    Do This While You Can | The Portable Retreat

    Do This While You Can | The Portable Retreat

    It’s funny, over here at Daily Stoic, we do these challenges throughout the year (maybe you’ve joined one before). On the one hand, this name is probably bad marketing. People don’t usually get excited by the thought of being challenged. In fact, what they usually want is a secret or a shortcut or a hack. They want someone to solve the challenges for them. On the other hand, isn’t embracing life’s challenges what Stoicism is all about? So naturally, we couldn’t call the Daily Stoic Spring Forward Challenge anything but that. It is a challenge. 10 days straight of them. Starting now.

    So yes it’s been a long December, but as the song also reminds us, there’s reason to believe that this year will be better than the last. And that reason is you—if you allow yourself to be, if you challenge yourself, if you decide to climb out of your velvet rut. A person who has never been challenged, Seneca said, who always gets their way, is a tragic figure. They have no idea what they are capable of. They are not even close to fulfilling their potential. “Stop wandering about!” Marcus Aurelius said to himself, perhaps on the eve of a new season just like this one. “Get busy with life's purpose,” he commanded, “toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue–if you care for yourself at all—and do it while you can.”

    And so as the seasons change, as the clocks change, we want to urge you one last time to join us and thousands of other Stoics in The Daily Stoic Spring Forward Challenge. Because one of the best ways to cure anxiety, to deal with stress, and to become present is to really throw yourself into some means of self-improvement. Stop procrastinating. Break out. Break free. Get cleaning. Challenge yourself.




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    • 12 min
    It's Time To Get Clean | Kentucky Wildcats Basketball

    It's Time To Get Clean | Kentucky Wildcats Basketball

    On this weekend episode of the Daily Stoic podcast, Ryan talks with Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball Team in which he focuses on the timeless wisdom of the four cardinal virtues—wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance—Holiday adeptly tailored his message to the elite world of collegiate basketball.

    -----------------------------

    Today is that day many dread—the day the clocks spring forward. Yes, in the middle of the night, you lost an hour that you’ll never get back. An hour of sleep, an hour of leisure, an hour to spend with your kids. You mourn that loss of time, wondering all the ways you could’ve spent it otherwise.

    Don’t fall into this trap and join us TODAY for the Spring Forward challenge. It starts March 19 and is set up to push you to examine your habits, your choices, and your relationships to move you closer to living your best life here and now.




    *A note on the audio for this episode: an issue with Ryan's live mic resulted in the discrepancy in audio quality that you hear. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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    • 20 min
    Seasonality and Understanding Pseudo-Productivity | Cal Newport PT 2

    Seasonality and Understanding Pseudo-Productivity | Cal Newport PT 2

    Ryan continues his conversation with computer science professor and bestselling author, Cal Newport. They discuss how to be indispensable in your personal and professional life, the myth of busyness, Cal’s latest book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, and more. 

    Cal Newport is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. His scholarship focuses on the theory of distributed systems, while his general-audience writing explores intersections of culture and technology. He is the author of eight books, including Slow Productivity, Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work. Newport is also a contributing writer for the New Yorker and the host of the Deep Questions podcast.

    Watch or listen to Cal’s podcast, Deep Questions.

    Subscribe to Cal’s newsletter, here. 

    Listen to Cal’s take in The Wealthy Stoic: A Daily Stoic Guide To Being Rich, Free, and Happy. 




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    • 1 hr 8 min
    Every Day Is A Chance For This | The Present Is All We Possess

    Every Day Is A Chance For This | The Present Is All We Possess

    That was the purpose behind Stoicism, behind the journaling, and the reading, and studying of this philosophy, behind the Daily Stoic Spring Forward Challenge (which starts on Tuesday, the first day of spring)—to use each day as an opportunity to improve yourself action by action, step by step. This might not seem like much, as Zeno said, but it adds up to no small thing.

    Every one of us wants to improve, wants to be better, wants to have better habits, live better, think better. But most of us wait to launch that business, write that novel, develop that fitness routine, to do what we know is right. We’ll do it when we’re more secure, we say, we’ll do it later, or in the fall, or next year, when things get back to normal. But putting things off is the biggest waste of life, Seneca reminds us. It snatches away the present in exchange for some promised future.

    Every day is a new season. Every day is spring, whatever hemisphere you’re in. Every day is a chance for a new beginning. That every day we awake, we can choose a new life, a new way, to rededicate ourselves to becoming the best versions of ourselves.

    As we’ve been saying, this is a chance to begin afresh, afresh, afresh. And that’s what we’re all going to be doing in the Daily Stoic Spring Forward Challenge. It’s designed to push you to examine those parts of your life, those habits, those choices that could move you closer to living your best life. You could have the good life, the life you deserve, right now!




    Participants will receive:

    ✓ 10 Custom Challenges Delivered Daily (Over 15,000 words of all-new original content)

    ✓ One live Q&A session

    ✓ Printable 10-Day Calendar With custom daily illustrations to track progress

    ✓ Access to a Private Community Platform

    It is a new season, and it can also be the beginning of a new you, too. Give yourself 10 days of improvement and a runway for true, sustainable change.

    Challenge yourself to spring forward to be the person you know you can be. Don’t wait any longer to live the life you deserve. Head over to dailystoic.com/spring and sign up NOW!

    -

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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 11 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
425 Ratings

425 Ratings

lstark1 ,

Always interesting

I really enjoy the podcast and appreciate the interviews. The interviewees and subject matter are often unique and always interesting. I think Ryan is a good host and works to openly discover and learn from his guests. Highly recommended

Unruly Bovine ,

Constant Self-Advertisement

The content remains useful, but it is becoming buried under a smothering blanket of self-advertisement. If Ryan was ever sincere in his delivery and practice of Stoicism, it seems clear from both this and The Daily Dad that he is losing his way. I'll give him some time to come back around, but if the current trajectory continues I'll be dropping him from my own practice and unsubscribing.

Lostrisdancer ,

Neutrality aids in oppression

Recently found this podcast after listening to your audiobook “Stillness is the Key” which was helpful during the first weeks of the Israel / Palestinian conflict. Found you on Instagram & was totally shocked to see your statement of neutrality. You were called out by the majority of your followers & this was extremely shallow & disappointing to see your stance.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Desmond Tutu.

You have written many books, studied hundreds of texts, have a sharp mind with extreme prowess & intellect and yet you remain neutral. I am happy to unfollow you because you do not practice what you preach.

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