The Daily Stoic
by Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures
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. Support the podcast and go deeper with Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content (coming soon): dailystoic.com/premium
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Episodes
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BONUS | We Reap What We Sow
As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW! 👉 Grab your copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/the-daily-stoic-10 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |...
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The Past Is a Lie | Would Ryan Holiday Ever Run for Office?
We are lucky to live in this moment, however flawed. 📚 Grab signed copies of Steven’s books at The Painted Porch: The Arcadian Turning Pro Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be The War of Art The Daily Pressfield The Warrior Ethos A Man At Arms Gates of Fire The Virtues of War Follow Steven…
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The Past Is Looking Brighter All The Time
Seneca talked about how we need to ‘choose ourselves a Cato,’ a standard to measure ourselves against. 📚 Learn more about Cato in Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE…
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The Truth About Banned Books (And Why It Matters)
Book banning isn't a thing of the past. The impulse to restrict what people can read, think, and question is as old as history itself. And just because you disagree with a book doesn't mean someone else shouldn't be allowed to read it. Got a banned book at home? Send it our way 👉 Address: 912…
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Robert Greene & Ryan Holiday: The Secret To A Great Apprenticeship
Twenty years ago, Robert Greene took a chance on a young college dropout named Ryan Holiday. In this episode, Ryan sits down with Robert, bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, The Laws of Human Nature, and his new book The Law of the Sublime , to reflect on the power of...
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True Freedom Requires This | Two Tasks
The Stoics also believed that wisdom is something we have to work for—not something we’re given. It didn’t matter if you were a slave like Epictetus or groomed for the throne like Marcus Aurelius—wisdom was still something you had to earn. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is…
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BONUS | Ezra Frech Before Dancing with the Stars
You might be watching Ezra Frech on Dancing with the Stars right now, but there's a lot more to his story than what you see on TV. For today's bonus episode, we're bringing back Ryan's conversation with the Paralympic gold medalist, recorded before he joined the show. The new 10th Anniversary...
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How Much Have You Changed? | Proof That Stoicism Can Change Your Life
Wouldn’t it be crazy if all that change had happened, but we were still doing the same things, still stagnant? We cannot go on being the person we’ve always been, Marcus writes in Meditations. We cannot remain as we are, Socrates said. If these stories have inspired you to share your journey with...
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10 Stoic Lessons It Took Ryan 10 Years to Understand
Ten years after publishing The Daily Stoic, Ryan shares what he’s learned, what he missed, and what he sees differently now. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW! 👉 Grab your copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/the-daily-stoic-10 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan...
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This Was The Difference (and it makes ALL the difference)
Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus shared the same DNA. They, like all fathers and sons, probably shared some of the same tendencies and weaknesses. So how did they turn out so differently? 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |...
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It Started Small (Who Would Imagine It Would Make This Far?) | Matt Choi’s Daily Stoic Practice
You read a page in the morning. You think about it. You take it into your day. Maybe it helps you catch yourself before you lose your temper. Maybe it reminds you to stop worrying about something you can’t control. Maybe it gives you the push to do something you’ve been avoiding. Then you return…
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This is How You Die Before Your Time
It might help you stay in the game. It might make you successful. It might even keep you alive. It worked for Seneca, right? 📚 Books Mentioned: Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James Romm 🎙️ Check out the full episode: James Romm on The Daily Stoic Podcast | Apple Podcasts,...
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The Top 10 Most Popular Passages From The Daily Stoic
The whole point of Stoicism is that you’re supposed to keep progressing, keep examining yourself, keep practicing, keep getting a little better, “keep learning,” as Seneca wrote, “to the end of your life.” The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW! 👉 Grab your copy here:...
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Why Grit Isn’t Enough | Angela Duckworth
You’d expect the psychologist behind the bestselling book Grit to tell you to try harder, but Angela Duckworth knows why that isn’t always the answer. In today’s episode, the University of Pennsylvania professor and MacArthur Fellow joins Ryan to discuss her new book, Situated, why certain people...
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The Leaves Are On The Ground
You can see it happening to the trees. You can feel it in the air. It’s fall. 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic…
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Inside Ryan Holiday’s $250K Reading List
You could spend a lot of time and money earning an MBA, or you could start with these books that will change how you think about business, leadership, and success. Watch this episode on Ryan Holiday's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfVwQ1aKiDY Turn the words into works 👉 Read…
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BONUS: Toxic Masculinity, Cancel Culture & Politics
In this bonus episode, Ryan answers questions about handling other people’s opinions, toxic masculinity, keeping your ego in check, politics, and cancel culture. Have a question for Ryan? Bring it to one of his upcoming live shows! 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you!...
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This Is a Very Important Conversation You’re A Part Of | Jaimie Alexander’s Daily Stoic Practice
That’s how this conversation survives. Someone reads something. Thinks about it. Shares it. Helps another person see something they might have missed. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW! 👉 Grab your copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/the-daily-stoic-10…
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Stoicism Requires You to Stay a Student | Codie Sanchez
You might have a great idea, some success, or the confidence to risk everything. But you still have something to learn. 🎥 Watch the full episode with Codie Sanchez here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTRmrzSCbaI 👉 Follow Codie Sanchez on Instagram @codiesanchez, on TikTok @Codie_Sanchez, and…
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You Don’t Get To Do One Last Thing
It might be important to you. It might be long-planned. Maybe it’s unfinished business. Maybe lives even depend on it. But you know what? Life doesn’t care. 🪙 Designed with the intention of carrying them in your pocket, our Memento Mori Medallion is a literal and inescapable reminder that “you...
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Most Things Haven’t Changed (But This Has) | What Do the Stoics Say About Attachment?
Human beings are human beings. We have the same weaknesses. We have the same tendencies. We have the same potential. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW! 👉 Grab your copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/the-daily-stoic-10 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is...
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This Isn’t How Anyone Wants It To Go (So This Is What We Have To Do) | Practice Love
Nobody would choose most of the difficulties and troubles that they face. The question is how do you react when you get those difficulties and troubles anyway? 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE |…
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The Most Important Things You Need To Stop Doing
We’re not the first culture to burn out and dream of getting away from it all. But the Stoics understood why the life you’re trying to escape has a way of following you. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m548wbKcA3U 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a...
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The New Gilded Age: Are We Repeating the Gold Rush? | Nathaniel Philbrick
From the California Gold Rush to the railroad boom to Silicon Valley, the promise of instant riches keeps convincing us that this time will be different. Nathaniel Philbrick, a bestselling author and National Book Award winner whose work explores the forces that shaped America, joins Ryan to talk...
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Not Everyone Is Lucky Enough To Do This | 9 Core Stoic Beliefs
We have power of movement—literally and figuratively—that not everyone has, that we ourselves might not get forever, either. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW! 👉 Grab your copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/the-daily-stoic-10 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan...
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Go Back And Pick It Up Again | Is This the Life You Worked For?
Everyone has a book that changed their life. But how long has it been since you first read the book that hit you so hard? The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW! 👉 Grab your copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/the-daily-stoic-10 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan…
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BONUS | A Selfish Reason To Be Good
“The person who does wrong, does wrong to themselves. The unjust person is unjust to themselves—making themselves evil.” —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.4 The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out NOW! 👉 Grab your copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/the-daily-stoic-10...
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How to Get the Most Out of Reading (A Stoic Guide)
To be a great reader, it's not enough that you read. It's how you read. In this episode, Ryan shares time-tested reading habits of the ancient Stoics (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and more) that you can use to get the most out of your reading, find books with the potential of changing your...
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You Gave Them This For Free?
“Let no one rob me of a single day,” Seneca said, “who is not going to make me an adequate return for such a loss." 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism…
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What a Decade of Stoicism Teaches You About Life
Ten years ago, Ryan’s longtime literary agent and coauthor Steve Hanselman suggested a book that Ryan wasn’t sure he wanted to write. To mark the anniversary of The Daily Stoic, Ryan and Steve revisit the idea that started it all, the unexpected ways it changed their lives, the Stoic lessons they...
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So Much Has Changed. So Little Has Changed.
It’s been 522 weeks. Some 3,652 days. Over 87,000 hours. More than 5,241,600 minutes. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic is out TODAY! 👉 Grab your copy here: https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/the-daily-stoic-10 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you!...
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When Everything Falls Apart, This Remains | Practice Silence
As bad as things seem today, it should console and inspire you that Stoicism is still here. 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The…
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BONUS | A Reality Check From Ryan
Before you convince yourself the world is falling apart, Ryan has a reminder you need to hear. 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The...
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7 Stoic Strategies To Deal With Jerks
Difficult people have been testing our patience for thousands of years. But the Stoics understood why these encounters can cost us far more than a few minutes of frustration. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5opCN8cNkoM 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming…
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The Art and Obsession of Writing with Rich Cohen
After more than a dozen books and decades writing for publications like Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone, Rich Cohen knows how a great story can change the way we see both the past and ourselves. In today’s episode, Rich and Ryan trade stories about the books and writers that shaped them, the…
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You Can Get Away From It All Anytime You Like | 12 Stoic Ways to Quiet Your Mind
You have to learn how to retreat into yourself. And then return, renewed, to whatever is waiting for you. 📚 If you liked this episode, pick up a copy of Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holiday | https://store.dailystoic.com/collections/signed-books/products/stillness-is-the-key-signed-edition 🎟️...
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Do You Know Where to Find It? | Why Does Ancient Wisdom Still Surprise Us?
That’s Stoicism. A philosophy to help us in our search. But where do we start with it? The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic will be released October 6, 2026—but signed and numbered first-edition copies are available NOW 👉 Pre-order your signed and numbered 10th Anniversary Edition...
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50 Stoic Rules to Live By
The Stoics wrote about almost every part of life, but which of their ideas are worth carrying with you every day? In this episode, Ryan shares 50 short rules from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and other Stoics that you can actually put into practice. 🏛 Stoic reminders to carry with you:...
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It’s Happening To Them…and To You Too
Time has passed. The ideas haven’t changed, as the Stoics say, but you have. The new 10th Anniversary Edition of The Daily Stoic will be released October 6, 2026—but signed and numbered first-edition copies are available NOW 👉 Pre-order your signed and numbered 10th Anniversary Edition here 🎟️...
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You Should Be In The Thick of It | How Oprah Discovered Stoicism
How are you making your impact felt? How are you bringing your beliefs—and virtues—into the world? 👉 Watch Ryan's episode with Oprah here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiua-LIB7MY 📚 Books: Build the Life You Want by Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey |...
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It Shows Us This | Your Actual Needs Are Small
On the one hand, history is a catalog of human misdeeds. On the other hand, is history not also a catalog of human greatness? 📚 History Matters by David McCullough 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE |...
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11 Stoic Lessons Ryan Learned in Rome
The streets of Rome still carry the lessons the Stoics left behind nearly 2,000 years ago. In today’s episode, Ryan walks through the places where Stoicism was lived and tested and shares 11 lessons the ancient Stoic sites still have to teach us. Watch on YouTube 👉...
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Inside the Final Years of Marcus Aurelius
By the final years of his life, Marcus Aurelius had lost nearly everyone he loved, endured years of war, and watched the Antonine Plague devastate the empire. In today’s episode, Professor William O. Stephens joins Ryan to examine how Marcus faced the end of his life, why Meditations may have…
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BONUS | 3 Stoic One-Liners You Need Today
Today's bonus episode: three Stoic one-liners to help you start the day with the right mindset. 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ ✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for...
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No Time Like The Present To Drink These Draining Seconds | The Most Secure Fortress
There is no time like the present because, really, there is no time but the present. 📔 Pick up your own leather bound signed edition of The Daily Stoic! Check it out at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/ 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab...
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Does The Tantrum Help? | 6 Stoic Reminders You Need to Hear
Does yelling and screaming change anything? Does spiraling fix it? Does finding someone to blame make you feel better for more than a few minutes? 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the…
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You Come From This
You have it pretty good. We all do. You have modern conveniences. So it is easy to get a little spoiled…it’s also easy to assume that you are spoiled and soft. 📚 History Matters by David McCullough 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |...
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The 3 Signs Something Will Bring You Joy | Kate Bowler
We often wait for the perfect conditions to feel joyful, but joy rarely arrives as expected. In today’s episode, Kate Bowler and Ryan discuss three surprising signs that something might bring you real joy and how to become more open to recognizing it. They also talk about the difference between…
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No One Is Excused From This | You’re Reading Books Wrong. Here’s A Better Way.
No one—no Marine, no leader, no citizen, no parent, no one who wants any measure of success—is excused from studying. Not now. Not ever. Turn the words into works 👉 Read to Lead: A Daily Stoic Reading Challenge | Ryan Holiday walks you through not only the system he's used for writing his...
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It’s Good That You’re Having Trouble | On Handling Haters
Nobody said getting wiser, better, or stronger would be accomplished without hard work. In fact, the Stoics specifically said the opposite. Turn the words into works 👉 Read to Lead: A Daily Stoic Reading Challenge | Ryan Holiday walks you through not only the system he's used for writing his...
About this show
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.
Support the podcast and go deeper with Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content (coming soon): dailystoic.com/premium
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Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures