A Leader Must Be a Reader
"A leader will be forced into countless situations that they have never been in before. Trying, painful, stressful, baffling dilemmas and difficulties unlike any they have known. Nothing could have prepared Kennedy for the Cuban Missile Crisis, but it’s a good thing he had read B. H. Liddell Hart a few years before—it was Hart’s wisdom that helped Kennedy rationally and calmly deal with that unprecedented moment. Nothing could have prepared Churchill for the outbreak of WWII… except of course, the decades he had spent as a historian, which intimately acquainted him with the strategic insights and moral clarity required to bravely fight on."Ryan explains the importance of reading to a leader, and why we all should engage in it, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
11 Dec 20204min
Greatness Should Be Put Up For Display
"Go stand in front of the Jefferson Monument in D.C. on an early morning, watch the sun rise through the columns and shining on those words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” and try not to feel anything. Go stand in front of the Marcus Aurelius statue in Rome (or the replica at Brown University) and not feel as if you are a little bit closer to the man, and the incredible legacy of courage, moderation, justice, and wisdom for which he had lived."Ryan explains the importance of who we choose to revere on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
10 Dec 20204min
This Is the Power You Have
"Life is hard. We face insurmountable odds with so many problems. We get bad news. We mess up. We find out that what we wanted—what we deserve, what is fair—is just not in the cards for us. Think about Pete Frates. In his late 20s, he was hit by a pitch in an amateur league baseball game. At the doctor, shortly thereafter, it was discovered that he had ALS. Talk about “crying, stung by bee.” A sports injury uncovered a terminal diagnosis."Find out what Frates did in response to his diagnosis, and how you can embody his spirit, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
9 Dec 20202min
Author Connor Towne O’Neill On the Battle to Shape History
On today’s episode, Ryan talks to a fellow Southern transplant, writer Conor Towne O’Neill. They nerd out over their mutual fascination with the ghosts of American history that linger in the South, and how their presence looms in the Confederate monuments that even now, unconscionably, still stand on American soil.Connor Towne O’Neill is an author and journalist based in Alabama. His new book, Down Along with That Devil's Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy, follows the protests and battles that surrounded recent attempts to remove monuments to Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. O’Neill has also written for New York magazine, Vulture, Slate, and the Village Voice.This episode is brought to you by Native. Native makes amazing, all-natural deodorants, and they have some great new holiday-themed scents to make this time of year more festive. Native is risk-free to try, too. Every product has free shipping within the US, and free 30 day returns and exchanges. With service like that, it’s easy to see why Native has over 14,000 5 star reviews. Visit NativeDeo.com/stoic or use promo code STOIC at checkout to receive 20% off your first order—and be sure to order by 12/7 to receive everything by Christmas.This episode is also brought to you by Optimize, the membership that guides you on the path to living right. Optimize offers services like Philosopher Notes, six-page condensed reviews of insightful nonfiction books like Epictetus’s Discourses, Ryan’s The Obstacle Is the Way, and more. Members also get access to 101 video Master Classes, each one an intensive taught by experts about a particular topic. Visit optimize.me/dailystoic and get your first fourteen days free, plus 10% off your membership with discount code STOIC.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicFollow Connor Towne O’Neill:Homepage: https://www.connortowneoneill.space/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connortowne/Twitter: https://twitter.com/towneoneillSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
9 Dec 20201h 12min
Each of Us Has a Job to Do
"Today, we find ourselves in the teeth of a global pandemic, one with a mortality rate close to the Antonine Plague that killed millions of people during Marcus Aurelius’ reign. Our medical efforts are running behind. Our supply chains are overtaxed. The cowardice and incompetence of many governments (or rather the heads of many governments, since responsibility falls on the leader, whether they accept it or not) has been laid bare. So what do we do?"Ryan explains how we must handle this new, dangerous stage of the pandemic, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
8 Dec 20203min
How Do You Not See This? | Be Stingy With Time
"You consider yourself a programmatic thinker, a political realist, a student of history, a righter of wrongs, a teller of truths. The world is going to hell and you know how to fix it. But maybe you’ve become blind to the way your decisions, your actions, your beliefs are contributing—not to any sort of solution, but rather to the very thing you’re bemoaning. Maybe you’re the problem."Ryan describes why we should be wary of the absolute certainty that we know what is right and wrong, and reads this week's meditation from The Daily Stoic Journal, on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.This episode is brought to you by Optimize, the membership that guides you on the path to living right. Optimize offers services like Philosopher Notes, six-page condensed reviews of insightful nonfiction books like Epictetus’s Discourses, Ryan’s The Obstacle Is the Way, and more. Members also get access to 101 video Master Classes, each one an intensive taught by experts about a particular topic. Visit optimize.me/dailystoic and get your first fourteen days free, plus 10% off your membership with discount code STOIC.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
7 Dec 202013min
Temporary Madness — An Excerpt from Don Robertson’s “How to Think Like a Roman Emperor”
On today’s episode, Ryan features a clip from the audiobook of Donald Robertson’s 2019 book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, published by Macmillan Audio, and available wherever book and audios are sold. For more from Ryan and Donald, check out their appearance on Daily Stoic’s podcast from August, when they discussed the history behind Stoicism, the Antonine Plague, and moreDonald Robertson is a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist, trainer, and writer. Robertson has been researching Stoicism and applying it in his work for twenty years. He is one of the founding members of the non-profit organization Modern Stoicism. His 2019 book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor (audiobook) is published by Macmillan Audio and available wherever books and audiobooks are sold.This episode is brought to you by Blinkist, the app that gets you fifteen-minute summaries of the best nonfiction books out there. Blinkist lets you get the topline information and the most important points from the most important nonfiction books out there, whether it’s Ryan’s own The Daily Stoic, Yuval Harari’s Sapiens, and more. Go to blinkist.com/stoic, try it free for 7 days, and save 25% off your new subscription, too.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicFollow Donald Robertson:Homepage: https://donaldrobertson.name/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtothinklikearomanemperorTwitter: https://twitter.com/donjrobertsonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertsontraining/Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Donald-Robertson/e/B002Q2WSPASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
6 Dec 20201h 10min
Pop Star Camila Cabello On Stoicism, Creativity and Success
On today’s episode, Ryan talks with Camila Cabello on training your mind to work for you, finding courage and happiness in your career, how she values stillness and the idea of memento mori, and more.Camila Cabello is one of the biggest stars in the music industry today. Cabello’s 2018 debut album, Camila, reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart and was certified platinum. Cabello has billions of streams on digital music platforms and has won multiple awards, including two Latin Grammy Awards, and has received three Grammy Award nominations. She will be playing the lead role in the 2021 adaptation of Cinderella.This episode is brought to you by GiveWell, the best site for figuring out how and where to donate your money to have the greatest impact. GiveWell’s team of researchers works countless hours to determine which charities make the most effective dollar-for-dollar contributions to the causes they support. Since 2010, GiveWell has helped over 50,000 donors donate over 500 million dollars to the most effective charities, leading to over 75,000 lives saved and millions more improved. Visit GiveWell.org/stoic and your first donation will be matched up to 100 dollars.This episode is also brought to you by Amazon Music. one of the things that makes this time of year truly wonderful is the music—and my family’s getting its holiday music fix thanks to Amazon Music. Whether it’s the Charlie Brown Christmas album or Mariah Carey, Amazon Music has something for any holiday occasion. For a limited time, new subscribers can get three months of Amazon Music Unlimited, absolutely free, by visiting Amazon.com/Ryan. Starts at $7.99/month after. New subscribers only. Terms apply. Offer expires 1/11/2021.This episode is also brought to you by Native. Native makes amazing, all-natural deodorants, and they have some great new holiday-themed scents to make this time of year more festive. Native is risk-free to try, too. Every product has free shipping within the US, and free 30 day returns and exchanges. Visit NativeDeo.com/stoic or use promo code STOIC at checkout to receive 20% off your first order—and be sure to order by 12/7 to receive everything by Christmas.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicFollow Camila Cabello:Homepage: https://www.camilacabello.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camila_cabello/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Camila_CabelloFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/camilacabello/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/camilacabelloSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
5 Dec 20201h 14min
