We’re All Playing a Part | 11 Ways Stoicism Can Improve Your Business

It can be hard to remember this when you see them on the news, lying through their teeth. It can be hard to remember when they cut you off in traffic. It can be hard to remember when they try to stop progress. It can be hard to remember when they say or do abhorrent things. But we do have to remember, we have to remember, as Marcus Aurelius writes in Meditations that “all of us are working on the same project. Some consciously, with understanding; some without knowing it. Some of us work in one way, some in others. And those who complain and try to obstruct and thwart things—they help as much as anyone. The world needs them as well.”_And in today's Daily Stoic video excerpt, Ryan outlines 11 ways stoicism can improve your business. Very few ancient philosophies can be traced back to an entrepreneur, but one can: Stoicism. Around 304 BC, a merchant named Zeno was shipwrecked on a trading voyage. He lost nearly everything. Making his way to Athens, he was introduced to philosophy by Crates of Thebes, a famous Cynic, which changed his life. Within a few years, Stoic philosophy would be born. As Zeno later joked, “I made a prosperous voyage when I suffered shipwreck.”Since then, Stoicism has been a source of guidance, wisdom and practical advice for millions. It’s been used by everyone from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca (one of the richest men in Rome), to Theodore Roosevelt, Frederick the Great and Michel de Montaigne. More recently, Stoicism has been cited by investors like Tim Ferriss and executives like Jonathan Newhouse, the CEO of Condé Nast International. Even football coaches like Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks and baseball managers like Jeff Banister of the Texas Rangers have recommended Stoicism to their players.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. On Tuesdays, we take a closer look at these Stoic ideas, how we can apply them in our actual lives. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  We are all playing a part. It can be hard to remember this when you see them on the news, lying through their teeth. It can be hard to remember when they cut you off in traffic. It can be hard to remember when they try to stop progress. It can be hard to remember when they say or do abhorrent things. But we have to remember, we have to remember, as Marcus really writes in Meditations, that all of us are working on the same project, some consciously with understanding, some without knowing it. Some of us work in one way, some in others. And those who complain and try to obstruct and thwart things, they help as much as anyone. The world needs them as well. As emperor, a man trying to lead through a plague and a war and an empire in decline, Marcus really would have had to deal with his fair share of obstructors and liars

• 1:13Ryan Holiday?

  and cheats and the selfish and the annoying. He experienced a coup, he had political fights, he saw war, he had to preside over tough cases that showed people at their worst. Yet still, he said, he tried to make up his mind to work with them, with everyone in every situation. Quoted Heraclitus in that same passage, who pointed out that those who are at, those who sleep are hard at work, meaning that everyone was collaborating, contributing, so to speak, to the butterfly flapping its wings and making the world what it is. We've said before here that everyone has a job. All the people you meet are doing their job. Like the Zen master was once asked why evil people exist in the world and answered, "To thicken the plot." We have to understand that even annoying people, even the liars, the racists, the criminals, the selfish, the whatever, they are here for a reason.

• 1:58Ryan Holiday?

  The very least, they challenge us, remind us who we need to be, what we need to be. We all play a part. Let's just make sure that we, the only thing we really control, play a good part.

• 2:23Ryan Holiday?

  What are the things that other people aren't willing to do that I am willing to do? How do I turn this into something good? Again, not focusing on what went wrong, not focusing on whose fault it was, not focusing on how unfortunate or frustrating it is, what I'm going to do with it, what I'm going to make about it.

• 2:41Ryan Holiday?

  You don't tend to think of philosophy and business owners as being in the same category, but it makes sense because running a business, it tests you, it challenges you. And going way back to the founding of Stoicism, Zeno is a merchant of Tyrian purple, an expensive purple dye that was made into clothing. Even the cloak of Marcus Aurelius would have had Tyrian purple in it. Zeno suffers a shipwreck, he loses everything. He later joked because losing everything connects him to philosophy. He says, "I made a great fortune when I suffered a shipwreck." So business owners not only have to be philosophical, think big picture, but they can actually apply these Stoic ideas to their business. I'm Ryan Holiday, I've written books about Stoic philosophy. I've been lucky enough to speak about it all over the world. I also run my own business, not just because authors are self-employed small business owners,

• 3:24Ryan Holiday?

  but this is my bookstore, The Painted Porch, which I crazily opened during the middle of the pandemic. I own this little grocery store with my wife. I've done all sorts of different businesses and investments over the years. And that's what I actually want to talk about in today's episode. What the Stoics can teach us about business, about managing people, about the ups and downs of life. And it turns out they can teach us a whole hell of a lot.

• 3:49Ryan Holiday?

  In December of 2019, my wife and I fell in love with two 19th century buildings on Main Street in Bastrop, Texas. And we had this crazy idea to open a small town bookstore, which was probably a bad idea under ordinary circumstances. And then come February, March of 2020, it seemed like a really bad idea. The reno took longer than expected, it cost more than expected. We ran into sort of obstacle after obstacle, and then the world melted down. And I had to think about the ideas, obviously, that I've written about. It's easy to say the obstacle is the way, it's easy to say in theory, hey, Obstacles are an opportunity to get better. Then you actually have to practice them. And you definitely have to practice them when you've written a book about them or you've tattooed this phrase on your arm.

• 4:34Ryan Holiday?

  But we struggled with the immensity of what we had committed to and whether it was even possible. I wrote this little note to myself as I stared out over what felt like a monument to my arrogance, fully functioning but totally empty bookstore that had no customers. And I said, look, this is a test. Will it make you a better person or a worse one? That's kind of how I think about life. That's what the Stoics thought about. We have the opportunity to take what we are dealing with and use it to grow and improve. No guarantee whether you'll be successful financially, monetarily, whether your efforts or growth will be appreciated or recognized. You nevertheless always have this opportunity.

• 5:18Ryan Holiday?

  One of the beautiful parts of owning your own business is that suddenly you're in control. You get to make decisions. And I don't mean like you get to tell people what to do. That's not that special. What I mean is we can sit on the sidelines and complain about outsourcing or the minimum wage or the excesses or the insufficiencies of capitalism. But when you run the business, you get to decide. I was saying how proud and excited and empowered I was by the opportunity to get to make business decisions, like to make our stuff in the US, to pay our employees fairly, to provide healthcare for employees. I remember a decision on the challenge coins that we sell, when they would come from the manufacturer. We use this mint in Minnesota. Been in business for like 150 years.

• 6:02Ryan Holiday?

  They would send each one wrapped in this sealed little plastic bag. To be able to go, I don't want those plastic bags. They just get torn off and thrown in the trash. I want to reduce the ecological impact that I'm having in that real way and that that's my call. It's my decision. And so I think one of the really cool things about Stoicism in business, it's not just that Stoicism can help you be more successful as a business owner, but it should make you a better business owner in the sense that you get to apply the ethics of the philosophy, the concern for the common good that the Stoics talk about. You get to actually make those decisions. You get to be the change that you want to see in the world, as the expression goes. But you get to be that person. You get to be the good, ethical, hopefully contributive member of society

• 6:46Ryan Holiday?

  that you wish perhaps other businesses were, bigger companies were. But you get to do that. That's a huge opportunity.

• 6:56Ryan Holiday?

  A friend of mine, Mark Echo, the creator of Echo Industries, he has a story like this where he flips a problem on its head that I really like. Who's telling me that they'd been known for throwing these awesome events each year at a conference called MAGIC, which is where like 80% of all wholesale orders are placed for fashion brands. They threw these big parties, these big booths every year. That was what they were known for. And they run out of money just a few months before MAGIC and so all is lost. The accountant says, "You'll probably go out of business." And they go, "Okay, what are we gonna do? We can't get our deposit back, don't have enough money to actually put on anything close to what we've done in the past." And as they think, they realize that maybe inside this obstacle is in fact the solution to that problem. And so what they do is they pass out these flyers all over the event that just say, "Where's Echo? Where's Echo?" And their booth was empty.

• 7:41Ryan Holiday?

  It was just a chair with a sign on it that said, "Where's Echo?" So instead of being the big event, they were the event that everyone was talking about not happening. Where were they? What was happening? What was going on? What did they have planned? And it ended up being the sort of viral marketing event that launches the brand to the next level. They're the most talked about brand at the conference, even though they're not technically at the conference. And it becomes this springboard event. So I always think, you know, what can I do in this situation, right? What actual advantages are in my position? How do I turn this around? How do I flip it on its head? What are the things that other people aren't willing to do that I am willing to do? How do I turn this into something good? Again, not focusing on what went wrong, not focusing on whose fault it was, not focusing

• 8:24Ryan Holiday?

  on how unfortunate or frustrating it is, what I'm gonna do with it, what I'm gonna make about it.

• 8:33Ryan Holiday?

  One of the things that Stoicism teaches us is that we always have to focus on what's in our control. And one of the things you learn as a business owner is that the vast majority of things are outside your control. What your employees do, what the weather is, what's happening in the world, what's going on in the economy. So I think about it as like a resource issue, right? If you have a hundred dollars to spend, you don't want to waste 80 of it on things that don't make a difference. And the same goes for our energy, our focus. If you only have 100 energy points, are you gonna spend that on things that you don't control, that are not up to you, that are pointless, that you're impotent over? Or are you gonna focus that energy on stuff that makes a difference, that moves the needle? That is in your control. And so this decision to focus on what we control, it's not just a philosophical issue. It's a business decision. It makes you better as a business owner. It makes you better as an employer.

• 9:17Ryan Holiday?

  It makes you better at everything you do. You focus on what you control. You leave the rest to everyone else, to everything else. But maybe after you've succeeded, after you've accomplished everything you need to accomplish, after money doesn't matter, after your business has been sold, maybe then you can focus on the things that are not in your control. But for now, Stoicism has put all your energy on the things that you control. One of the things that Stoicism can teach us as business owners is already encapsulated in that idea of Murphy's Law, that what can go wrong will. Last year, when Texas froze over, we had problems with the roof. We knew that by the time this storm happened, here I am in 2022, dealing with freeze again, worries of the power grid collapsing. Like, they are underway putting on a new roof on the building. And that was in expense.

• 10:00Ryan Holiday?

  It wasn't fun, but I'm investing in it. One, for peace of mind. And two, because I saw the damage that it caused last time and the inventory damage. And so deferring the expense was something I couldn't afford. So I had a contingency plan in place for exactly this. The idea of preparing for what life has in service, not worrying about it, not being anxious about it, but taking tangible, concrete steps to improving your situation so that when the next thing goes wrong, and it inevitably will, you're not as vulnerable to it as you might otherwise have been.

• 10:36Ryan Holiday?

  All success in life is a lagging indicator. When I sit down to write, to do my job today, that's only possible if I did my job the day before, the day before, and months before. If I laid the groundwork, if I set myself up for success. When I walk by the mirror and I like how I look, that's a lagging indicator of two things. The work I've done on myself, not be superficial. But at the same time, also, have I been hitting the gym? Have I been sticking to the diet that's important to me? Confidence is a lagging indicator of having done the work. Nothing comes from nowhere. Not success, not inspiration, not a great day of writing. Everything is a lagging indicator.

• 11:12Ryan Holiday?

  So you think about the interchanges and the connections. You think about all the other companies doing what you do, going in similar directions. Think about what's happening in the industry and the world. It's very easy to get distracted, right? When I was at American Apparel, I watched Dove destroy a billion-dollar company because instead of doing what he did well, what the company was meant to do, he started doing what Forever 21 was doing and Urban Outfitters was doing and H&M was doing, right? He lacked the discipline to stay on his path. He got distracted by the paths of those who crisscrossed him, even when some of those companies ultimately also were headed towards bankruptcy or having to reinvent themselves. So it takes a lot of discipline to know what you do, right? What makes you great? What your principles are?

• 11:57Ryan Holiday?

  What your place in the market is? And to stay on that and to not get distracted, right? To not get distracted by every shiny other thing. And so euphemia is not just a recipe for personal happiness, tranquility, but it's also a recipe for success, right? Staying in your lane, staying on your tracks, doing what you set out to do if you're into your strategic plan, your mission, your principles. This takes an enormous amount of discipline.

• 12:27Ryan Holiday?

  The reason to do it, whatever it is, should be because you're the only person that can do it. You're the only one. If someone else can do it, let them do it. If other people are already doing it, let them do it. I love the book Blue Ocean Strategy. The idea is you don't want to be competing with other people. You want to have the space all to yourself. Peter Thiel has this great line that competition is for losers. And that's a really good way to think about it. We're all utterly unique. We were born with completely unique DNA. Unique circumstances brought us to where we are. So to do things like other people, to do the same things as other people is insane. It's to reject the gift that you've been given. It's to reject the monopoly that is inherently yours.

• 13:11Ryan Holiday?

  So whatever it is that you're thinking about doing, be the only one doing it. There's a great line that only is better than best. Be the only one doing it. Do it the way that only you can do it. Leave everything else to everyone else.

• 13:27Ryan Holiday?

  One of the things you learn running a business is that even though you're in charge, you're not really in charge at all. You can't make anyone do anything. As part of the Daily Stoic Leadership Challenge, we interviewed all these experts, generals, heads of NBA franchises, head coaches, people who have seemingly real power over other people. And I said, can you make people do stuff? And they said, no, you can't make people do anything. That's not how life works. There's a great line from Eisenhower, he said, "Leadership is the art of making people do things because they think they want to do them." You don't force anyone to do anything. And so, the Stoic dichotomy of control is ultimately a critical lesson when you're running a business. You control what you do, you control what you say, you control the rules that you set, of course, you control the principles, you control the culture.

• 14:12Ryan Holiday?

  But ultimately, you don't make anyone do anything. You can try to lead by example, you can lead a horse to water. Force isn't going to work, commands don't really work. At the end of the day, you don't make anyone do anything. You can try to convince them, you can try to create a culture, a momentum. But if people don't want to get with the program, if people aren't on the same page with you, it's not about forcing them, it's not about incentives. It's about saying, hey, you're not a right fit here. Let's find someone who is. You should go off and do something that's good for you, where you want to do, the things that the business needs you to do. And so, I think ultimately, and this is a critical lesson because so many of the Stoics were in positions of power, is that ultimately, you don't get to tell people what to do. That's a fantasy, it's an illusion, it's a chimera.

• 14:56Ryan Holiday?

  You can try to convince them, but ultimately, all we control as Stoics is ourselves, our own actions, our own decisions, our own emotions. And by the way, that's plenty to keep you busy.

• 15:10Ryan Holiday?

  People talk a lot about influencers these days. Influencers are just word of mouth times 100 or times 1,000, right? Most people become influencers because they're super fans of stuff. I have given away tens of thousands of copies of my books, athletes, to creatives, to people with followings. And they post about it, not because they're doing me a favor, but because ultimately, they like the book. And what I often do is I'll find... Someone who has liked one of my posts or liked one of my books or read them. And I just make sure that they get every single thing I publish after that. I don't let the process just happen again on its own. I encourage it, right? And so I've given away, when I sit down with my publisher and we're prepping for a launch, I say, how many copies can we give away?

• 15:55Ryan Holiday?

  Is it 1,000? Is it 10,000? And we'll give them away. We'll send all and we'll pay the shipping. Because we know what it's getting is the media attention that drives the sales. This happened, actually, one coach for the New England Patriots, read The Obstacle is the Way a couple of months after it came out. And then I sent him a large case of books and every coach he liked a large case of books. And now that has spread that book through all domains in professional sports and sold millions of copies of that book, right? On the one hand, it was organic and natural, but I put a lot of gasoline on that fire, right? Which is ultimately what marketing is.

• 16:37Ryan Holiday?

  So one of the decisions I made a couple of years ago was I wasn't going to focus on publicity. I wasn't going to focus on media. I was going to use the money I was making, use my time and energy, not on Facebook ads or marketing or whatever. I was going to use it on making good stuff. I was just going to put lots of stuff out in the world, all of it for free. And I was going to let that direct people back ultimately to the books if they wanted to buy them. Ultimately, across all the different platforms, we put out about 50 pieces of content a day. That's almost 300 a week or 10,000 pieces of content a month. That's tweets, that's podcast episodes, that's videos, that's articles. But creating all this content creates inventory. That inventory can be sold to advertisers, right?

• 17:22Ryan Holiday?

  To support the creation of more content. Or I can use that inventory myself, say, hey, I have a new book coming out. Or we're launching a course this week, right? Content creates inventory and then inventory moves inventory. The Daily Stoic email, as I said, is 500,000 plus people all over the world. My Daily Dad newsletter is almost 100,000 people every morning. So these two Daily newsletters are the main driver of what we do. The podcast does five or six million downloads a month also. Right. We're reaching people through the content we're creating. And all of this actually started, even the bookstore, happened when I started an email list more than 15 years ago, where I just recommended books that I liked. That started with 50 people.

• 18:02Ryan Holiday?

  I would copy and paste them into the BCC field and Gmail and is now also hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.

• 18:13Ryan Holiday?

  The idea, as I was sitting there with the team, trying to come up with these Stoic-inspired challenges, was to set me up, to set them up, to set you up, so that whatever happens in 2024 and beyond, you can say, this is precisely what I trained for. And that's what we have been training for, right? For the last five years, thousands and thousands of Stoics all over the world have joined me in the New Year, New Year Challenge that we do here at Daily Stoic. We started it way back before COVID-19 was a thing, before the world was as crazy as it is right now. And the idea was like, how do we set it up so the first three weeks of the year, 21 consecutive

• 18:54Ryan Holiday?

  challenges, one per day, built around the best in Stoicism, could set us up so we could make better decisions next year, so we could be tougher for next year, so we could have plans for the next year, we could have better habits, we could, we could just be who we want to be in the year. And so as we sit here on the eve of this new year, which is going to be here before you know it, think about the downsides of not taking control of your life. Think about what it would cost you to not live up to your potential next year, about not changing your ways. Think about all the things that are out there that you are not prepared for and, and what just a little investment, a little effort towards rectifying that could bring you. Don't let it happen. Run some war games, seek out some challenges, have some fun with me and fellow Stoics.

• 19:38Ryan Holiday?

  Keep growing, don't stay the same, don't betray your potential, demand more of yourself in 2024. And one of the ways you can do that is by joining me in the Daily Stoic New Year, New Year Challenge. And you can head over to dailystoic.com/challenge.

• 19:53Ryan Holiday?

  If you sign up for Daily Stoic Life now at dailystoiclife.com, you get this challenge, plus all the other challenges we're going to do in the year, plus all our old ones, plus a bunch of other awesome stuff. You get that totally for free. So I'll see you soon. We're going to start on January 1st. So sign up now. Grab your spot. dailystoic.com/challenge.

• 20:19Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us and it would really help the show. We appreciate it and I'll see you next episode.