Who Is In Charge?

Ryan talks about the importance of treating the body rigorously. We’re excited to announce the release of the updated edition of The Daily Stoic Challenge Deck that pushes you to challenge yourself all year round. The new and improved Challenge Deck features 40 challenge cards categorized into three themes—the three critical disciplines of Stoicism: Perception, Action, Will. Each card includes challenge instructions, a quote from Stoic philosophers like Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, and a unique and inspiring illustration. Get yours at https://store.dailystoic.com/products/daily-stoic-challenge-deck As a member of Daily Stoic Life, you get all our current and future courses, 100+ additional Daily Stoic email meditations, 4 live Q&As with bestselling author Ryan Holiday (and guests), and 10% off your next purchase from the Daily Stoic Store. Sign up at https://dailystoic.com/life/Sign up for the Daily Stoic email:http://DailyStoic.com/emailFollow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and 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 bring you a passage of ancient wisdom, designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us, dailystoic.com.

• 0:27Ryan Holiday?

  Who is in charge? In one of his letters, Seneca describes himself as a cold-water enthusiast. "He would celebrate the new year by taking a plunge into the canal, 'just as naturally as I would set out to do some reading or writing,' he said, 'or compose a speech. I would inaugurate the first of the year with a plunge into the Virgo aqueduct.'" But then he gives the real reason for his cold plunges. "Body should be treated more rigorously," he says, "so that it may not be disobedient of the mind." There's a lot of interesting research about the health benefits of taking cold showers and going for a run and lifting weights. But the real reason to do these things is far more simple. It's to make a statement about who is in charge.

• 1:12Ryan Holiday?

  Who is in charge? The courageous side of you or the cowardly side? The side that doesn't flinch at discomfort or the side that desires to always be comfortable? The side that does the hard things or the side that takes the easy way? We challenge ourselves not to improve our immune system, not to increase our metabolism, not to reduce anxiety. Those things might be nice ancillary benefits, but they are not the point. The purpose is to become the kind of person that can do it. How can you expect to do big things that scare you, that scare others, if you haven't practiced them? Why do you think you can endure the cold reception of a bold idea if you can't even endure cold water? How can you trust that you'll step forward when the stakes are high, when you regularly don't do that, when the stakes are low?

• 1:57Ryan Holiday?

  What gives you any confidence that you'll do the hard thing when people are watching, when you can't do it, even when no one is watching? The person who does something scary every day is less fearful than someone who can't. The person who does something difficult every day is tougher than someone who doesn't. And that's what a bunch of people have learned taking our challenges over the years. But that's also why we built out the Daily Stoic Challenge Deck. Deck of cards that helps challenge you all year round. We first launched this a couple of years ago. Now it's new and improved. It's 40 challenge cards developed into three themes built around those three key Stoic disciplines, perception, action, will. And each card, you can pull it out each morning or multiple times a day.

• 2:41Ryan Holiday?

  Whatever version you want to play the game with, you can play with friends. Anyways, you pull out a challenge card and it's got a challenge for you, instructions, a quote from a Stoic, and then a unique inspiring illustration. And every day you're forced to wrestle with that question. Who's in charge? The weak side of me or the side that's gonna do what the card says? It pushes you in little ways. So the big ways stop seeming quite so big, so out of character. You minimize fear by making the act of overcoming it routine. You test yourself to prepare for the tests of life. You do something difficult, scary, something good every day. And you can check it out with the Daily Stoic Challenge Deck. I'll link to it in today's episode as well.

• 3:25Ryan Holiday?

  You can check it out at dailystoic.com/challengedeck. Of course, you can find this and a bunch of other awesome products at store.dailystoic.com.

• 3:39Ryan Holiday?

  You know, the Stoics in real life met at what was called the Stoa. The Stoa Pochyle, the Painted Porch in ancient Athens. Obviously, we can't all get together in one place because this community is like hundreds of thousands of people and we couldn't fit in one space. But we have made a special digital version of the Stoa. We're calling it Daily Stoic Life. It's an awesome community. You can talk about like today's episode, you can talk about the emails, ask questions. That's one of my favorite parts is interacting with all these people who are using Stoicism to be better in their actual, real lives. You get more Daily Stoic meditations over the weekend, just for the Daily Stoic Life members. Quarterly Q and As with me, cloth-bound edition of our Best of Meditations, plus a whole bunch of other stuff, including discounts, and this is the best part,

• 4:24Ryan Holiday?

  all our Daily Stoic courses and challenges totally for free, hundreds of dollars of value every single year, including our New You Challenge. We'd love to have you join us. There's a two-week trial totally for free. Check it out at DailyStoicLife.com.