It’s a Team Sport

It is harder to be courageous when all you see are examples of cowardice. Well, the Stoics can help us with this. 📚 Grab a copy of Courage is Calling https://store.dailystoic.com/products/courage-is-calling-signed-edition-pre-order by Ryan Holiday 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE https://www.dailystoiclive.com/| Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you https://www.dailystoiclive.com/! Grab tickets here https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/ 🇺🇸 USA dates: Portland, Oregon - June 8 https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/80444483/onstage-with-ryan-holiday-portland-revolution-hallSan Francisco, California - June 11 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daily-stoic-live-onstage-with-ryan-holiday-tickets-1984559640307?aff=oddtdtcreatorMinneapolis, Minnesota - August 18 https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Chicago, Illinois - August 19 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daily-stoic-live-onstage-with-ryan-holiday-tickets-1984473140584?aff=oddtdtcreatorDetroit, Michigan - August 20 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daily-stoic-live-onstage-with-ryan-holiday-tickets-1984473550811?aff=oddtdtcreator 🇳🇿 NEW ZEALAND: Auckland, New Zealand - October 13 https://au.thinkable.events/ryan-holiday-tour/ 🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA dates: Sydney, Australia - October 16 https://au.thinkable.events/ryan-holiday-tour/Melbourne, Australia - October 18 https://au.thinkable.events/ryan-holiday-tour/Brisbane, Australia - October 20 https://au.thinkable.events/ryan-holiday-tour/Perth, Australia - October 21 https://au.thinkable.events/ryan-holiday-tour/ 🎙️ AD-FREE https://dailystoic.supercast.com/| Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ https://dailystoic.supercast.com/ ✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

• 0:00Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world.

• 0:14Ryan Holiday?

  It's a team sport. Why do they go along with it? Why don't they stand up? Why are they refusing to use their considerable power or resources? Well, what's everyone else doing? If everyone else in your class is turning a blind eye to some abuse or malpractice, you're much more likely to do the same. If everyone else is publicly saying one thing, or not saying one thing, but speaking much differently in private, it's likely that you two will be silent. That's why we're in the mess we're in right now. That's why the headlines about so many of these unspeakable tragedies keep rolling out. Nobody else was speaking up, so nobody else did. Courage, it is increasingly clear, is a team sport.

• 0:59Ryan Holiday?

  It's harder to be courageous when all you see are examples of cowardice. Well, the Stoics can help us with this, because we come from a long tradition of people who did speak up, who weren't cowards, who were fine to stand alone, who put their reputations and lives on the line to do what was right. Cato, Rutilius Rufus, Hovidius, Thrasseus Stockdale, these are not just powerful examples, they are our peers. They are calling to us. They are reminding us. In fact, not everyone does go along with the crowd. There are, it always happened, brave people who said, "No, not in my name," who said, "I'm going to do what I can to stop this," who said, "Everyone should see this." Why are others refusing? We can only speculate.

• 1:44Ryan Holiday?

  But us, we can choose to find a different inspiration, to follow a different path, and most important, to help set one for others. And that's what Courage is calling, is all about. It's the first book in the Stoic Virtue Series, followed by Discipline is Destiny, Right Thing Right Now, Wisdom Takes Work. All of these virtues are what we need in this moment. It's why I spent the last six-plus years writing this series. They're all coming out as a box set here very soon. But if you want signed copies, just go over to store.dailystoic.com.

• 2:17Ryan Holiday?

  Grab whichever one you want to start with, although I think these days we could certainly use more courage. So it's not a bad place to start.