BONUS | George Raveling's Greatest Lessons That Will CHANGE How You Live

This special tribute episode celebrates the life and wisdom of George Raveling, bringing together some of his most powerful lessons shared over the years in his conversations with Ryan on The Daily Stoic Podcast. 📕 You can grab copies of What You’re Made For by George Raveling at The Painted Porch: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/🎥 Watch George Raveling’s FULL interview on The Daily Stoic Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ-ZQ2p0WhY📖 Preorder the final book in Ryan Holiday's The Stoic Virtues Series: "Wisdom Takes Work": https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast🎥 Watch top moments from The Daily Stoic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dailystoicpodcast✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

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

• 0:05Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a Stoic-inspired meditation, designed to help you find strength and insight and wisdom into everyday life. Each one of these episodes is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women, help you learn from them, to follow in their example, and to start your day off with a little dose of courage and discipline and justice and wisdom. For more, visit dailystoic.com.

• 0:55Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to a special episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. It's special because it's about a special person. It's an episode I didn't want to have to bring you because I got home two nights ago and I got a text from Mark Raveling. This is George Raveling's son. And he said, "It comes with extreme sadness and heartbreak that earlier this afternoon at his home in Los Angeles, our beloved George Raveling has passed away at age 88. He said, 'Please know in your heart that he was resting comfortably in bed

• 1:36Ryan Holiday?

  and was surrounded by immediate family at the time of his passing.'" Stoics talk a lot about memento mori. I don't think it's a surprise when you get a text that your 88-year-old friend has passed. At the same time, George is such a force of life. He had defied so many limitations and expectations over the years. He had so much energy. And roughly a month ago, he texts me, "I'm pleased to report that my health is very stable and he was doing better." That's neither here nor there. George isn't with us anymore, and that's a very sad thing.

• 2:14Ryan Holiday?

  But what remains behind George is an incredible legacy. He was one of the wisest people I've ever met, one of the most hopeful and cheerful people I've ever met, one of the most inspiring people that I have ever met. I feel very lucky to have gotten 10 years with him. I met him at a UT practice in 2016. He became a dear friend, a mentor, a teacher, an example. And I was lucky to interview him several times for the Daily Stoic Podcast. I was lucky enough to do this wonderful book for him called What You're Made For, which is about lessons from his life in sports and in the world. And today

• 2:55Ryan Holiday?

  I wanted to put together, sort of in memoriam, some of the best things that he taught me, some of the best clips from those episodes. I think you will want to listen to them. If you don't know who George is, you missed out. I'm sorry. But it's never too late to add a little George traveling in your life. And so let's consider this episode a celebration of a wonderful man. Do read the book. I know it was something he was immensely proud of. Let me read something from it here, because it's one of my favorite parts of the book. At the end, he takes a minute to think about, to meditate on his

• 3:40Ryan Holiday?

  mortality. He says, "In this process of reflection, I can't help but confront my own mortality. At age 87, the same age as Jerry West, who he had recently lost," he said, "I found myself acutely aware of the precious nature of time. I began to think of life as a basketball game in its final quarter with just minutes left on the clock." Said Phil Jackson has talked about how that was a lesson he learned from the great Red Holtzman of the Knicks. Phil was on the bench and Red called him over and asked him how much time was on the game clock. Phil, who had been resting or engrossed in the play, didn't know. You've got to know, Red told him, you may be going into the game and if you don't know the time, it could get us in trouble. Don't let me catch you doing that again.

• 4:25Ryan Holiday?

  For me, I know what time it is, which is to say near the end. There's no way around it. In fact, as I said, at my age, I'm closer to something like double overtime or extra innings. The question then becomes, how will I use this remaining time? How can I ensure that these last minutes are played with purpose and impact? Even now, at age 87, I wake up every day with a sense of purpose. I'm still learning, still growing, still striving to make an impact, whether it's through my writing, my speak engagements, or simply the conversations I have with those around me. I'm constantly looking for ways to leave a positive mark on the world.

• 5:04Ryan Holiday?

  Which he, you know, he absolutely did. He said, "As I reflect on my life, I am filled with a profound sense of gratitude and purpose. I have been blessed with a life that has exceeded my wildest expectations, a life filled with more overtime periods than I could count. Every time I thought the game was over, I was given more time on the clock." I think he absolutely did what he set out to do. He lived an incredible life. As Seneca said, "He has more than just a number to show for these 88 years on the planet." He made an incredible difference in so many people's lives, including my own, including

• 5:44Ryan Holiday?

  the game, which he loved, including in his own family, who is obviously in mourning right now. Let's just get into it. Here's some, some lessons and insights into George I hope you enjoy. And maybe take this as a reminder, if there's anyone that age in your life, or of any age, that you haven't connected with for a while, you haven't told them how they make you feel, or checked in with them, send them a note. I'm glad my last couple texts with George were good, but you always wish for more. You always wish you'd said one more thing. So let that be the lesson and we'll get here into George.

• 6:25Ryan Holiday?

  You know, I think about it on a pretty regular basis, how glad I am that I took Shaka Smart up on his invitation to come to practice that one day.

• 6:33Speaker 01

  That was one of the best gifts. I tell him all the time, the greatest gift you ever gave me was an introduction to Ryan Holiday, and it was the thrill of a lifetime. I had read your books, and I remember when Shaka called me and he said, Coach, have you ever heard of the author Ryan Holiday? And I said, no. And he said, well, I'm reading one of his books now, and I bought an extra one for you. I think it's right down your alley. And so, we met and we talked about you. And then he set up the arrangement for us. He asked me, he said, hey, would you be interested in meeting him? Because I was coming down to do a staff retreat for him.

• 7:17Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  And he asked me, would I be interested in meeting you? I said, absolutely. And so then, of course, we set up the dinner. And little did I know that it was going to end up being one of the best things that's ever happened to me in my lifetime. I've always been a person who believed that you have to have mentors, and not all of your mentors have to be adults. And I also, I said to myself, I need to get four or five really young dudes to be my mentors. And you were one that came immediately to mind. I thought there was so much that I could learn from you. You lived a fascinating life yourself

• 7:56Speaker 01

  for a young man, I guess I would say, based on me being 87. But I've learned so much about writing a book, publishing a book. One of the conclusions I definitely came to, it's a lot harder to get the book published than it is to write it. And it's been an absolute lifetime reward to have a relationship with you, to learn from you. The meetings that we have by phone and on a weekly basis when we were putting together the structure for the book. Every one of those were an instrument and the best utilization of time. I told my wife after the second time we had those Friday morning calls.

• 8:41Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  I said, one thing about Ryan, if he says in Iowa, it's gonna be an hour and we're gonna impact as much as we could. And so it made me realize the value of your time and my time. Here's an opportunity to be with someone you really admire and respect, and you've got their attention for one hour. That's 60 minutes and, and get as much out of it as we can each time. And I wrote tons of notes to help me articulate the different points to you. And little did I know that we would, we would end up doing a book together.

• 9:16Ryan Holiday?

  I know. It's like you get invited to do stuff and you never know how your life is gonna change from it. I thought I was just going to watch Texas do their basketball practice.

• 9:27Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:27Ryan Holiday?

  And he said, there's gonna be this guy there I want you to meet. He said, he's the godfather of college basketball. That's what we call him. And I was like, okay. And I feel grateful every day that that happened because you've been such a big part of my life. You've taught me so much. And I feel like doing the book too. Like I was thinking throughout it, like whether the book happens or not, that I get an excuse to talk to George Raveling for an hour or so a week, that's a win unto itself.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  And it was, it was an opportunity for me to revisit my life. I had never really sat down for any meaningful amount of time and thought about the journey from, from being born in, in a segregated hospital in Washington DC in 1937 to 2025. Uh, it was a long journey and I had never really stopped to think about much of the journey along the way. Didn't appreciate a lot of it. I was always in the go-go mood. And once I had an opportunity to share my journey with you, things took on a, a more valuable positioning in my life.

• 10:38Speaker 01

  I, I, I learned to, to look at some of the things that I took for granted and realize how lucky I was to survive some of these situations along the way.

• 10:47Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah, I can't imagine when you were born, you could have even conceived of the year 2025 existing, let alone that you would be around. Like, that would have been so incomprehensibly far in the distance.

• 11:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, what's interesting is that in 1937, I was born at Garfield Hospital, which is a segregated hospital. The whites had the top four floors above the ground, and you had to go around to the basement if you were black to get treatment. And at that time, the life expectancy of a black male in the United States was 44 years. And now, if you go and you look at the life expectancy of an 87-year-old black man, it's 77%. So I beat the, I beat the odds on both of them.

• 11:36Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah.

• 11:41Ryan Holiday?

  Does it sometimes sting a little, though? I think, I think people, people go, yeah, I want to have an impact. I want to help others. But if I'm not like, sort of actively fighting for myself, if I'm not making it all about me, I'll get pushed aside. Like, I mean, you've done all this stuff. You've had this enormous impact of the game. I will say there was something for me watching that movie about Jordan going to Nike, which, which he insisted on you being in. I think that's incredible. But even there, like, that movie, they made it about, they made it about some other dude, even though, like, essentially underplaying your role in that story. Is there, is there something about,

• 12:24Ryan Holiday?

  like, if you're preparing someone for the, the trajectory we're talking about, do they have to cultivate a kind of, a sense of self-worth as opposed to getting your worth from your achievements or your recognition? Because it's, it's not always going to be there. You're not always going to get the credit you deserve.

• 12:41Speaker 01

  Well, to me, I really never, I never was in it for the accolades. I was in it to try to have, be a positive difference maker and as many lives as I possibly could. And in some situations, I, I had better impact, and others, I had less impact. But I always tried to, to, to say, what is it that I have that I can help, use to help this person become a better, a better human being? And The more I, the more I gave, the easier it was to, to, to get and, and to try to be

• 13:23Speaker 01

  a positive difference maker in as many lives as, as possible. There's probably 50 players that I've coached between Washington State, Iowa and USC to this day that we still, we, we still text each other, we still talk to each other, we still share information together. And, and to me, I, I, I felt coaching i- i- is, is, is a great responsibility because here is a parent that takes their most prized possession and they, and they put them i- i- in your hands.

• 14:02Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah.

• 14:03Speaker 01

  And, and, and, and so my responsibility is, is that at, at the end of the day, the mother is saying, I sent you my most valuable possession. And, and a- at the end of the day, you want, you want to be able to, to, to reward that trust that she had, she had in you. And.

• 14:24Ryan Holiday?

  Give them back better than you found them.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Yes, yes.

• 14:38Ryan Holiday?

  So one of my favorite things about our relationship is what actually just happened a few seconds ago, which is something popped into your mind that you'd forgotten about. Because I feel like when I ask you, I'll go, I'll think of someone or I'll think of some event and I'll go, huh, did you ever meet this person? Does this ever happen? And you always have, you know, a crazy story. Like when Jimmy Carter died, I texted you and I said, hey, did you ever meet Jimmy Carter? And he said, oh, I sure did. We were in China together.

• 15:06Speaker 01

  Yeah. Your life's absurd. That was in 1979, Nike gave myself, Bill Foster, who was the coach at Clemson at that time, and Eddie Sutton, Nike sent us to China to do basketball clinics. And at that time, China was a communist country. Beijing didn't exist, it was Peking. And so, we started out the clinics in Shanghai. It was a little bit challenging because you couldn't get a really good rhythm going in the teaching because you'd have to stop for the person to translate the information.

• 15:46Speaker 01

  But they put us up at a place in Shanghai called Jingjiang Hotel, which is still there now. Carter and Nixon both had meetings with the Chinese government at that hotel. And so, one day, we come back from doing the clinic, and when we walk into the lobby, three gentlemen approach us, shirt and tie and so forth. And the one guy shows his badge, he's from the Secret Service. And he said that, hey, we're gonna have to move you guys off that floor to another place in the hotel. We asked him, why did we have to move? And he said, well, President Carter's coming tomorrow, and he's gonna be on the floor above

• 16:30Speaker 01

  that, and we can't have anybody on the floor right directly under him and so forth. And so, they moved us, and Jimmy Carter came to town, and the Secret Service guys introduced us to him. You couldn't meet a nicer person than him or his wife. And he thanked us for, you know, switching the floors and so forth. He was having a luncheon at the US Embassy, and he invited us to the luncheon. And we showed up, and the first thing that amazed me was, he remembered each one of our names and addressed us by our name and that, and so forth. I have a picture at home of him standing next to his wife, eating a piece of cake at that same luncheon and that.

• 17:14Speaker 01

  Little did I know that many years Later, I would look back and realize I played an interesting piece of history.

• 17:23Ryan Holiday?

  Interesting thing of history, why?

• 17:25Speaker 01

  Well, because first of all, we get to Peking during the clinics and our interpreter took us down to Tiananmen Square. And we go down to Tiananmen Square and we're taking pictures and so forth. And the crowd starts to gather around us, people just staring at us and so forth. And an elderly gentleman steps out of the crowd and he picks up my hand and he goes like that. And I remember Bill Fosse's wife, she was highly insulted. And I said, no, no, I get it. He's never seen a black person before in his life and he thinks that this is paint. I'll never forget that in my life.

• 18:08Speaker 01

  He just stepped out of the crowd, picked up my hand. And then I realized the next few weeks when I would think about it, I said, God, I never thought about the fact that there's a lot of people who've never seen a black person in their life.

• 18:24Ryan Holiday?

  And that was also a big, that was part of the early days of Nike and the NBA really pushing the game of basketball internationally, which would, I mean, you later you would become the director of international basketball at Nike. But that when people see the NBA as a global game today, it's probably one of the more next to soccer, the most global game.

• 18:43Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 18:44Ryan Holiday?

  That was because of trips like that.

• 18:51Speaker 02

  Greatness is complex. It's uncommon. You know, one thing you'll hear about most uncommon people is they'll say, oh, they have such a big ego. But to me, I think that's a prerequisite of greatness. It is an ego, to see things that other people don't see, to do things that other people don't do, to say things that other people don't do, to go down the roads that nobody else travels. To me, inherent in all of greatness is the uncommonness of it all.

• 19:32Speaker 03

  Sure. But, but don't you, but I don't know, I was just struck by the way that, that Kraus sort of continually sought out conflict and sought to make it about him and sought like, you know, even just, you know, driving Phil Jackson out, you know, not treating Scottie Pippen well, you know, it, it struck me that, you know, that was really a factor that cost, you know, the Bulls probably a, a, maybe a few more, if not several more championships for, for really no upside.

• 20:05Speaker 02

  And maybe a, a, a perspective that we could examine, uh, Ryan, is for some people, for them to reach their outer limits, they need conflict to drive them. And peace, they don't, they're not as good at doing, and when, when peace and tranquility is, is the environment. But when, when there's all this conflict and, and a disunity, uh, it drives, it's, it's the fuel that, that runs the vehicle. That human vehicle is fueled by that. The, the peace and tranquility gets them nervous and they feel inadequate. And they feel adequate when they, when, when

• 20:49Speaker 02

  there's a lot of excitement, drama going on, uh, disunity. Because then they kind of, in a way feel like, okay, now I get on the white horse and, and I'll calm the waters.

• 21:04Speaker 03

  No, that, I think that's a profound observation and I've met a number of those people in life. And I think it, in a weird way, that's an attitude that can often make someone extraordinarily successful. I just found in my study of history, that tends also to be an attitude that leads to very, um, you know, cataclysmic falls because eventually the person tangles with the wrong enemy or, you know, blows up something that they worked very hard to build. I, I don't know about you, but I tend to have a lot of sympathy and pity for that person, even if they're really difficult to be around, even if they, even if they make my life miserable. Ultimately, I, I feel sadness for them because I know that the, the person who bears the, the

• 21:48Speaker 03

  true brunt of what that must be like is, is themselves.

• 21:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, Ryan, one of the things that that I think about people who are extraordinary or uncommon, they have acquired the ability to stand in their own truth. And and for most people, they can't stand in their own truth. I think this what standing in their own truth is applicable to Phil Jackson, to Michael, to Kraus, God knows the guys who who most people didn't even really know that he coached Jordan, Doug Collins. I mean, there's so many examples so far of people who have the courage to stand in their own truth.

• 22:37Speaker 02

  I think it's something that goes under discussion in in in in our society today is this whole idea about having the courage to stand in your own truth.

• 22:49Speaker 03

  No, that that's beautiful. That's beautiful and and the self-respect to do that.

• 23:01Ryan Holiday?

  Talk to me about your journaling habit because one of the the texts you sent me that affected me very deeply, you just sent me this sort of page in your journal where you'd asked this question, you said, what am I made for? And then you'd you'd put down these bullets, sort of ruminating on that most essential of questions, which is like, why are we here? What is the meaning of life? What are we supposed to make of this gift that we've been given? And that's what ultimately became the book, but that came out of your journaling.

• 23:31Speaker 01

  I started journaling in nineteen seventy two when I was at Washington State. I would underline things in books or write notes to myself. And then, once a week, I'd give them to my secretary and I'd ask her to type these out. And then I put them in plastic sheets. So I have I have every journal I kept from nineteen seventy two to this day now. I have all those journals, year by year. And the last. I'd say eight or nine years. I've done most of the transcribing myself. I take a two or three hours on a Sunday and I sit down and I write my notes out in my journal from things

• 24:14Speaker 01

  that I've learned or or read in in books. And so

• 24:19Ryan Holiday?

  And you collect this into like a single

• 24:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then I collect that into a single journey for the year. I actually have one of them here if you want a hand book with the notes in it.

• 24:30Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah, they they call that a commonplace book, like a collection of thoughts and ideas and inspirations. That's what you're keeping?

• 24:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. As you can see, it says on there 2020. But this is one of the books that this is when I stopped doing the typing and started to collect information and kept my notes. So I have one of these for every year. But here, I kind of went took my own way of keeping notes and that. And so, like I said, I have every year since 1972, I have these journals and they they they're a great reference for me when I'm speaking or writing an article or something like that. But this is the earlier ones in the 70s were three ring binders and

• 25:16Ryan Holiday?

  There's a a line in Jewish culture. They say, we keep the Sabbath, but mostly the Sabbath keeps us. And I think there's something about keeping a journal where, yeah, you're keeping the journal, but the journal is helping you keep it together.

• 25:29Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 25:29Ryan Holiday?

  Keeps your thoughts organized. It calms you down. It gives you perspective. It gives you a little space, even if you never go back through it ever again. It was the act of doing it that gives you most of the the value.

• 25:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's so true, because I actually looked forward to it. I I would come across bits of information that I thought were really relevant. And I'd write down notes to myself and and then once a week, I would I would go back to my my journal and I'd make the entries in there. And so it became a great source of learning for me, because I could go back and refer to things. And if I were going to do a talk on on the relevance of truth, and over the years, I probably have 100 page notes just on truth, where I wrote them into the journal and so forth.

• 26:26Ryan Holiday?

  It struck me as interesting that even in your 80s, you're still, you were still thinking about like, why you're here? What is the purpose of this? It strikes me that, that realization you had that you basically doubled the life expectancy that was predicted for you at your birth, that you're sort of like, well, I got two lives. How am I going to spend it? What am I going to have to show for this? Like Seneca has this line about how a lot of old people have nothing to show for, for their age, but a, a high number of years. And it seems like you're really fascinated and feel compelled to have answers to those kinds of questions about what you used it for.

• 27:08Speaker 01

  I really, when I asked myself, who am I? I think I'm one of God's disciples. And I felt that the reason I'm on earth is to serve the needs of others, to help people live a better life. I've always believed if you help enough people get what they want, you'll always get what you want.

• 27:31Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah.

• 27:31Speaker 01

  And so over the years, I've always tried to, to find ways to serve the needs of others. And as a result, it came back to pay me or later in life, or reward me later.

• 27:50Speaker 03

  As someone who's, who's now in your 80s, who's been around before, who's been through some bad times in America and, and experienced some of the hope and redemption that America brings, how are you feeling about the state of things right now? And I'm just wondering if you, if you have any wisdom for it?

• 28:10Speaker 01

  I'm going to give you my grandma's wisdom. She used to say, it's always darkest before the sun shines.

• 28:19Speaker 02

  And that's where I think, I think we'll come out on the other side of this and we'll all be better for it. And, and, and the one great lesson that we're gonna, we're gonna learn from this is that the American people are resilient. They're, they're loving, forgiving, caring people. I mean, we're, we're being deluged with random acts of kindness. Not every day, every second, somewhere on in the globe, someone is exercising a random act of kindness. And so there's a hell of a lot that we're being challenged with, but

• 29:01Speaker 02

  there's a hell of a lot of love and kindness in our people. Not, and not just American people. It's, it's really showed us, I'll go back to what I said before, in a very simple way, there's a hell of a lot of people who are standing in their truth.

• 29:18Speaker 03

  No, that, that's beautiful. And I, I think that's a great sort of Stoic lesson, which is like, you decide what lens to look at this. Do you look at, at all the awful things that are happening in the institutions that have failed and the leaders that have dropped the ball? Or do you look at the leaders who have stepped up or the institutions that have, that have, have endured the pressure? Do, do you think, you know, obviously, for, for me, being in my thirties, you know, I'm not that worried about a virus. Like, you know, I know the odds are, are, are in my favor, right? Um, it, it must be a different experience to be eighty and to have had some health problems. How, how are you managing

• 29:58Speaker 03

  what I, what I must suspect might be some anxiety or worry or, or even fear? How do you, how are you managing?

• 30:05Speaker 02

  I, I just go to bed every night and, and I think to myself and pray for a better tomorrow. And just keep it, keep it simple. Just we'll wake up in the morning and it'll be a better tomorrow than it was. And for me personally, hell, I've already hit the lottery, man. I, I've had the blessing to be on this earth for eighty-two years. There's a large segment of American population will never make it to forty. I, I, I've been on the planet for eighty-two years. Uh, I've, I've already hit the lottery. Anything I get from here on out is a bonus.

• 30:43Speaker 03

  You know, Seneca actually said the exact same thing. He said, "The man who tells himself at the end of the day, 'I've lived my life, I'm done,' every morning you awake is a bonus." And so I just love that intuitively, that's how you live. And honestly, I feel better just hearing those words out of your mouth. And I always feel better talking to you, Coach.

• 31:08Speaker 02

  Well, thank you. And I want to say this to you publicly. You've really been a positive difference maker in my life. And you are a good example of elders need young mentors. And you've been a great young mentor for me. And I want to thank you for that.

• 31:34Ryan Holiday?

  I would say my favorite part of the calls that we got to do was at the end, you always close with "I love you."

• 31:42Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 31:42Ryan Holiday?

  And I always say that back. And there's not a lot of people that I say that to on the phone these days. I know that's kind of part of your philosophy. When you love somebody, you tell them.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  Yes. I really, that's one of the most important things to me in my life, is to express appreciation. But also, when you tell someone you love them, then it's got to be a reality.

• 32:12Ryan Holiday?

  What do you mean?

• 32:15Speaker 01

  I mean, it's like you're dating this girl and you say, "I love you, I love you."

• 32:20Ryan Holiday?

  Not how many throw around.

• 32:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. And at some points, she says, "Well, Georgia, if you love me, show me that you love me."

• 32:27Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah.

• 32:28Speaker 01

  And so there comes a time when you have to, the words "I love you" have to take the next step. And the next step is an over expression of love.

• 32:44Ryan Holiday?

  Yeah. Someone once told me, "Love is spelled T-I-M-E."

• 32:53Ryan Holiday?

  So Coach, Seneca's Line, this is, opens part one of your book. Often, a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age. What's that mean to you?

• 33:04Speaker 01

  What it means to me is what did I achieve during my lifetime that has unique value, not just for me, but for others? At the end of the day, I think if I have to go up and meet St. Peter at the gate, I think he'll say, you did a good job of serving the needs of others, and we have taken particular notice of that, and you're welcome to come and be amongst the heavenly angels. And that, to me, would be the ultimate reward of my life, is to look back and to realize

• 33:49Speaker 01

  that I live the reason I was put on earth. And that's, I believe, the reason I was put on earth is to serve the needs of others. And so, I would like to be able to meet St. Peter at the gate, and he looks at my achievements, and he says, well done, welcome.

• 34:12Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, it's Ryan. Thank you for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. I just wanted to say, we so appreciate it. We love serving you. It's amazing to us that over 30 million people have downloaded these episodes in the couple of years we've been doing it. It's an honor. Please, spread the word, tell people about it. And this isn't to sell anything, I just wanted to say, thank you.