It Shows Us This | Your Actual Needs Are Small

On the one hand, history is a catalog of human misdeeds. On the other hand, is history not also a catalog of human greatness? 📚History Matters by David McCullough https://www.thepaintedporch.com/products/history-matters?_pos=1&_sid=0f11e9ac6&_ss=r 🎟️ 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/ 🎙️ 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 -- Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ironwall.com/DAILYSTOIC and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are. -- Wealthfront’s high-yield cash account: https://www.wealthfront.com/stoic This experience may not be representative of other Wealthfront clients, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success. Experiences will vary. Ryan Holiday, who’s a client of Wealthfront, receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage for paid testimonials in his podcast, creating a conflict of interest. More details available via the referral link. The Direct Deposit Plus Investing Program from Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC provides eligible clients a 0.25% APY increase above the base APY on eligible Cash Account balances (up to an overall boosted rate of 4.30% for a limited time when including the three month 0.75% APY boost for new clients) when you direct deposit $1,000 a month, plus open, fund, and maintain an investing account. Wealthfront may change or end the program at any time and determine eligibility at its discretion. Terms apply. Full details at wealthfront.com/promo-terms. The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of January 30, 2026, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. References to the APY for the Wealthfront Cash Account, including any APY increase, are to the APY paid by insured depository institutions that participate in our cash sweep program (the "Program Banks”). Wealthfront Brokerage does not pay interest. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Instant and same-day withdrawals use the Real-Time Payments (RTP) network or FedNow service. Transfers may be limited by your receiving institution, daily caps, or participating entities. New Cash Account deposits have a 2–4 day hold before transfer. Wealthfront does not charge fees for these services, but receiving institutions may impose an RTP or FedNow Fee. Processing times may vary.. Fees & Eligibility requirements may apply to certain checking features. Investment advisory services are provided by Wealthfront Advisers LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Securities investments are not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

• 0:15Ryan Holiday?

  It shows us this. On the one hand, history is a catalog of human misdeeds, conquests, cruelty, stupidity, and horrors. It's the same thing happening, as Marcus really said again and again, no escape from the rhythm of events. On the other hand, is history not also a catalog of human greatness? People who push back against conquests, cruelty, stupidity, and horror, periods of innovation and creation, in numerous examples of beauty and art. Isn't Marcus really an example of all that? History shows us how to behave. The great David McCullough writes in his short book, History Matters, which I've raved about, I carry at the painted porch. He said, "History teaches, it reinforces what we believe in,

• 0:59Ryan Holiday?

  what we stand for, and what we ought to be willing to stand for." Both the inspiring and the terrifying events of history do this. Both the good and the bad do this. The heroes and the villains do this. They show us what to do and what not to do. The question for today is, who will you be? Who will you learn from? What will your study of history, which you should always be doing, show you?

• 1:33Ryan Holiday?

  Your actual needs are small. This is an entry from the Daily Stoic. "Nothing can satisfy greed, but even a small measure satisfies nature. So it is that the poverty of an exile brings no misfortune, for no place of exile is so barren as to not produce ample support for a person." This is Seneca in his consolation to his mother. "It can be beneficial to reflect on what you used to accept as normal. Consider your first paycheck and how big that seemed, or your first apartment with its own bedroom and bathroom and the ramen you gladly scarfed down in the kitchen. Today, as you become more successful,

• 2:16Ryan Holiday?

  these conditions would hardly feel sufficient. In fact, you probably want even more than what you have right now. Yet, just a few years ago, these paltry conditions were not only enough, they felt great. When we become successful, we forget how strong we used to be. We are so used to what we have, we half believe that we'd die without it. Of course, this is just the comfort talking. In the days of world wars, our grandparents and parents made do with rationed gas, butter, and electricity. They were fine, just as you have been fine when you had less. Remember today that you are okay if things suddenly go wrong. Your actual needs are quite small. There is very little that could happen that would truly threaten your survival.

• 3:00Ryan Holiday?

  Think about that and adjust your worries and fears accordingly." There is a passage where I talk about this in Discipline is Destiny, which let me grab real fast. I talk in part one about avoiding the superfluous, right? And I tell a story of Cato the Elder, and he says, "Nothing is cheap if it is superfluous." He's talking about cultivating a place where you don't have more than you need, and people can't take that from you, right? I say this in the, in the chapter, I say, "Think about how content you were with less just a few years ago, how much more frugal you were by necessity, how much less you got by on. Do you look back at those younger years when you were striving and struggling

• 3:44Ryan Holiday?

  as somehow lacking, as something you're bitter about? Usually, those were happy days. We almost missed them. Things were simpler then, cleaner. There was more clarity. Most of the luxuries that lay in the future, we did not even know about. We didn't pine for them. We were ignorant of even their possibility." And when you realize this, that the less you desire, the richer you are, the freer you are, the more powerful you are. You have something that can't be taken away from you. So the Stoics want you to realize how little you need for the happy life. To get personal for a second, I think about the job that I dropped out of college for. I've told this story before, but I remember I was offered $30,000. That was my salary.

• 4:26Ryan Holiday?

  And I remember thinking, I may have even said it out loud, and I'm both mortified and find it hilarious. I remember thinking, what am I going to do with all this money? That was so much money to me. As it happens, like, two days after I started, they knocked my salary down because the partner who'd hired me hadn't cleared it with the other partners. And I actually made more like 26 or something. But it was more than enough for me. I think about what I got paid for my first book. It's all so much extra, so much more than I was once happy to have. And that success should make you grateful. It shouldn't make you paranoid, right? If you take it for granted, you're being ungrateful. I guess is what I'm saying.

• 5:10Ryan Holiday?

  And when you realize how little you need, it allows you to feel the true wealth that you have, the true excess that you have, and realize how much fat, how much space is there. You don't need to protect it so tightly. It's house money at this point. That's what the Stoics were trying to think about. I even think about Seneca. Seneca's writing this letter to his mother. He's in exile, but this is the second time this has happened to him. He realized, you know, that he couldn't cling too tightly to any of these things. And I think that gave him a kind of strength. It's what allowed him to comfort her in this difficult moment. So that's what we're talking about here. We're not saying you starve yourself. We're not saying you experience nothing. You just realize that it's extra, and you don't need it all.

• 5:55Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks, everyone.