This is the Secret To Getting Better

“Through philosophy and in the company of philosophy,” Plutarch writes, “it is possible to attain the knowledge of what is honorable and what is shameful, what is just and what is unjust, what, in brief, is to be chosen and what it is to be avoided.” That’s what we’re all trying to do, isn’t it? That’s what Panaetius was trying to do with his “Scipionic Circle,” which met in the great house of Athens and Rome to discuss philosophy, share ideas and explore Stoicism. That’s why we’re studying the philosophy two thousand years later, reading these books, talking to each other, writing in our journals or even for an audience. To become better. To learn what must be learned. To be exposed to and inspired by the wisest minds who have ever lived. To be held accountable by them, too. To become like them—or at least a little bit more like them.-If you want to spend time with more dedicated Stoics, if you want to join a culture full of people rising together, we invite you to join the 2024 Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge. We did the first New Year New You Challenge in 2018, and year after year, we’ve realized more and more that one of the core benefits of the challenge is the community dynamic. Change and improvement comes fastest through culture, results through accountability, and wisdom through exposure to new people and new ideas. If you’re ready to join our own version of the Scipionic Circle, if you want to surround yourself with like-minded individuals and people who will push you, sign up to join this year’s group of Stoics taking on the New Year New You Challenge! Participants will receive:✓ 21 Custom Challenges Delivered Daily (Over 30,000 words of all-new original content)✓ Three live Q&A sessions✓ Printable 21-Day Calendar With custom daily illustrations to track progress✓ Access to a Private Community PlatformThese aren’t pie-in-the-sky, theoretical discussions but clear, immediate exercises and methods you can begin right now to spark the reinvention you’ve been trying for. We’ll tell you what to do, how to do it, and why it works. And when adversity inevitably comes around, you’ll be ready.✉️ 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.

• 0:03Ryan 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.

• 0:26Ryan Holiday?

  This is the secret to getting better. It's a pretty observable truth. We become like the people we spend the most time with. In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about this. He says, "One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where desired behavior is the new normal. Your culture sets your expectation for what is normal, and you surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself. You'll rise together." As it happens, in the ancient world, there was this proverb. It said, "If you dwell with a lame man, you will learn how to limp." But the idea of dwelling with a lame man cuts both ways. Epictetus was famously lame, having had his leg crippled in slavery, and Marcus really spent an enormous amount of time with Epictetus's writings. Didn't make him limp.

• 1:10Ryan Holiday?

  It made him wiser, more resilient, calmer, more compassionate, and Epictetus passed those things on to him. A slave shaped a king and made him better. In fact, when we had Shane Parrish in the Daily Stoic Podcast, we talked about a different idea from Epictetus, where Epictetus is saying, "If you put a lit and an onlit piece of charcoal next to each other, one will extinguish the other, or one will light the other." "Through philosophy and in the company of philosophy," Plutarch writes, "it is possible to attain the knowledge of what is honorable and what is shameful, what is just and what is unjust. What, in brief, is to be chosen and what is to be avoided." Well, that's what we're all trying to do, isn't it? That's what Panathinaus was trying to do with this Sippyonic circle that met in the great houses of Athens and Rome

• 1:54Ryan Holiday?

  to discuss philosophy, to share ideas, and explore Stoicism. That's why we're studying this philosophy 2,000 years later, reading these books, talking to each other, writing in our journals, or even for an audience. It's to become better, to learn what must be learned, to be exposed to and inspired by the wisest minds who have ever lived, to be held accountable by them too, to become like them, or at least a little bit more like them. And look, if you want to spend some time with some dedicated Stoics, if you want to kick the year off, hopefully get your charcoal lit, well, then I would love for you to join us in the 2024 Daily Stoic New Year, New You Challenge. We did the first New Year, New You Challenge in 2018, and year after year, we've realized that really

• 2:38Ryan Holiday?

  the community is the biggest part. It's the most important part of the dynamic. It's really what takes you to the next level. And even me, having made the challenge, I'm telling people, hey, here's what I did today. Here's how it went. Getting feedback, getting encouragement. It keeps me accountable, right? I get something out of it. I know you'll get something out of it. If you want to join us in our version of the Socratic Circle, one, you can join Daily Stoic Life right now and get the Daily Stoic New Year, New You Challenge for free. You can do that at DailyStoicLife.com. Or you can just join us in the challenge. You can just start small. Do the challenge. It's 21 days of Stoic-inspired challenges. It's three live Q and As. That's the community aspect. It's this community member platform where you can hold yourself and others accountable. And there's this cool calendar that shows you all the progress you're making. It's not going to be theoretical

• 3:22Ryan Holiday?

  abstract discussions, but real Stoics talking about real ways to get better. And it starts on Monday, January 1. So stop delaying. Head over right now to DailyStoic.com/challenge to sign up, and I'll see you there. Or, as I said, sign up for Daily Stoic Life at DailyStoicLife.com and get it for free.