10 Pieces of Life Changing Wisdom From the Stoics

On today’s episode, Ryan breaks down 10 pieces of life changing wisdom from the Stoics. Stoicism has never been a philosophy for school. It's been a philosophy for life. That’s why the Stoic writings are blunt. Straight to the point. They get in, make their point in as few words as possible, and get out of your way. Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsv6P3Crup8&t=47sBlinkist is the app that gets you fifteen-minute summaries of the best nonfiction books out there. Blinkist lets you get the topline information and the most important points from the most important nonfiction books out there, whether it’s Ryan’s own The Daily Stoic, Yuval Harari’s Sapiens, and more. Go to blinkist.com/stoic, try it free for 7 days, and save 25% off your new subscription, too. Ladder makes the process of getting life insurance quick and easy. To apply, you only need a phone or laptop and a few minutes of time. Ladder’s algorithms work quickly and you’ll find out almost immediately if you’re approved. Go to ladderlife.com/stoic to see if you’re instantly approved today. Talkspace is an online and mobile therapy company. Talkspace lets you send and receive unlimited messages with your dedicated therapist in the Talkspace platform 24/7. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com or download the app. Make sure to use the code STOIC to get $100 off of your first month and show your support for the show. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow 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 weekend edition of The Daily Stoic. Each weekday, we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, something to help you live up to those four Stoic virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. And then here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview Stoic philosophers. We explore at length how these Stoic ideas can be applied to our actual lives and the challenging issues of our time. Here on the weekend, when you have a little bit more space, when things have slowed down, be sure to take some time to think, to go for a walk, to sit with your journal, and most importantly,

• 0:47Ryan Holiday?

  to prepare for what the week ahead may bring.

• 0:52Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, as you know, I recommend a lot of books here on the podcast. And part of the reason I read so much is that it's my job. But I also understand that not everyone has quite as much time to read as I do. So if you are someone who wants to read or you've been intimidated by some of the books I've recommended, Blinkist, today's sponsor, might just be for you. Blinkist finds the most important takeaways from the best nonfiction books around, and it condenses that into a summary you can read or listen to anywhere on your phone, tablet, or laptop in just 15 minutes or less. They even have my newest book, Lives of the Stoics. So if you've been meaning to check that out, you can do that, too. So with Blinkist, you get unlimited access to read or listen to a massive library of condensed nonfiction books. Right now, they have a special offer just for the Daily Stoic audience.

• 1:37Ryan Holiday?

  Go to blinkist.com/stoic, and you get it free for seven days, and then you save 25% off your new subscription. Just go to blinkist, B-L-I-N-K-I-S-T dot com slash stoic. Seven days for free, plus 25% off when you sign up.

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another weekend episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. I've been having a lot of fun doing these sort of short TikTok hits about Stoicism. Stoic wisdom in one minute or less. Actually, when you do them on Instagram, they gotta be like 30 seconds. So these are really, the constraints can be powerful. And actually, Cleanthes talks about how the fetters of poetry, right, the structure, the demands of the medium of poetry would create the art. And I have found that trying to distill these lessons down into the shortest possible time has been really, really great. And so today's episode is a compilation of 10

• 2:38Ryan Holiday?

  life-changing pieces of Stoic wisdom, back to back to back, mostly from TikTok. And by the way, you can follow us, go to tiktok.com/daily_stoic, and you can follow me, tiktok.com/ryan-holiday. But this is a best of Stoic wisdom in one minute or less, 10 lessons, one minute or so each. I think this is gonna be really awesome for you. I think you're gonna like it. This was really popular when we did it on YouTube. We're gonna talk about memento mori, we're gonna talk about concentration, we're gonna talk about amor fati, temper, routine, ego, getting up early, acceptance, talk about character, and most of all, we're gonna talk

• 3:22Ryan Holiday?

  about seizing the day. This episode's great. You can check it out. 10 pieces of life-changing wisdom from the Stoics. And of course, do follow us on TikTok. That's tiktok.com/daily_stoic, and then I'm at Ryan underscore holiday. Here's 10 pieces of life-changing wisdom in one minute or less from the Stoics.

• 3:51Ryan Holiday?

  There's two words that come to us from the ancients that I think we should remind ourselves of, repeat to ourself in any and every situation we're in. You win the lottery, you strike it rich, you get recognized, you get an award, you say to yourself, "Memento mori", "Remember, you will die", you go through shit, you go through trouble, someone cheats on you, someone betrays you, someone lies to you, someone steals from you, someone gets what you earned, someone gets promoted over you, you say to yourself, "Memento mori", "Remember that I will die", "You could leave life right now", Marcus Aurelius said, "Let that determine what you do and say and think",

• 4:36Ryan Holiday?

  you get in a fight with your girlfriend or your boyfriend, your parents say something mean or let you down, your neighbor pisses you off, you break your leg, you blow out your knee, you fall out of love with someone, you're stressed out by work, your kids are sick, you say to yourself, "Memento mori", "Life is short, I'm going to die".

• 5:02Ryan Holiday?

  Sometimes when I need a pick-me-up, I think of one that Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself in Meditations. He said, "Of course you can do it", he said, "If you concentrate like a Roman, if you do this like it's the last thing you're doing in your life", and I think about the most powerful man in the world struggling with something, we don't know what it was, but he's telling himself that, yes, it is possible. And another place in Meditations, he says, "Remind yourself that if it's humanly possible, know that you can do it also", and so I think that we all need these reminders, the idea of self-talk, like, "I'm going to talk myself into this, I'm going to remind myself what I'm capable of, I'm going to remind myself to concentrate now in this moment, I'm going to remember what's humanly possible

• 5:46Ryan Holiday?

  and that as a human being, of course, it's possible for me, and I'm going to do this as if it's the last thing I'm doing in my life, I'm going to do it as if it matters", to me, that's what Stoicism is about, and that's a reminder I gave myself today, and I hope you give it to yourself today also.

• 6:04Ryan Holiday?

  What the Stoics talk about is the idea of loving what happens. Marcus really says that what you throw on top of a fire is fuel for the fire. So what you want to cultivate, what you have to practice, you have to almost repeat it like a mantra to yourself, is the practice of loving everything that happens. Not just accepting it, not just tolerating it, but leaning into it, going, "This is for me. I chose this. I want it this way, and it's the best fucking thing that ever happened to me." When the computer eats the manuscript you've been working on, you say, "Amor fati, I love it." When you're stuck in traffic, you say, "Amor fati, I love it." When you're criticized on Twitter, when your boss calls you out, you say, "Amor fati, I love it.

• 6:47Ryan Holiday?

  I'm gonna be better for this having happened to me." When you're hungry, you say, "I love it. I'm alive. I feel this. I'm gonna make the most of it." You say, "Amor fati."

• 7:00Ryan Holiday?

  I don't think I've ever lost my temper and then been glad after the fact. I'm never so glad I got angry, I got upset. It never makes things better. That's what the Stoics believe, that anger always makes stuff worse. And Seneca points out how totally irrational he is. He says, "To get angry is like to return a kick to a mule or a bite to a dog." He writes this whole incredible essay on anger to Nero. He says, "The emperor can't afford to get angry. They have to be calm, they have to be rational, they have to think things through." You know, a sports coach might get angry on purpose to rally the team, but an NBA coach who's not in control of their temper is just gonna rack up technical fouls and make the team worse. So we control our tempers.

• 7:43Ryan Holiday?

  It's not that we don't feel the anger, it's there, we know it's there, but we don't act on it. We try not to act on it because it always makes things worse. We regret it afterwards. The fact that we have that hangover is a really important sign that it's not an emotion or impulse that we want to give into.

• 8:03Ryan Holiday?

  It's humbling to think that Marcus Aurelius, the head of the most powerful empire on earth, had the same amount of hours in the day as you, just 24. So how did he get it all done? How did he have time to be a king, a philosopher, a writer, a husband, to pass laws and judge cases, to lead troops into battle and guide Rome through a terrible plague? And do this while remaining good without being corrupted by the temptations or the stresses of his position? Well, routine had something to do with it. Marcus Aurelius was a man of habit. All the Stoics were. They understood, as Aristotle did, that we are what we repeatedly do, that excellence is a habit.

• 8:48Ryan Holiday?

  For Marcus Aurelius, the day started early, "At dawn, when you awake," he wrote, "know that you are getting up to do the work of a human being." There was no time for him to stay under the covers and stay warm. Got a quick message from one of our sponsors here, and then we'll get right back to the show. Stay tuned.

• 9:10Ryan Holiday?

  What would the Stoics have thought today of psychology, of psychotherapy, of counseling? I think they'd be into it because if it works, it works. That's why I've always paired my study of Stoicism and philosophy with therapy. That fits in well with today's sponsor, Talkspace. Talkspace lets you have a dedicated therapist on the Talkspace platform 24/7. You can text with your therapist. Like I said, I've been through multiple therapists throughout the years. I've always found therapy to be a great way to work through issues that otherwise would have been left unresolved. And with Talkspace, you set goals with your therapist. They hold you accountable. They make sure you're progressing. Therapy can help you shift your perspective, find tools to cope with difficult times,

• 9:55Ryan Holiday?

  and be a guiding light. As a listener of this podcast, you can get $100 off your first month with Talkspace. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com. Make sure you use the code STOIC to get 100 bucks off your first month. Show your support for the show. That's stoictalkspace.com.

• 10:16Ryan Holiday?

  We've talked about this idea of memento mori. You are mortal, you will die, we will all die, and we don't know when. It could be tomorrow, it could be 20 years from now. But this important Stoic practice not just centers you philosophically, but I think it presents some very real action items for you. And I think one of those things is life insurance. That's why today's sponsor is Ladder for life insurance coverage. Ladder makes the process of getting life insurance quick and easy to apply. All you need is a phone or laptop and a few minutes of your time. Ladder's algorithms work quickly and you'll find out almost immediately if you're approved. The younger you are, the cheaper the life insurance is. So it's better to buy earlier if you can. Plus, Ladder has no hidden fees and you can cancel at any time.

• 10:58Ryan Holiday?

  So check out ladderlife.com/stoic today to see if you're instantly approved. Just go to ladderlife.com/stoic. That's L-A-D-D-E-R life.com/stoic. Ladderlife.com/stoic.

• 11:16Ryan Holiday?

  To the Stoics, arrogance is the most dangerous thing in the world. Sino says conceit is the impediment to all knowledge. I like Epictetus, he says, "You cannot begin to learn that which you think you already know." So this idea of coming from a place of curiosity rather than a place of knowing, this idea of being humble enough to ask, this idea of not thinking you know it all, is the key for the Stoics to moving forward. It's impossible to learn that which you think you already know. If you think you know everything, you're right. That's why ego's the enemy, because if you think you're perfect, if you think you're brilliant, if you think you know all the answers, it's impossible for you to get any better. You're frozen in place.

• 12:01Ryan Holiday?

  It's impossible to learn that which you think you already know. That's Epictetus.

• 12:09Ryan Holiday?

  At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself, "I have to go to work as a human being. What do I have to complain of if I am going to do what I was born for? The things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?" And then he has like this little conversation with himself. He goes, "But it's nicer here." And I think anyone that's not wanted to get out of bed in the morning has had this dialogue. "So you were born to feel nice," he says, "instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don't you see plants and birds and ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order as best they can? And you're not willing to do your job as a human being?

• 12:54Ryan Holiday?

  Why aren't you running to do what your nature demands?" "But we have to sleep sometimes," he complains. "Agreed, but nature set a limit to that, as it did on eating and drinking, and you're over the limit. You've had more than enough of that, but not of working. There, you're still below your quota."

• 13:14Ryan Holiday?

  My favorite quote from Marcus Aurelius, he says, "Objective judgment now at this very moment, unselfish action now at this very moment, willing acceptance now at this very moment of all external events." I mean, that's basically Stoicism in a nutshell. If you don't have to read Meditations, you don't have to read Seneca, you don't have to read Epictetus, you don't have to get a degree from Harvard in ancient philosophy to get any more out of Stoicism than that, right? It's like, look, see the world as it is for what it is. Don't put judgments on top of stuff. Be a good person. You have to take action. That's like, be a good teammate, be a good citizen, be generous, be caring, don't be all about yourself. And then willing acceptance.

• 13:59Ryan Holiday?

  I know people, that sounds like resignation, but what it's really about is like, instead of complaining about how things are, instead of feeling persecuted, instead of feeling like shit is unfair, or instead of feeling like you can go back and change the past, which you can't, accept it and then move forward.

• 14:20Ryan Holiday?

  Marcus Aurelius has a great passage. He says, "It can only ruin your life if it ruins your character. Otherwise, it cannot harm you inside and out." And that's a theme you see Marcus talk about over and over again. He basically goes like, "Look, does this prevent me from acting with the virtues or with the character that I hold to be important? Basically, does this stop me from acting with wisdom, justice, temperance, or courage?" The answer is like, "No, it never does. Almost nothing does." And in fact, most of the bad stuff that happens to us, you know, getting fired, running out of money, being humiliated, you know, being rejected, most of the stuff

• 15:02Ryan Holiday?

  that happens is actually only an opportunity for those virtues, right? There is no situation that ruins our character because our character, the Stoics would say, is something that only we possess. It's inside us. We can decide to abandon our character. We can abandon our principles. We can choose not to act with virtue, temperance, justice, and courage. And in that case, we are harmed.

• 15:30Ryan Holiday?

  Marcus Aurelius, he says to himself, "You could be good today, but instead you choose tomorrow." Basically, we're always pushing off into the future. Epictetus, he says to himself, "How much longer are you going to wait to demand the best of and for yourself?" And then Seneca, I think most poignantly, he says, "Fools all have one thing in common. They are always putting off living." And so, what we take from all this, these three wise but very different Stoics, is that idea of Carpe Diem. Seize the day. Take advantage of what's in front of you. Don't wait to forgive someone, or to make up, or to tell them how you really feel about them. Do it now.

• 16:14Ryan Holiday?

  Don't live wrongly. Don't live unhappily. Don't show up every day for a job you don't like because you hope that one day it will turn into a job you like. We have no idea how long we're here for. That's what that exercise of Memento Mori is reminding us. You know, Marcus Aurelius talks about, he says, "Do everything as if you were a dying man." Because the truth is, we all are dying. We're given a fatal diagnosis at birth.

• 16:42Ryan Holiday?

  We've been trying our hand at TikTok doing these short 60-second inspired clips. I'm Ryan underscore Holiday and Daily Stoic is Daily underscore Stoic. Check it out for some quick Stoic hits every single day. Follow us on TikTok.