A New Year is a New Opportunity

We are what our choices make us. Do we walk the fifteen minutes to work, or do we take an Uber? Hit the snooze button, or get up early? Do we have the difficult conversation, or hide from it? Is good enough really good enough? Will you resolve to be better this year? Or just stay the same? It’s your choice. And what you choose is who you are. The Stoics believed that a beautiful life was the result of beautiful decisions. They also believed that the only way to freedom, to strength, to wisdom, was through continual effort. “Progress is not achieved by luck or accident,” Epictetus said, “but by working on yourself daily.” The question for you today, then—and really, for this upcoming year as well—comes down to one word: When? To quote Epictetus again: How much longer are you going to wait to demand the best of and for yourself? Because life is short. The time is now. And gains are cumulative. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see results, the further you’ll end up going. For the last two years, we have been doing what we call “challenges” and, on January 1st, we’re starting again with a new challenge for the new year—and for a new you. We’re calling it the Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge, and it’s designed to help you do exactly what Epictetus was talking about, and what we have spent so much time talking about in these emails: Take action on becoming the person you know you’re capable of being. It would be easy to let December bleed into January, to let 2020 meander and stultify just as you did with 2019. But that’s not what Stoicism is about. That’s not what you want to be about. Instead, we must seize the moment. We must seek out challenges. That’s why we created this 21-day Stoic challenge: to do just that—to help you create a better life, and reshape a new you here at the start of a new decade that is set to reshape the world. The Daily Stoic New Year New You Challenge is a set of 21 actionable challenges, presented one per day, built around the best, most timeless wisdom in Stoic philosophy. 21 challenges designed to set up potentially life-changing habits for 2020 and beyond, that will help you become the kind of person you know you are capable of being—the kind that can handle any of the uncertainty and difficulty and opportunity that the next year and the next decade are sure to throw at us. Some people are going to hire a personal trainer in January. Others will hire a nutritionist or a life coach. You have the chance to get step-by-step instruction and encouragement from three of the greatest thinkers in history: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus. We’ll tell you what to do, how to do it, and why it works. We’ll give you strategies for maintaining this way of living not just for this coming year, but for your whole life. What is getting rid of one bad habit worth? What would you give to add a new positive way of being into your daily routine? What would you give to be a positive person? And how great would it be to become a part of a community—part of a tribe—of people just like you, struggling and growing and making that satisfying progress towards the kind of personal reinvention that produces the kind of human beings they never knew they could one day be? Well, here’s your chance. See 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.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good 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 at DailyStoic.com.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  A new year is a new opportunity. We are what our choices make us. Do we walk the 15 minutes to work, or do we take an Uber? Hit the snooze button, or get up early? Do we have the difficult conversation, or hide from it? Is good enough really good enough? Will you resolve to be better this year, or just stay the same? It's your choice, and what you choose is who you are. The Stoics believed that a beautiful life was the result of beautiful decisions. They also believed that the only way to freedom, to strength, to wisdom was through continual effort. "Progress is not achieved by luck or accident," Epictetus

• 1:10Ryan Holiday?

  said, "but by working on yourself daily." The question for you then, today, and really for this upcoming year as well, comes down to one word: when. To quote Epictetus again, "How much longer are you going to wait to demand the best of and for yourself? Because life is short, the time is now, and gains are cumulative. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll see results, and the further you'll end up going." For the last two years at Daily Stoic, we've been doing what we call challenges. And on January 1st, we're starting again with a new challenge for the new year and for a new you. We're calling it the Daily Stoic New Year, New You Challenge, and it's designed

• 1:54Ryan Holiday?

  to help you do exactly what Epictetus was talking about, and what we have spent so much time talking about in these emails: taking action on becoming the person you know you're capable of being. It would be easy to let December bleed into January, to let 2020 meander and stultify just as you did with 2019. But that's not what Stoicism is about. That's not what you want to be about. Instead, you must seize the moment. You must seek out challenges. As Epictetus said, "We must undergo a hard winter's training so that we can be ready for whatever life throws at us." A resolution is not that. A resolution is just words. It's hope dressed up as a plan.

• 2:36Ryan Holiday?

  If you want to train, you'll need a training regimen, and you can't just pin your goals on a wing and a prayer. You need a guide that you can follow to reach your desired outcome. And that's what this 21-day Stoic Challenge will do. It will help you create a better life and reshape a new you here at the start of a new decade that is set to reshape the world. The Daily Stoic New Year, New You Challenge is 21 actionable challenges, presented one per day, built around the best, most timeless wisdom in Stoic philosophy. It's 21 challenges designed to set up potentially life-changing habits for 2020 and beyond that will help you become the kind of person you know you're capable of being, the kind that can handle

• 3:17Ryan Holiday?

  any of the uncertainty and difficulty and opportunity that the next year and the next decade are sure to throw at us. In this challenge, each day you'll be inspired in a new area of your life. We're going to help you stop procrastinating, learn new skills, abandon harmful habits, be more generous, develop immunity to distractions, strengthen your character, and become the best version of yourself. I always ask people, "What would getting rid of one bad habit be worth? What would adding one new positive habit be worth? What would you give to be a positive person? What would you do to be part of a community that held you accountable and helped you make the progress you know you want to make?" Well, here's your chance. You can sign up

• 4:00Ryan Holiday?

  at dailystoic.com/challenge. I will be doing the challenge right there alongside you. It's going to be awesome. They're delivered each morning. There's a video from me. There's a principal 21-day calendar. There's a Slack channel for accountability and community. Let's do it. And look, if you've got a friend who's always planning and never acting, you can give it as a gift as well. Again, dailystoic.com/challenge. We'll do this together, and we'll make this be a new year. For a new you, and a new decade, and a new you for that as well. Good luck, and I'll see you there. DailyStoic.com/challenge.