A Good Morning Creates A Good Life

The Stoics believed in the power of ritual, particularly at the beginning and the end of the day. For them, routines and rituals were not productivity hacks, but ways of living. In a world where so much was out of our control, committing to a practice we did control was a way of establishing and reminding ourselves of our own power. It was about preparation. It was about creating peace. We recently talked to Amy Landino—who reads The Daily Stoic each morning—about her book Good Morning, Good Life. A title whose essence the Stoics would have likely agreed with. If you can win the morning, you can win the day. Amy told us that it doesn’t matter if you have an hour or only five minutes, if you’re home or on the road, if the kids have you up at the crack of dawn or you sleep in until your body’s clock naturally wakes you—there are three keys to a good morning:1. Movement — Do something to move your body. You can be ambitious and hit the gym right away. I prefer just a few simple stretches and massaging the muscles on my face. When you move your body a little, you wake up. Or, as Seneca said, "Hold fast, then, to this sound and wholesome rule of life... The body should be treated more rigorously, that it may not be disobedient to the mind.”2. Mindfulness — It's too easy to pick up the phone or turn the TV on when you don't have anything else to do. Instead of resorting to those things, start with a practice that helps you generate your own original thoughts or ideas. Meditation works for some people. I prefer stream-of-consciousness writing in a journal for 3 pages to get all the random annoyances and bad dreams off my brain so I can move forward more positively through the day. Or, as Marcus said, “When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly.” And then once he got that out of the way, he was ready to go meet those folks with a smile on his face. 3. Mastery — This one is my favorite because if not for my mastery time, I wouldn't have been able to figure out how to start my own business while I still had a full-time job 10 years ago. Focus on something that you've been meaning to get around to or that you're passionate about. Have you been wanting to learn a foreign language? Start the day going through flashcards or using a training app. When you make time to master something, you aren't allowing yourself to stay stuck on the hamster wheel of the everyday. Or, as Epictetus said, paraphrasing Socrates, “One person likes tending to his farm, another to his horse; I like to daily monitor my self-improvement.”Move your body. Clear your mind. Do something to improve yourself. That’s it. You do those three things, you’re ready to have a good day...and a good life. It’s been true for two thousand years. Start tomorrow with the three M’s. 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.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  A good morning creates a good life. The Stoics believed in the power of ritual, particularly at the beginning and the end of the day. For them, routines and rituals were not just productivity hacks, but a way of living. In a world where so much was out of our control, committing to a practice we did control was a way of establishing and reminding ourselves of our own power. It was about preparation. It was about creating peace. We recently talked to Amy Landino, who reads The Daily Stoic each morning, about her new book, Good Morning, Good Life. That's an expression the Stoics would have likely agreed with. If you can win the morning, you can win the day. Amy told us that it

• 1:09Ryan Holiday?

  doesn't matter if you have an hour or only five minutes, if you're home or on the road, if the kids have you up at the crack of dawn, or you sleep in until your body's clock naturally wakes you. There are three keys to a good morning. Number one, she said, "Do something to move your body. You can be ambitious and hit the gym right away. I prefer a few simple stretches and massaging the muscles on my face. When you move your body a little bit, you wake up." Or, as Seneca said, "Hold fast then to this sound and wholesome rule of life. The body should be treated more rigorously that it may not be disobedient to the mind." Her second piece of advice, mindfulness. It's too easy to pick up the

• 1:51Ryan Holiday?

  phone or turn on the TV when you don't have anything else to do. Instead of resorting to those things, start with a practice that helps you generate your own original thoughts or ideas. Meditation works for some people. I prefer stream of consciousness writing in a journal for three pages to get all the random annoyances And bad dreams off my brain so I could move forward more positively through the day. Or as Marcus said, "When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself the people I deal with will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly." And then, once he got that out of the way, he was ready to go meet those people with a smile on his face. And Amy's third key is mastery. "This one is my favorite," she said, "because if not for my mastery time, I wouldn't have

• 2:36Ryan Holiday?

  been able to figure out my own business when I still had a full-time job 10 years ago." Focus, she said, "on something that you've been meaning to get around to or that you're passionate about. Have you been wanting to learn a foreign language? Start the day going through flashcards or using a training app. When you make time to master something, you aren't allowing yourself to stay stuck on the hamster wheel of the everyday." Or, as Epictetus said, paraphrasing Socrates, "One person likes tending to his farm, another to his horse." I like to daily monitor my own self-improvement. Move your body, clear your mind, do something to improve yourself. That's it. You do those three things and you're ready to have a good day and a good life. And it's been true for 2,000 years.

• 3:21Ryan Holiday?

  So if not today, start tomorrow with these three keys. And you can check out Amy's new book, Good Morning, Good Life. I urge you to check it out. You can also look at the videos we did together on our YouTube channel, youtube.com/dailystoic.