It’s Good.

Ryan discusses how you can turn anything into a good thing, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast. Check out the Amor Fati Challenge Coin in the Daily Stoic Store. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/emailFollow 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.

• 0:05Ryan 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 at DailyStoic.com.

• 0:26Ryan Holiday?

  It's good. Stuff goes wrong. That's a fact of life. As Seneca said, "Fortune behaves just as she pleases." His own life was proof of that. A health flare-up disrupted his career, an emperor exiled him. He clawed his way back, only to have it happen again. Nearly all of this was out of Seneca's control. The only part that was up to him was how he chose to see those events, and what he chose to do with them. He chose to see them as a good thing, chose to use them, chose to dye those events with his own color. Jaco Willink, in his famous viral speech, explains how we do this, how we can see everything that happens to us as good.

• 1:11Ryan Holiday?

  As he says, "Oh, the mission got canceled? Good, we can focus on another one. Didn't get the new high-speed gear we wanted? Good, we can keep it simple. Didn't get promoted? Good, more time to get better. Didn't get funded? Good, we own more of the company. Didn't get the job you wanted? Good, go out, gain more experience, build a better resume. Got injured? Good, needed a break from training. Got tapped out? Good, it's better to tap out in training than tap out on the street. Got beat? Good, we learned. Unexpected problems? Good, we have to figure out solutions." This is really a Stoic prescription.

• 1:54Ryan Holiday?

  This is the Stoic prescription. It's also the prescription for leadership, for entrepreneurship, for resiliency. Life just throws stuff at you. You are the one who decides to lay down and let it bury you, or to make hay out of it. You are the one who decides whether to bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away, or to look it square in the eye, as bad as it is, and say, "Good." Those are your choices. Choosing to see the bad things as ultimately good is all you can do. It's what you must do because people are depending on you. Because you believe in your ability to make it good. Because you have but one life to live. Amor Fati.

• 2:41Ryan Holiday?

  That's actually my amor fati challenge coin. Not merely to bear what is necessary, but love it. That's what Nietzsche said. Marx really says that a fire digests what is thrown on top of it. It turns it to flame and brightness. And that's what Jaco was talking about. That's what the Stoics were talking about. That's what I try to remind myself of. It's why I carry this coin with me. And you can check that out at store.dailystoic.com.