Just Do One Thing Every Day

"Seneca wrote a lot of letters to his friend Lucilius. We don’t know a lot about Lucilius, only that he was from Pompeii, he was a Roman knight, he was the imperial procurator in Sicily then its Governor, he owned a country villa in Ardea. For all his success though, we get the sense that he struggled with many of the things we all struggle with: Anxiety. Distraction. Fear. Temptation. Self-discipline."Find out Seneca's simple solution to Lucilius's problems in today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed today’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholidayYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee 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?

  Just do one thing every day. Seneca wrote a lot of letters to his friend Lucilius. We don't know a lot about Lucilius, only that he was from Pompeii, that he was a Roman knight, that he worked in Sicily as its governor, and he owned a country villa in Ardena. For all his success, though, we get a sense that he struggled with the many things that we all struggle with: anxiety, distraction, fear, temptation, self-discipline. So it's good that he had a friend like Seneca, someone who cared about him, told him the truth, and gave him advice. One of the best pieces of advice from Seneca is pretty simple. "Each day," he told Lucilius, "you should acquire something that will fortify you against poverty,

• 1:14Ryan Holiday?

  against death, indeed against other misfortunes as well." Just one thing, one nugget. And that's what most of Seneca's letters to his friend are about. They have a quote in them, or a little prescription, or a story. One little thing to make Lucilius stronger, smarter, wiser, calmer. This is the way to improvement: incremental, consistent, humble, persistent work. Your business, your book, your career, your body, it doesn't matter. You build them with little things, day after day. As Arnold Schwarzenegger, fan of the Stoics, as well as a filmmaker, entrepreneur, author, former governor, professional bodybuilder, and father of five, as he said in a recent interview to people trying to stay strong and sane

• 1:59Ryan Holiday?

  during this pandemic, "Just as long as you do something every day, that is the important thing." Whether it's from Seneca or Arnold, good advice is good advice, and truth is truth. One thing a day adds up. One step at a time is all it takes. You've just got to do it, and the sooner you start, the better you'll feel and be.

• 2:22Speaker 01

  Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. And if you don't get the Daily Stoic email, go to dailystoic.com/email.

• 2:39Speaker 01

  Thank you.