The Most Important Ritual You Can Practice This Year

Why did Marcus Aurelius spend those precious hours in his tent, writing by the lamplight, even on the nights and mornings he strained under the burdens of his war-time duties? It wasn’t for our benefit. No, he never expected Meditations would see an audience. He was writing for himself, to himself, as a way to practice the principles of the philosophy we are still following today. He was journaling as a means of self-improvement as much as he was of self-expression. As Tim Ferriss has said of his daily journaling habit, “I don’t journal to ‘be productive.’ I don’t do it to find great ideas, or to put down prose I can later publish. The pages aren’t intended for anyone but me... I’m trying to figure things out... I’m just caging my monkey mind on paper so I can get on with my fucking day.”It’s been exactly one year since we released The Daily Stoic Journal--our attempt to create a modern, accessible (and beautiful) medium through which to practice Stoicism. Epictetus said that everyday we should keep our philosophical aphorisms and exercises at hand, that we should “write them, read them aloud, talk to yourself and others about them.”That was the idea behind The Daily Stoic Journal. One Stoic prompt for each day, to be journaled about--meditated on--in the morning and in the evening. It’s been wonderful to hear from the thousands upon thousands of people who have done precisely that for the last 365 days. And to hear everything they’ve gotten out of the process. Because a journal is a place to clarify your thoughts, find some peace and quiet, calm the negative energy swirling around in your head, and cope with stresses and struggles. It’s your loyal companion. It’s your sounding board. It’s your guide. And now at the one year mark, it’s time to start the process over again. Or start for the first time, if you’ve been keeping yourself on the sidelines. To kick off the one year anniversary, we are giving away 50 free copies to anyone who enters this drawing. We’re also offering personalized and autographed copies of The Daily Stoic Journal, from BookPeople.com. 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.

• 0:30Ryan Holiday?

  The most important ritual you can practice this year: Why did Marcus Aurelius spend those precious hours in his tent, writing by the lamplight, even on the nights and mornings he strained, under the burdens of his wartime duties? It wasn't for our benefit. No, he never expected meditations would see an audience. He was writing for himself, to himself, as a way to practice the principles of the philosophy we are still following today. He was journaling as a means of self-improvement, as much as he was of self-expression. As Tim Ferriss has said of his daily journaling habit, "I don't journal to be productive. I don't do it to find great ideas or to put down prose

• 1:13Ryan Holiday?

  I can later publish. The pages aren't intended for anyone but me. I'm trying to figure things out. I'm just caging my monkey mind on paper, so I can get on with my fucking day." It's been exactly one year since we released The Daily Stoic Journal, our attempt to create a modern, accessible, and beautiful medium through which to practice Stoicism. Epictetus said that every day we should keep our philosophical aphorisms and exercises at hand, that we should write them, read them aloud, talk to ourselves, and others about them. That was the idea behind The Daily Stoic Journal, one Stoic prompt for each day to be journaled

• 1:53Ryan Holiday?

  about, meditated on, in the morning and in the evening. It's been wonderful to hear from the thousands upon thousands of people who have done precisely that for the last 365 days, and hear everything they've gotten out of the process.

• 2:09Ryan Holiday?

  Because a journal is a place to clarify your thoughts, to find some peace and quiet, to calm the negative energies swirling around in your head, and cope with stresses and struggles. It's your loyal companion, it's your sounding board, it's your guide. And now at the one-year mark, it's time to start the process over again, or to start for the first time, if you've been keeping yourself on the sidelines. To kick off the one-year anniversary, we're giving away 50 free copies to the first people who enter this drawing. We're also offering personalized and autographed copies for sale of The Daily Stoic Journal at bookpeople.com. For the next 52 weeks, we hope you'll follow along with the Stoic theme we've set up for study.

• 2:54Ryan Holiday?

  We hope you'll take the time each morning and evening to follow along with the prompt we've designed, which pairs with the entry "In That Day's The Daily Stoic", but can also be done independently. And we hope this can become a lifelong habit for you, that you'll continue to return to these themes over and over again, can look back at the progress you've made each year. Whether you need help ridding bad habits like complaining, procrastination, or a hot temper, or you're looking to get stronger, wiser, and braver, this journal is where you can go to do it. You'll find your own rhythm and what works best for you, but only if you start. Refine as you go, but start. And again, whether you purchase The Daily Stoic Journal or not,

• 3:36Ryan Holiday?

  we strongly encourage you to start journaling in one form or another. It will help you absorb and benefit from everything we do here at DailyStoic.com, from our daily email, to the meditations in the book, to the quotes we post on social media. Any method you prefer will do. It is the process and the practice that counts. One cannot expect wisdom and self-mastery to just arrive via epiphany. These states are acquired, little by little, practice by practice. The sooner you start, the better. So please, get started.

• 4:07Ryan Holiday?

  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.