You Become What You Practice

The Stoics were all about routine and repetition. It wasn’t just about knowing what the right thing was, it was about doing it daily. Fueling the habit bonfire, they said. It was about creating muscle memory. Epictetus said that philosophy was something that should be kept at hand every day and night. Indeed, the title of his book Enchiridion actually means “small thing in hand,” or handbook. Seneca, for his part, talked about repeatedly diving back into the great texts of history—rather than chasing every new or exciting thing published. We quoted him on that exact idea last week. “You must linger among a limited number of master-thinkers, and digest their works,” he said, “if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind.”One of the reasons we wrote The Daily Stoic was to help accomplish just that. We thought it was pretty remarkable that despite more than two thousand years of popularity, no one had ever put the best of the Stoics in one book—let alone one that was easy to carry, read and study. It’s been pretty incredible to see the success it’s had since its release in 2016, having now sold well over a half million copies in more than a dozen languages. The book has spent more weeks on the bestseller list than any other book about Stoicism ever. In celebration of that—to help encourage another year of Stoicism for you and everyone you know, the ebook is $1.99 in the US (and on sale in the UK) for the next week if you haven’t picked one up yet! Of course, the success of the book is a reflection of the power of Stoic teachings more than anything else. But it’s also a testament to the power of combining the right idea with the right medium. Marcus Aurelius was a brilliant mind and a beautiful writer, but his Meditations is not organized in any coherent way. While Marcus acknowledges many other Stoics, including Epictetus, neither Marcus nor Epictetus acknowledge Seneca in the writings they left, even though Epictetus was also in proximity to Nero’s court at the same time. What we have from Epictetus is really a collection of quotes and highlights from his lectures jotted down by his student Arrian, and what we have of Arrian’s work is only half of what originally existed. Just ploughing straight through those writings is, for many, not the best way to digest the philosophy—it’s almost un-Stoic in its disorderliness. Good practice is not random. It is organized. Stoicism is designed to be a practice and a routine. It’s a lifelong pursuit that requires diligence and repetition and concentration. (Pierre Hadot called it spiritual exercising). That’s one of the benefits of the page-a-day (with monthly themes) format we organized the Stoics into (and the weekly themes in The Daily Stoic Journal). It’s putting one important thing up for you to review—to have at hand—and to fully digest. Every single day over the course of a year, and preferably year in and year out. It's something you’re supposed to keep within reach at all times—which is why a collection of the greatest hits, presented daily, was so appealing to us. So here we are, beginning 2020, and we hope you’ll give The Daily Stoic a chance, in print or with this discounted ebook. And that you’ll pick up journaling with The Daily Stoic Journal or some other notebook. Because if 2020 is anything like 2019, you’re going to need it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  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. You become what you practice every day. The Stoics were all about routine and repetition. It wasn't just about knowing what the right thing was. It was about doing it daily, fueling the habit bonfire, they said. It was about creating muscle memory. They would have agreed

• 0:47Speaker 00

  with Aristotle that we are what we repeatedly do, that what we do in practice is how we play when it's game time, that we become what we repeatedly study and focus on. Epictetus said that philosophy was something that should be kept at hand every day and night. Indeed, his book, Incaridian, actually means "a small thing in the hand," or "a handbook." Seneca, for his part, talked about repeatedly diving back into the great texts of history rather than chasing every new or exciting thing published. We quoted him on that exact idea last week. "You must linger among a limited number of master thinkers and digest their works," he said, "if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind."

• 1:31Speaker 00

  One of the reasons we wrote The Daily Stoic was to help accomplish just that. We thought it was pretty remarkable that despite more than 2,000 years of popularity, no one had ever put the best of the Stoics in one book, let alone one that was easy to carry, read, and study. It's been pretty incredible to see the success it's had since its release in 2016, having now sold well over half a million copies in more than a dozen languages. The book has spent more weeks on the bestseller list than any other book about Stoicism ever, which is why, in celebration of that fact, and to help encourage another year of Stoicism for you and everyone you know, that book is $1.99 as an ebook in the US, and it's discounted

• 2:15Speaker 00

  in the UK as well for the next week. If you still haven't picked it up yet, or if you want to give it as a gift. Of course, the success of this book is a reflection of the power of the Stoic teachings more than anything else. But it's also a testament to the power of combining the right idea with the right medium and the right system. Marcus Aurelius was a brilliant mind and a beautiful writer, but his meditations is not organized in any coherent way. While Marcus acknowledges many of the other Stoics, including Epictetus, neither Marcus nor Epictetus acknowledged Seneca in the writings they left, even though Epictetus was once a slave of a man who served Nero when Seneca did.

• 2:58Speaker 00

  What we have from Epictetus is really a collection of quotes and highlights from his lectures jotted down by his student Arrian, and what we have of Arrian's work is only half of what originally existed. Just plowing straight through those writings is, for many, not the best way to digest the philosophy. It is almost un-Stoic in its disorderliness, and it is not the way to practice Stoicism. Stoicism is designed to be a practice and a routine. It's not a philosophy you read once and magically understand at the soul level. Nothing difficult happens like that. No, it's a lifelong pursuit that requires diligence and repetition and concentration.

• 3:40Speaker 00

  Pierre Hiddo called this "spiritual exercising." And that's one of the benefits of the "page a day" theme we organized the Stoics into, and as well as the weekly themes in the Daily Stoic Journal. It's putting one thing up for you to review, to have at hand, one thing to practice today, not in passing, not randomly, but every single day over the course of a year, and preferably year in and year out. And if Epictetus is right, it's something you're supposed to keep within reach at all times, which is why a collection of the greatest hits presented daily was so appealing to us. So here we are, beginning 2020, and we hope you'll give the Daily Stoic a chance in print

• 4:24Speaker 00

  or with this discounted ebook. We hope you'll pick up journaling this year with the Daily Stoic Journal. Or we hope you'll make your own greatest hits, set up your own journal and your own study plan of the Stoics that you will keep and carry with you wherever you're going this year. Because if 2020 is anything like 2019... You're gonna need it.