The Daily Stoic - 8 Stoic Habits That Will Improve Your Life

Episode Date: April 10, 2022

You might ask yourself, what am I missing? What is holding me back? The answer is simple: good habits. Excellence isn’t this thing you do one time. It’s a way of living. It’s foundational. It’s like an operating system and the code this system operates on is habit In this episode Ryan Holiday outlines 8 of the most important Stoic habits that will improve your life.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemailCheck out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic. Each weekday we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, something to help you live up to those four Stoic virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. And then here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview Stoic philosophers, we explore at length how these Stoic ideas can be applied to our actual lives and the challenging issues of our time. Here on the weekend when you have a little bit more space when things have slowed down, be sure to take some time to think, to go for a walk, to sit with your journal and most

importantly to prepare for what the week ahead may bring. There's the famous Aristotle line, almost not really an Aristotle line, it's actually from Will Durant paraphrasing Aristotle, but basically you are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore out of virtue, but a habit. The idea that we are what we do, that habits are everything, is the topic of today's episode. If you're thinking about how to get better at what you do, you start with the building blocks,

you start with good habits. Because excellence isn't this one time thing that's a way of living, it's foundational. It's like an operating system. And the code of that operating system is habit. On today's episode, I wanna lay out some stoic habits, some foundational stoic habits that I think will improve your life.

I try to practice on a regular basis and have made a big impact on my life. And so here we have eight stoic habits that will improve your life. Whenever I feel like quitting, whenever I feel like it's not working, whenever I feel like it's impossible, whenever I feel like I can't possibly go on any longer, I go, I know this feeling. I've dealt with this before. The Stoics were successful, busy people. They had day jobs, they had families, they were of service to their country and their causes. So how did they get it all done?

I mean, that's the question we're all asking. I get that question all the time. People say, Ryan, how have you written the books that you've written? How have you spoken to the groups that you've done? How did you manage to open up a bookstore on the side? And the answer for me, as well as for the ancient Stoics, was a set of foundational habits. A wise philosopher once said that no one should be pitted more than the person who's

winged, who's treating everything as a new uncertain decision. The person who has habits, who has best practices, who has rules they observe, that is the person in a position to be successful. And so in today's episode I wanted to give you eight foundational stoic habits, things to do and practice every single day that will make you better of whatever you do, whoever you are, wherever you live, and whatever stage of life you happen to be in. What's really interesting about philosophy is that that's what Marcus Aurelius' meditation was.

It's one of the few philosophical books that we have that wasn't published as a book. The most powerful man in the world wasn't writing what he thought. He was writing what he felt he needed to know for himself and it's only a complete accident that this work survives to us. He'd probably be mortified that we're reading his diary or journal, but he's dead, so it doesn't matter. The point is, philosophy is not just this thing you read about one time and understand, it's an active practice.

It's something you're doing with yourself. It's a dialogue with oneself. I talked about the missile crisis a little bit. What I think is so fascinating about the missile crisis is that we have Kennedy's doodles and notes from the missile crisis. On legal pads, you would write these things to himself, sort of reminders, you would write missile, missile, missile, we write consensus, consensus, consensus, he was journaling out,

working out what he was thinking as he was thinking it. Journaling's not the only way to do this. I know people that doodle in the morning or sketch, but the point is to have kind of a creative practice where there are very low stakes and it's just sort of a getting the juices flowing. Julia Cameron calls morning pages a sort of a form of spiritual windshield wipers that I really like that analogy. Kennedy really liked boating and so he drew these pictures of sailboats. You can imagine

the entire world is about to blow itself up and if he's not careful he's going to contribute to that. The idea of just getting out of that zooming out, sort of calming his mind, you can see how valuable and important that would be. Anne Frank writes that paper is more patient than people. And so you think about the stresses of the missile crisis, it makes sense why he's writing on it. He wants to dump out his anger and his frustration and his fears and the ideas that he's workshopping where there are low stakes, so he can perform better where there's really high stakes.

So I think journaling's a really important part of it. I do this one thing every single day, and you can see I'm a little sweaty right now. I just went on a long walk with my kids. This is the property there. We just went on this long walk around our property. We talked, we threw sticks, we told stories, we were just outside. You know, there's this great expression from Nietzsche. He says, only ideas had when walking have any worth. And I think that's right,

even Seneca talks about how the mind must be given over to wandering walks. He says fields that are not allowed to rest will not bear plant. He even says that, you know, the mind will break like an anvil if not rested. And so this is really important. For me, walking is physical activity,

is it is exercise, but it's really about letting my mind rest. I leave my phone at home. I leave my thoughts at home. I leave my work at home. And I just go outside and I walk. And I don't even consider it exercise. It's exercise for my mind. It's time I spend with my family. It's time I spend on my property. It's time I spend outdoors. it's time I spend practicing, gratitude and appreciation. This is a thing I do every day without fail, whether it's in a parking lot or on a beautiful beach somewhere, I go outside and take a walk and so should you. People ask me what the secret to writing, you know, 10, 11 books in 10 years, writing bestsellers, and I tell them there is no secret.

I just work every single day, right? I do a little bit every single day. I try to make a little bit of progress every single day. This is a core preceptive stosism. Zeno says, well, being is realized by small steps, but it's no small thing. Mark Cereleus says, assemble your life action by action. No one can stop you from that, right?

We focus on what we control, which is, did you show up today? Did you make a little bit of progress? And Seddica says, look, even wisdom is acquired. Quote, insight, story, you know, experience by experience. And that's how books are written too. There's a great rule in writing just a couple crappy pages a day. I just try to produce work, and then I refine and edit later. But the main thing is showing up, doing the work, trying to get a little bit better every single day.

I am not here to make you a better sociopath. The point of stoicism isn't to make you care less about other people, to focus more on yourself. It's not just a productivity system to make you better. Marcus really says the fruit of his life is good character and acts for the common good. One of the four virtues of stoicism is justice. It's about fairness. It's about integrity. It's about serving something larger than yourself. And so if you think stoicism is somehow divorced from politics, divorced from being responsible to the rest of the world. If you think when Marcus really says it's okay to have no opinion, he means have no opinion about nothing, never get involved, focus on yourself.

You are missing the fucking point in this philosophy. A stoic is engaged in the world. A stoic cares. A stoic tries really hard to do the right thing for themselves and for other people. They are not an uncaring sociopath. They are not some alt-right troll. Dosis is about doing good for more people. That's what the philosophy is about.

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where each episode we unpack a different iconic celebrity feud. From the buildup, why it happened, and the repercussions. What does our obsession with these feud say about us? The first season is packed with some pretty messy pop culture drama, but none is drawn out in personal as Britney and Jamie Lin Spears. When Britney's fans form the free Britney movement dedicated to fraying her from the infamous conservatorship Jamie Lins lack of public support. It angered some fans a lot of them It's a story of two young women who had their choices taken away from them by their controlling parents But took their anger out on each other and it's about a movement to save a superstar

Which set its sights upon anyone who failed to fight for Britney Follow disenthal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music or the Wonder App. One thing you learn in endurance sports is that you always have further to go than you think is possible. Your body is telling you to quit, or your mind is telling you to quit, but actually your body is capable of more. And you have to override this, you have to push past it.

And so for me, the endurance sports and philosophy have helped me even as a writer, because whenever I feel like quitting, whenever I feel like it's not working, whenever I feel like it's impossible, whenever I feel like I can't possibly go on any longer, I go, I know this feeling, I've dealt with this before. Epic Titus talks about putting every impression

up to the test, he talks about how a money changer knows what a counterfeit coin feels like. It sounds like. And when you do endurance sports, you get to that place where you know what weakness sounds like and feels like and what it's telling you to do and how you don't have to listen to that. You also know when your body is really hurt, when you really do have to stop, when you really are at your breaking point, when you do hit that limitation. But because of your practice, you know that most

of those limitations, most of that desire to quit or stop or slow down is a lie, and you push past it, you push through it, and this gets you to where you wanna go. All growth is on the other side of that resistance, whether it's writing, whether it's in a relationship, whether it's in your work, whether it's in a creative pursuit, whether it's a business, all growth is on the other side of that resistance. And so having an endurance sport practice, something that you're trying to get good at,

whether it's CrossFit or Weightlifting or running or rock climbing, something where you're constantly testing those reservations and the whole practice is learning when to push through and when not to push through. I can't recommend it highly enough. I know that getting outside and doing that stuff, it might not seem like what the Stokes were doing, what philosophers were doing, but in fact it was what they are doing. You know Marcus really is hunted, he wrote horses, he wrestled precipice and clientes who were boxers and and and distance runners. The Stokes were athletes,

and this practice is deeply important into getting to that philosophical place of resilience and fortitude. My friend emailed me on a Friday. I saw, I told myself I was gonna respond on Monday, and by Sunday he was gone. He'd fallen dead of a heart attack. This is why the Stoics practice mement life is short. You can go at any moment.

But also they said, the people who are precious to you, you do not possess them. You can't take them for granted. You can't assume they're going to be here forever. You can't assume you're always going to have them. You don't have them now. They are here on loan. They are here under shaky status at best. So you can't take people for granted. You can't take time for granted. You can't go to bed angry as they say. You can't hold on to grudges. Be with them now while you can. Forgive them now while you can. Appreciate them now while you can. Enjoy them now while you can. That's the only thing we can do. Memento Mori, you could leave life right now as Marcus is,

but also they could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think, particularly with the people who matter most to you. A couple rules for reading one, do it all the time. Two, speed reading is a trap, it's fake, it's not real. You just have to spend a lot of time reading. Three, I reading is a trap, it's fake, it's not real, you just have to spend a lot of time reading. Three, I think older books are almost always better, classics are classic for a reason. Four, quit bad books. The great rule is 100 pages minus your age.

Five, you have to take notes. If you're not taking notes, if you're just trying to get through the book as fast as possible, you're doing it wrong. Six, I try to find one book in every book that I read to read next. Seven, ask yourself, how am I going to use this information in my actual life? The point of books is not to look smarter, it's to become better. Eight, if it's good, recommend it and pass it along to other people. Those are my Ryan Holiday's Rules for Reading. to other people. Those are my Ryan Holidays rules for reading. There's two words that come to us from the ancients that I think we should remind ourselves of, repeat to ourselves in any and every situation we're in.

You win the lottery, you strike it rich, you get recognized, you get an award, you say to yourself, momentumori, remember you will die. You go through shit, you go through trouble. Someone cheats on you, someone betrays you, someone lies to you, someone steals from you. Someone gets what you earned, someone gets promoted over you, you say to yourself, momentumori, remember that I will die.

You can leave life right now, Mark Serely said. Let that determine what you do and say and think. You get in a fight with your girlfriend or your boyfriend. Your parents say something mean or let you down. Your neighbor pisses you off. You break your leg. You blow out your knee, you fall out of love with someone.

You're stressed out by work, your kids are sick. You say to yourself, Memento Mori, life is short, I'm going to die. And what that means is you can't take any of this seriously. You can't let it weigh on you, you can't hold onto it, you can't let it puff you up either. If you're rich, you're famous, you have a million Instagram followers, you just got hired, you just got into Harvard, you just got nominated for a Nobel Prize, you just got a call from the President, you just got a promotion, you just got to raise the men to a mori. You will die. You can't take any of this with you.

It pales in comparison to the idea of eternity. How many people have come before you would have these same honors and where are they now? They're fucking dead, just like you will be. What Marcus really said is this practice of the men to a mori of saying to the good things and to the bad things in life that we will die. It's a reminder that helps you accept the good things without arrogance and to let the bad things go within difference.

Your plane is delayed, your stress, your tired, your hungry, your frustrated, your cynical. You say, Memento Mori, I'm going to die. What does any of this mean? Why am I taking any of it so seriously? Why am I letting it get to me? What's three hours here or three hours there? Remember you are going to die. What you do control is whether you waste time getting upset by this, whether you waste time taking it personally. Whether you're the best in the world at what you do, or you're an unpaid intern, whether your work is being beloved by the critics or savaged by the critics, whether you have more opportunities than you know what to do with, whether you can't get the one shot

known, will even give you a chance. Whether you have all the money you need or you can barely get by, you say, Memento Mori, remember, I will die. None of this matters in light of that. Whether you're having sex with a beautiful supermodel, whether you're putting your kid down to bed, whether you're sitting there in your pajamas eating cereal,

or you are standing in front of a prestigious audience. Memento Mori, you will die. Is this how you want to spend your time? Are you wasting it? Or are you living it? Are you embracing it? Or are you letting it escape from your grasp? Memento Mori, remember, I will die.

You could leave life right now, let that determine what you do and say and think. Whatever your experience and whatever you're going through, however awesome your life is, however frustrating it is right now. Memento Mori. Remember you will die, this too shall pass. You must not forget that. Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Stoke Podcast. If you don't know this, you can get these delivered to you via email every day, check it out at dailystoke.com slash email. Hey Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and ad-free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery

Plus in Apple Podcasts. Hey there listeners! While we take a little break here, I want to tell you about another podcast that I think you'll like. It's called How I Built This, where host Guy Razz talks to founders behind some of the world's biggest and most innovative companies to learn how they built them from the ground up. Guy has sat down with hundreds of founders behind well-known companies like Headspace, Manduke Yoga Mats, Soul Cycle, and Cotopaxi, as well as entrepreneurs working to solve some of

the biggest problems of our time, like developing technology that pulls energy from the ground to heat in cool homes, or even figuring out how to make drinking water from air and sunlight. Together, they discuss their entire journey from day one, and all the skills they had to learn along the way, like confronting big challenges, and how to lead through uncertainty. So if you want to get inspired and learn how to think like an entrepreneur, check out how to be a great person.