The Daily Stoic - If You Want To Be Great...

Episode Date: March 9, 2021

“You can’t find a single page in Meditations where you get the sense that Marcus was attuned to his extraordinariness. There’s nothing about a legendary moment of courage on the battlefield. Nothing about a remarkable imparting of wisdom to a young politician at the perfect time. Nothing about a spectacular display of patience in the courtroom.”Ryan discusses the Stoic’s formula for greatness, and launches his new book The Boy Who Would Be King, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast.The Boy Who Would Be King is out today, written by Ryan Holiday in the depths of the pandemic (not unlike the one Marcus ruled through), this new beautifully crafted book is available now. Go to dailystoic.com/king to order now and you’ll automatically get the free audiobook.***If you enjoyed this week’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: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: 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.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stood Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wundery's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target. The new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. on music or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Daily Stood Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom every day 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 dailystowout.com. If you want to be great, you can't find a single page in Marcus Aurelius' meditations

where you get the sense that Marcus was attuned to his extraordinaryness. There's nothing about a legendary moment of courage on the battlefield, nothing about a remarkable imparting of wisdom to a young politician at the perfect time, nothing about a spectacular display of patience in the courtroom. He doesn't talk about his power, he doesn't talk about how brilliant he was, and he was brilliant. He doesn't talk about his legacy, and if we could talk to him today, he'd push back on being considered remarkable. Me? Great. I'm just doing my job. That's what he would say. To Marcus, his temperance,

his courage, his justice, his wisdom, none of these were remarkable. They were his duty, his obligations as a person. He was too busy doing them to think about them, let alone want to be recognized, or celebrated for them. Concentrate on what you have to do, he told himself, fix your eyes on it. Remind yourself that your task is to be a good human being. Remind yourself what nature demands of people, then do it without hesitation. That's what he wrote. So remind yourself of this too if you want to be great, do your job. Focus on your task. Ignore everything else. Push ego away. Fight as Marcus Aurelia says, to be the person philosophy wants you to be, fix your eyes, be a good person, do your duty, be great. When Marcus talks about fighting to be the person

philosophy wants him to be, where did he learn that? He learned it as a boy. And that's what I write about in the boy who would be King. And today is the day it's out, it's available, you can order it here in the Daily Stoke Store, we have sign copies, we'll even give you an audio book for free, and it's now on Amazon as a Kindle and as a hardcover. I'm so proud of this book. I remain endlessly fascinated with Marcus Arelius' early life, because clearly it was so formative. It shaped him into being the great man he was able to be. That's what I want to help do with my kids. That's what I feel lucky enough to have had

other people do in my life, although I'm not saying I'm nearly as great. I'm just saying the early influences of my life shaped me, and I'm still trying to live up, trying to fight to be who they wanted me to be. And I'm so proud of this book. I know you'll love it. The early response has been great. If you want to support Daily Stoke or me, check it out. Go to dailystoke.com slash king or just Google the boy who would be king and get it anywhere

books or sold. Can't wait for you to check it out. If you want to be great, follow the example of Marcus Aurelius. Try to be like him. Try to be the person. Stoicism wants you to be great, follow the example of Marcus Aurelius. Try to be like him. Try to be the person stoicism wants you to be. And wishing you a great day. 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. the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.