We Are Not In Decline | Ask Daily Stoic

A Sense of Urgency | Following The Doctor’s Orders

In the kitchen at Per Se, one of the best restaurants in the world, there is a sign. All it says is: A Sense of Urgency. That’s what a great...

Pursue Excellence, Not Credit

Perhaps you remember reading The Odyssey in high school or college (or possibly you picked upEmily Wilson’s fabulous new translation at the P...

Thomas Ricks on the Greatest War in American History

Ryan talks to Thomas Ricks about his new book Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968, the philosophica...

Why We Admire Marcus Aurelius | Ancient Strategies For Finding Happiness

Marcus Aurelius was smart. He was rich and powerful. He won wars and conquered territories.But that doesn’t explain why we are still talking...

We Are Not Alone | Accepting What Is

Ghosts are, of course, a silly thing to believe in (Athenodorus’ ghost story notwithstanding). Yet the Stoics would not have scoffed at Elean...

The Professional — An Excerpt from Steven Pressfield’s “Turning Pro”

In this excerpt Steven talks about the difference between an amatuer and a professional, the qualities that a professional expresses, and he...

Atticus the Poet on Modern Media and Remaining Anonymous

Ryan talks to the anonymous Instagram poet Atticus about how modern media has distorted old ideas, his experience meeting the Dalai Lama, the...

More Often Than Not | Ask Daily Stoic

The Stoics were not perfect. Nothing illustrates this more than Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. Why would Marcus have to write reminders about...

We Don’t See The Full Picture | We Reap What We Sow

History is a lie. It is written by the victors, as the saying goes. Which means the picture it produces is inherently biased by a particular...

Stoicism Is Not A Form Of Self-Flagellation

Seneca was a very rich man. He had nice stuff. Critics at the time, and ever since, have found this to be indisputable proof of his hypocrisy...

Kamal Ravikant on Facing Death and Loving Yourself

This episode comes out for free on 10/26/22. Ryan talks to author and investor Kamal Ravikant about his recent near death experience, why the...

It’s Beyond Arrogant | 6 Insanely Useful Stoic Questions

Human beings have been putting things off for as long as there have been things to do. We tell ourselves we’ll do it when we’re older, after...

This Book Was Not Meant For Us | Build Up, Don’t Tear Down

There are very few books like it. Certainly, none written by someone in such an unusual position.You see, Meditations was not meant to be a b...

Musonius Rufus Stoic Fragments: PT 1

This episode comes out for free on 10/23/22. Today’s episode features two sections from the lesser known Musonius Rufus Stoic Fragments: That...

Maya Smart on Transforming Education and the Power of Reading

This episode comes out for free on 10/22/22.Ryan talks to Maya Smart about her new book Reading for Our Lives: A Literacy Action Plan from Bi...

The Truly Wise Make Time For Leisure | Ask Daily Stoic

Leisure is one of those words that modernity has terribly corrupted and misused. When most people hear it we think of lounging around doing n...

Is The World Going Through Hell? | Marks Of The Good Life

“It’s tough to be alive now,” the actor Timothée Chalamet recently said. “I think societal collapse is in the air — it smells like it.”It’s o...

Is it Evil or Incompetence?

People do a lot of things that feel mean. That frustrate us. That cause problems for us. That make the world a worse place. They vote for bad...

Annie Duke on Knowing When to Quit

Ryan talks to World Series of Poker champion Annie Duke about her new book Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, the power of walking...