The Daily Stoic

When everyone else seems to be abandoning their standards, what keeps you from abandoning yours? Ryan talks with USA TODAY national correspondent Rick Jervis, author of The Devil Behind The Badge, about objectivity, integrity, and how professional ethics provide stability in the middle of chaos. 

Listen to more of Ryan and Rick's conversation 👉 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Read Rick Jervis' piece on the immigrant families detained by ICE: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/01/29/immigrant-families-conditions-detention-sick-kids/88405597007/

 📚 Buy a copy of Rick Jervis’ book The Devil Behind The Badge at The Painted Porch: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/

Follow Rick on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rjervis5905/

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

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With enough practice, Seneca said, he found he could think anywhere. He could find stillness and peace anywhere.

📚 Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holiday

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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Most people think about time as something they have plenty of until they suddenly don’t. But Seneca’s warning raises a more unsettling question: how much of your life are you giving away without even realizing it?

🎥 WATCH THIS EPISODE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAIuRQ_wyeM

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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In today's episode, Ryan and Steven Pressfield discuss one of Marcus Aurelius’ most striking lines: “Life is warfare and a journey far from home.” What begins with the epigraph to Steven’s new novel The Arcadian turns into a conversation about the hero’s journey, the ideas we carry with us for decades, and reincarnation.

📚 Grab signed copies of Steven’s books at The Painted Porch:

The Arcadian

Turning Pro

Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be

The War of Art

The Daily Pressfield

The Warrior Ethos

A Man At Arms

Gates of Fire

The Virtues of War

Steven Pressfield is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. Steven wrote for 27 years before he got his first novel published. During that time he worked 21 different jobs in eleven states. Steven taught school, drove tractor-trailers, worked in advertising and as a screenwriter in Hollywood. He worked on offshore oil rigs, and picked fruit as a migrant worker.

Follow Steven on Instagram | @steven_pressfield

Check out more of his work on his website: https://stevenpressfield.com/

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

🎥 VIDEO EPISODES| Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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Before you trust your first reaction, assumption, or opinion, the Stoics would tell you to do a few things first. In this bonus episode, Ryan breaks down five rules for thinking more clearly.

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

🎥 VIDEO EPISODES| Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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These things happen to people…therefore they could happen to you. 

📔 Pick up your own leather bound signed edition of The Daily Stoic! Check it out at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

🎥 VIDEO EPISODES| Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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We may not control what happens to us, what other people decide, or what circumstances take away. But we can still choose what we believe, how we respond, and who we become.

💡 We designed our How To Read Epictetus (A Daily Stoic Guide) as a personal field guide —part book club, part masterclass, part daily practice. It’s designed to help you not just read the words of Epictetus, but live them—to turn his timeless wisdom into real change in your own life and the lives of those around you.

And if you get the guide before August 26th, you’ll receive a private invitation to an exclusive LIVE Q&A with Ryan Holiday, where he’ll go deep on all things Epictetus, Stoicism, and how to apply these ideas right now, in today’s world. Head to dailystoic.com/epictetuscourse to learn more and get your book, guide, and bundle today!

👉 Get How To Read Epictetus (A Daily Stoic Guide) & all other Daily Stoic courses for FREE when you join Daily Stoic Life | dailystoic.com/life

Watch the video of Ryan recommending books to Shawn Ryan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr2-pzzfUJc

Check out Ryan's full appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show | Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube

📚 You can grab a copy of each book Ryan recommended to Shawn Ryan at The Painted Porch: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/

✉️ Sign up for Ryan’s free monthly reading list newsletter: https://ryanholiday.net/reading-list/

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

🎥 VIDEO EPISODES| Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

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To enter into another person’s mind, even for a moment, we first need to get out of our own head.

📚 Books Mentioned:

Working by Robert Caro

Art of Happiness by Epicurus

Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

🎥 VIDEO EPISODES| Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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Why is that self-command and self-knowledge so elusive? How can we find it?

💡 We designed our How To Read Epictetus (A Daily Stoic Guide) as a personal field guide —part book club, part masterclass, part daily practice. It’s designed to help you not just read the words of Epictetus, but live them—to turn his timeless wisdom into real change in your own life and the lives of those around you.

And if you get the guide before August 27th, you’ll receive a private invitation to an exclusive LIVE Q&A with Ryan Holiday, where he’ll go deep on all things Epictetus, Stoicism, and how to apply these ideas right now, in today’s world. Head to dailystoic.com/epictetuscourse to learn more and get your book, guide, and bundle today!

👉 Get How To Read Epictetus (A Daily Stoic Guide) & all other Daily Stoic courses for FREE when you join Daily Stoic Life | dailystoic.com/life

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

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Keith thought he knew what his purpose was. Then his daughter got sick, his life took an unexpected turn, and Stoicism was put to a test he never expected.

If Keith’s story has inspired you to share your journey with Stoicism, please email an audio recording to [email protected] for the chance to be featured on a future episode!

💡 Modern Stoics are parents, athletes, entrepreneurs, soldiers, artists, students. They are busy, curious, principled people who want to do more than talk about virtue—they want to live it. And they want to do it with others who share that aim. Join The Daily Stoic Life community today: dailystoic.com/life

🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/

🎥 VIDEO EPISODES| Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos

✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.