The Daily Stoic

The small, deliberate acts of journaling, reading, and meditating—these are not just habits but rituals that fortify the soul and create the steady hand we reach for when everything else falters.

The definition of insanity, they say, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. What could this year be if you finally lived up to your potential?Daily Stoic New Year, New You Challenge | 3 weeks of ALL-NEW, actionable challenges, presented in an email per day, built around the best, most timeless wisdom in Stoic philosophy, to help you create a better life, and a new you in 2025. Why 3 weeks? Because it takes human beings 21 days to build new habits and skills, to create the muscle memory of making beautiful choices each and every day.Head over to dailystoic.com/challenge today to sign up.

Stoicism and Iron Maiden may seem like an unlikely duo, but there is a surprising number of philosophical lessons the heavy metal band has taught Ryan Holiday.

While women have made incredible strides over the past few decades, men have found themselves stuck in a tornado of confusion and disinformation around what masculinity means. Today, Ryan talks with Richard Reeves, author of Of Boys and Men and President of the American Institute for Boys and Men, about why helping one gender won’t hurt the other, how the educational system is failing men, and what the biggest misunderstandings are about gender dynamics. Richard Reeves is author of Of Boys and Men, President of the American Institute for Boys and Men, and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Follow Richard on Instagram and X @RichardVReeves Check out Richard’s substack: https://ofboysandmen.substack.com/

The more you are content with your surroundings, whatever they are, the more power you have.

It’s not about abundance. It’s about nourishment, inspiration, guidance, reassurance, clarity.Check out AJ Jacobs' podcast The Puzzler!

The First Step Act in 2018 included provisions for non-violent federal inmates to petition for early release or reductions in their sentences. How to determine whether to grant or deny those requests is what U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block explores in his new book, A Second Chance, which features his experiences with six prisoners who came to him asking for their release. Judge Frederic Block talks to Ryan on today’s episode about how he morally views his role as a judge, why the First Step Act is crucial with the federal inmate population, and his life as a working judge at 90 years old. Judge Frederic Block is a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of New York. He has been at the forefront of the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice bill aimed at reforming federal prisons and decreasing the federal inmate population. Judge Block is the author of several books, including his memoir Disrobed, the reality-fiction novel Race to Judgment, and his most recent book  A Seco

A Stoic will flip-flop…if the facts demand it. A Stoic will give up…if they’ve been going the wrong direction.✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

Find ways to be of service. Find ways to pay forward the acts of charity and grace that we would not be here without.Locate a blood bank near you: redcrossblood.org

The great fortune of Marcus Aurelius' life, he says at one point in Meditations, is not just that he himself has never known serious want, it’s that he’s been lucky enough to be able to help so many people.Rather than give in to the materialism and selfishness of Cyber Monday, we’re teaming with Feeding America to contribute to something larger than ourselves. Help us reach our goal of feeding THREE MILLION people, every $1 donated is at least 10 meals. Donate at dailystoic.com/feedingIf you live outside the U.S., check out Action Against Hunger—the global humanitarian organization that fights against hunger across nearly 50 countries. Head here to donate.

Those of us who have been blessed—whether it be love, time, or resources—have an opportunity and responsibility to share it with others. The more we give, the more we will receive.Join us in our annual Daily Stoic fundraiser for Feeding America! Every year instead of contributing to the corporate indulgence of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we encourage our listeners to make a donation. Every $1 donated helps provide at least 10 meals, just head over to dailystoic.com/feed.

There have been few changes and additions to the United States Constitution since it was ratified in 1788, despite life being wildly different now a few centuries later. To really put the document into a modern perspective, author AJ Jacobs decided to literally live by the Constitution for a full year and documented the experience in his new book The Year of Living Constitutionally. In today’s episode, AJ spoke with Ryan about his inspiration for the book,  the contradictions of the Founding Fathers, and the evolution of Presidential power. AJ Jacobs is a New York Times Bestselling author, journalist, lecturer, host of The Puzzler podcast, and self-proclaimed “human guinea pig”. Check out his latest book The Year of Living Constitutionally! Pick up a signed copy of AJ Jacobs’ book, The Year of Living Constitutionally at The Painted PorchFollow AJ Jacobs on Instagram @AJJacobsInc and X @AJJacobs. Check out AJ’s podcast The Puzzler!

While some of us sit here with stomachs filled with as many Thanksgiving foods as we could manage, there are those feeling the rumblings of an empty stomach. According to Feeding America, 1 in 7 people in the United States face hunger today, and 1 in 5 are children. Join us in making a small dent in a big problem at dailystoic.com/feeding This year we are personally putting up the first $30,000, with our overall goal to raise $300,000. Every dollar we raise provides 10 meals, so if we hit our goal, that will be three MILLION meals!Do you live outside the US? Check out Action Against Hunger—the global humanitarian organization that fights against hunger across nearly 50 countries. Donate here: https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/

As you gather around your family and friends this Thanksgiving, of course, appreciate it and give thanks for all the obvious and bountiful gifts that moment presents. Just make sure that as you go back to your everyday, ordinary life that you make gratitude a regular part of it.Ask DS:How can we recognize what we are good at?We all have egos, what can we do to keep it in check? + more!Feeding America | Every year instead of contributing to the corporate indulgence of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we encourage our listeners to make a donation. Every $1 donated helps provide at least 10 meals. It only takes a little to make a big difference. We donated the first $30,000, and we’d like your help in reaching our goal of $300,000. Just head over to dailystoic.com/feed and together we can make a significant dent in a big problem.

Every year instead of contributing to the corporate indulgence of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we encourage our listeners to make a donation. Every $1 donated helps provide at least 10 meals. It only takes a little to make a big difference. We donated the first $30,000, and we’d like your help in reaching our goal of $300,000. If we hit that goal of $300,000, it would provide over 3 MILLION meals for families across the country. Just head over to dailystoic.com/feed and together we can make a significant dent in a big problem. As Seneca reminds us, intention and attitude are central aspects in giving. Your donations show those in need that someone else cares, that someone else is by their side—just like the loved ones around your dinner table who have been by your side over the years.

When we do good, we don’t need to ask for more, because practicing virtue is its own profound return.

It’s weird. It’s unnatural. It’s not how you’d like things to be. But so what? Welcome to life. ✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

Eternal fame doesn’t even last. So what should we prize instead?

Forget goals. Be Every Day.

Stoicism is no different than working out or journaling—it is a daily practice that we lean on to overcome the obstacles we face every day. As a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist and trainer, Donald Robertson has given readers a unique perspective on the benefits of applying ancient philosophy  to our everyday lives in his work, including his recent book How To Think Like Socrates. Today, Donald and Ryan continue their conversation about cognitive flexibility, what Socrates and the Stoics teach us about handling uncertainty, and how Stoicism is making waves in modern day psychotherapy practices.  Donald is a writer, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist and trainer. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH). Donald specializes in teaching evidence-based psychological skills, and is known as an expert on the relationship between modern psychotherapy (CBT) and classical Greek and Roman philosophy.