The Daily Stoic
Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures
For centuries, all sorts of people—generals and politicians, athletes and coaches, writers and leaders—have looked to the teachings of Stoicism to help guide their lives. Each day, author and speaker Ryan Holiday brings you a new lesson about life, inspired by the thoughts and writings of great Stoic thinkers like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca the Younger. Daily Stoic Podcast also features Q+As with listeners and interviews with notable figures from sports, academia, politics, and more. Learn more at DailyStoic.com.Support the podcast and go deeper with Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content (coming soon): dailystoic.com/premium
Episodes
Mentioned books
18 snips
May 6, 2026 • 2min
They’re Not Thinking About You At All
A look at the frustrating people who take up far too much space in our minds. A Mad Men moment sets up a sharp conversation about resentment, rivalry, and wasted attention. The focus stays on protecting your peace, refusing to take things personally, and keeping your energy for what matters.
142 snips
May 6, 2026 • 20min
You Think You Want Autonomy. You Don’t. | David Epstein
David Epstein, bestselling author and journalist behind Range and Inside the Box, explores why limits can be surprisingly useful. He gets into how deadlines sharpen focus. Why too much autonomy can become a trap. How success can erase helpful boundaries. And why freedom works best inside a steady daily framework.
98 snips
May 5, 2026 • 16min
This is the Part To Love | How a Stoic Deals with Obnoxious People
A look at why loving your fate is really about embracing who hardship turns you into. Then it shifts to dealing with obnoxious, manipulative, and frustrating people without losing your character. Expect themes of patience, self-mastery, moral pressure, and turning everyday friction into practice.
56 snips
May 4, 2026 • 8min
When Your Passion Is Master of Your Reason… | We Are a Product of Our Habits
A look at how anger can overpower reason and why a simple pause can stop chaos before it starts. Ancient stories spotlight delay, self-control, and the danger of impulsive reactions. It also explores how repeated actions shape character, why bad patterns get stronger, and how opposite behaviors can help build better routines.
353 snips
May 3, 2026 • 44min
40 Hidden Lessons From Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
A fresh look at the hidden layers of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. It explores why the book changes as you change, how loneliness, plague, politics, and mortality shaped its pages, and why translation matters. Along the way, it touches on difficult people, costly principles, asking for help, and seeing the present moment differently.
40 snips
May 2, 2026 • 41min
What Comes After Surviving the Unthinkable | Kyle Carpenter
Kyle Carpenter, a medically retired Marine and the youngest living Medal of Honor recipient, talks about rebuilding life after catastrophic combat injuries. He reflects on embracing uncertainty, training through pain, and setting bold goals like skydiving and marathons. He also explores asking for help, finding purpose after service, and moral courage beyond the battlefield.
32 snips
May 1, 2026 • 5min
BONUS | Ryan Holiday's Response to Ivanka Trump
A sharp reaction to Ivanka Trump invoking Marcus Aurelius. The conversation zeroes in on Stoicism as virtue, not image management. It explores the gap between quoting philosophy and living it, why Stoicism is not emotional evasion, and how Meditations was meant as private moral training. Power, justice, and accountability stay at the center.
43 snips
May 1, 2026 • 10min
What You Need is a Small Crisis | Show, Not Tell, What You Know
A small crisis is framed as a surprising tool for focus, growth, and preparation before bigger trouble arrives. The conversation also explores why hard ideas should be lived before they are repeated. Ancient thinkers appear as vivid examples of character tested by exile, adversity, and daily practice.
24 snips
Apr 30, 2026 • 31min
The Choice That Kept Dr. Edith Eger Alive In Auschwitz
Edith Eger, Holocaust survivor, psychologist, and author of The Choice, shares the inner decisions that helped her endure Auschwitz. Marianne Engle, her daughter, adds a moving family perspective. They explore mental freedom, realism versus false hope, forgiveness, guilt, dehumanizing language, and how surviving shaped parenting and adult relationships.
21 snips
Apr 30, 2026 • 3min
Why Are You Surprised?
A sharp reflection on why bad behavior should not catch us off guard. It explores predictable rudeness, dishonesty, and inconsideration, and the emotional drain of stewing over them. It also turns to courage, discipline, and choosing kindness and self-command instead of resentment.
