Podcast appearances and mentions of Marcus Aurelius

Marriage is not the soft place. It is the furnace. Marcus said the obstacle is the way. Put marriage in that seat and the claim sharpens. The repeating argument is not blocking the path. That argument is the path applying pressure where the old pattern still runs. The night both of you go quiet after the same trigger is not failure. That silence is the curriculum arriving on schedule. The urge to leave the room or shut down is not weakness. It is the exact moment the work begins. Easy love is the story sold so people keep buying the product. Real love is continuous heat that keeps asking whether you can stay when the test looks like the same fight for the hundredth time. Soft life says cut anything heavy and protect your peace at all costs. This concept says the continuous reprimand is the only force strong enough to build a peace that can actually hold weight. One side treats friction as violence. The other treats it as the living initiation the culture stopped providing. The nervous system rewires under sustained pressure it cannot easily escape. Marriage raises the walls and makes the exit expensive so the temperature can rise high enough to force the meeting with the unfinished self. Unmarried intimacy can still teach, but the door stays easier to walk through. Most people leave the moment it stops feeling like choice. The temple will not let you hide. The mirror keeps showing the places you still abandon yourself. The furnace does not care if you are ready. The daily heat is the way. Stay long enough and the obstacle stops being the problem. It becomes the only reliable teacher left in the house. Questions to Consider: 1. The Neurobiological Reframe (Scientific & Psychological) If the brain is evolutionarily wired for homeostasis and threat-reduction, does the pursuit of an "easy, frictionless love" actually cause psychological atrophy? From a neurobiological standpoint, could life's continuous reprimand and relational friction be the exact biological catalysts required to trigger neuroplasticity and emotional maturity? 2. The Semantic Substitution (Philosophical & Authorial) If we substitute "marriage" for "obstacle" in Marcus Aurelius's famous axiom—rendering it "Marriage is the path"—does the institution cease to be a destination of safety and instead become an active, adversarial crucible? If so, is the widespread dissatisfaction with marriage rooted in a narrative error: expecting a harbor when we have actually signed up for an ocean? 3. The Metaphysical Threshold (Metaphysical & Empirical) If life is an infinite, non-terminating testing ground of your peace, boundaries, and endurance, what is the ultimate nature of the "tester"? Is the continuous reprimand an indifferent law of a chaotic universe, or is it a metaphysically responsive mirror designed to relentlessly expose the exact areas where your self-mastery is incomplete? 4. The Domestic Darwinism Paradox (Clinical & Empirical) Clinically speaking, long-term intimacy forces a confrontation with the "Shadow" of both partners. Why do we empirically observe that unmarried or less institutionalized couples often report higher temporary baseline satisfaction, while married couples face deeper existential turbulence? Is marriage inherently designed to maximize distress to accelerate individuation? 5. The Fallacy of Resignation vs. Radical Acceptance (Zen & Clinical) Where is the boundary line between the Zen practice of "stopping the fight with reality" and the clinical trap of learned helplessness? How does an individual determine if they are engaging directly with a relational obstacle to find a lesson, or if they are merely staying comfortable in a toxic cycle of "life's continuous reprimand"? 6. The Commodification of Intimacy (Authorial & Philosophic) In modern culture, love is often marketed as a consumer good that should yield maximum emotional comfort for minimal psychological cost ("Easy Love"). From an authorial and cultural critique standpoint, how has the capitalist expectation of "convenience" poisoned our capacity to view relational struggle as a sacred, non-negotiable path to wisdom? 7. The Boundary-Peace Antinomy (Psychological & Metaphysical) Can true psychological peace exist without the constant presence of an external force testing its boundaries? If peace is never tested, is it actually peace, or is it merely an fragile illusion born of isolation? Does the continuous testing of our boundaries by those we love actually define and strengthen the architecture of the soul? 8. The Ryan Holiday / Stoic Extension (Authorial & Empirical) If "what stands in the way becomes the way," then the specific, recurring argument, the mismatched libido, or the emotional distance in a relationship is not a sign of failure, but the literal curriculum. Why does empirical human behavior consistently reject this curriculum, treating relational obstacles as exit ramps rather than the engine of the relationship? 9. The Calculus of "More Trouble Than It's Worth" (Philosophical & Clinical) When a society increasingly concludes that intimate relationships are "more trouble than they are worth," what metric of "worth" are they using? If the worth is measured in hedonistic pleasure, the conclusion is correct. But if the worth is measured in existential depth, is avoiding the "trouble" of love actually a form of spiritual and psychological bankruptcy? 10. The Ultimate Zen Paradox of "Easy Love" (Zen & Metaphysical) Could the true, deepest definition of "Easy Love" be achieved only after one completely surrenders to the fact that love is inherently brutal, continuous work? Is it possible that love only becomes "easy" when we stop demanding that it be comfortable, thereby turning the obstacle entirely into the path? Why is marriage or intimate relationships often viewed as being more trouble than it's worth? Should the marriage construct of relationships be expected to be more challenging than those of unmarried couples? Could the word “obstacle” be used instead of “marriage” in the quote “The obstacle is the path?” by Marcus Aurelius? 1. If the nervous system only rewires under sustained pressure it cannot escape, what happens to a person who spends decades selecting partners who never raise the temperature high enough to force that rewiring? 2. When two people stay married through the same repeating fracture for fifteen years, is the fracture still a problem or has it become the only reliable teacher left in the house? 3. Does the cultural demand for easy love quietly train people to treat any sustained discomfort as evidence the relationship itself is defective rather than evidence the self still has work to do? 4. If the body records every completed defense as a new entry in its pain library, how many times can a couple complete the same argument before the library starts running the relationship without their consent? 5. What if the higher temporary satisfaction reported by unmarried couples is not proof of superiority but proof that the structure has not yet forced both people to meet the parts of themselves they still refuse to claim?

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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.

On today’s episode of the podcast, Roman Empire expert Jeremy Ryan Slate breaks down the rise and fall of Rome, from its origins and wars to the Roman view of Jesus and Marcus Aurelius. He also explores the parallels between Ancient Rome and modern America, including inflation and the world’s largest economies.Subscribe for more. Timecodes (Episode #180):0:00 - Start3:33 - How BIG Was the Roman Empire27:40 - Punic Wars34:07 - End of Persian War, Republic Starts to Change39:48 - 100BC - 0AD1:23:00 - How the Romans Saw Jesus1:41:05 - How Accurate Is the Movie Gladiator1:41:33 - Marcus Aurelius1:41:41 - What Made Marcus Aurelius So Special?2:02:50 - What Is Inflation?2:46:04 - Correlation to Rome and USA2:46:10 - Correlation Between Rome and US2:55:21 - World's Largest GDP'sFollow The John Rondi ShowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnrondipodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnrondipodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xuYMlfFAXUfReoHKGHjb6?si=e13220a9830e4463Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-rondi-show/id1670365515Follow Jeremy Ryan SlateInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyryanslate/Follow John RondiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnrondiTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnnyrondi#podcast #johnrondi

Steve Davis surprised himself this week by liking not one but two posts from South Australian Liberal politicians, so he called in long-time political commentator Robert Godden and geopolitics expert David Olney to ask a pointed question: is Peter Malinauskas becoming the Liberal Party’s secret weapon, not by helping them, but by driving his own supporters into their arms? The verdict: Jack Batty and Ashton Hurn are operating like grown-ups in a party otherwise described as riddled with “decrepit fossils and weird cultists,” and the conversation turns to whether Malinauskas’s drift from consensus premier to contentious premier is manufacturing the very opening they need, while the Liberals themselves remain too fractured to properly capitalise on it. From there the trio put South Australia’s Health Minister through the wringer, running his saccharine response to a horror day of ambulance ramping through The Adelaide Show’s free Spin Detector tool, which diagnoses the reply as “flooding the zone with warmth” while the union’s four specific claims quietly leave the room. This episode did not include an SA Drink of the Week segment. The conversation closes on the value, or otherwise, of protest, with Robert and David comparing Sunday’s planned Stop the Chop march to the Vietnam moratorium marches and the Arab Spring, before Steve rounds out the episode with the Musical Pilgrimage: his own new ska track, For Pete’s Sake, a “streetwise, maybe slightly embittered” take on politicians who set sail from the people who elected them. No SA Drink Of The Week this week. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: Is Peter Malinauskas A Liberal Party Asset? 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week There is no SA Drink Of The Week this week. 00:04:53 Robert Godden and David Olney Is Peter Malinauskas, without meaning to, building the Liberal Party’s next asset? That’s the question Steve Davis put to Robert Godden and David Olney after finding himself, against every instinct, liking videos from Bragg MP Jack Batty and Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn. Godden’s answer arrived with a caveat wrapped in a compliment: “it would have to be said that Ashton Hirne and Jack Batty have only a vague resemblance to the entire rest of the Liberal Party.” He rates them as two capable, switched-on operators surrounded by what he bluntly called “decrepit fossils and weird cultists” — but he’s blunt about where any Liberal opportunity is actually coming from. Asked whether there’s now something for the Liberals to seize, Godden pushed back hard on the framing: “I don’t agree with that… They’re riven with division,” pointing to a 40,000-signature petition against the premier as evidence that discontent is building on Labor’s own side of the ledger, not because of anything the Liberals have done. David Olney sharpened that point into a broader theory about how governing parties eventually lose the benefit of the doubt. “At a certain point, the ideology smells like five-day-old fish,” he said, and once a party in power starts breaking things badly enough, voters go looking for competent alternatives regardless of their politics. In this reading, Batty and Hurn aren’t succeeding because the Liberals have fixed themselves — they’re succeeding because Malinauskas’s own missteps are softening up his supporters and making them receptive to a Liberal alternative for the first time in years. Godden underlined how fragile even that is, noting a federal example where a promising, competent candidate “lasted six months before the rabble that has no chance of winning decided that they’d rather destroy it for themselves than destroy her.” The pair also dismantled the comfortable idea that Labor’s 41 per cent polling represents genuine popularity. As Godden put it, “if a 39, 40% is a big win these days, you know, two-thirds of people don’t actually want you there,” while Olney pushed further into theory, arguing that Australia’s compulsory voting system means elections are increasingly decided by negativity bias rather than enthusiasm: “more people reach decisions in politics not based on who I like, but on based on who I don’t like.” The implication, left hanging over the rest of the segment, is that if Malinauskas keeps generating reasons for his own base to switch off, Batty and Hurn may not need to do very much at all to become the beneficiaries. The discussion pivoted from parliamentary sparring to street-level action, with Steve Davis probing whether Sunday’s Stop the Chop march — protesting parkland clearing for a motorsport event — carries any real weight in 2026. Godden was characteristically unsentimental: “the only benefit you’ll get out of this march is, is publicity, and continuing to maybe foment more anger in the community, because 40,000 quite angry people won’t get it there.” Olney offered the historical counterpoint that protest’s real value in the 1960s wasn’t its immediate political impact but the fact that it taught a generation “relearning collective action, relearning organisation, relearning holding their political leaders to account” — skills he argues have atrophied in a population that has “shrunk into our little black screens.” That theme of decline without a single dramatic collapse ran through the episode’s most striking tangent, when Olney cited historians’ work dating the fall of Rome not to the sacking of the city but to the point where the empire “stopped solving more than half of its problems every year” — a shift he places somewhere between 112 and 142 CE, and which he half-jokingly maps onto Australia’s own trajectory from around 1980. Godden couldn’t resist the follow-up: does that make Malinauskas South Australia’s Trajan? “Yeah, basically,” Olney replied, before noting the state is still waiting on its Marcus Aurelius. 00:45:30 Musical Pilgrimage In the Musical Pilgrimage this week we listen to Pete’s Sake by Steve Davis & The Virtualosos. For this episode’s musical pilgrimage, Steve Davis premieres his own composition rather than paying tribute to another artist: “For Pete’s Sake,” a comedic ska track from Steve Davis and The Virtuosos, built to fuse the genre’s “upbeat, zany” energy with pointed commentary on the state government’s parklands and MotoGP saga. The song was directly inspired by the premier’s choice of language toward protesters, whom he has variously labelled “ragtag extremists” and “cultural elites,” a framing Davis skewers by noting the real elite will likely be sipping champagne in the “exclusive money can’t buy VIP areas” at the racetrack itself. As Davis puts it, sometimes many a true word is spoken in jest — and occasionally it gets sung in ska.Support the show: https://theadelaideshow.com.au/listen-or-download-the-podcast/adelaide-in-crowd/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the Greek and Roman philosophy of Stoicism has been around for millennia, author and media strategist Ryan Holiday is bringing its teachings to a modern audience by way of his popular books and his podcast, “The Daily Stoic.” He says ancient writings by the likes of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus resonate in times that feel especially chaotic. Kara and Ryan talk about why young men in particular seem drawn to Stoicism and what powerful figures in the worlds of tech, MAGA politics, and the man-o-sphere get wrong about its teachings. He tells Kara their actions frequently run counter to Stoicism's foundational tenet: our obligation and responsibility to — and with — other people. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most philosophers wrote about struggle, freedom, and resilience from a place of privilege. But one Stoic's story raises a fascinating question: what can a life shaped by hardship teach us about what it really means to be free?

“Send Coach John a message”Super short, but very powerful reminder here from Psyche Wizard (@PsycheWizard) where they shared this:  Marcus Aurelius said it right - “Discipline is the art of not betraying yourself.”  Again, it shows how throughout the history of humans being around, there have been lessons out there for such a long period of time. Yet - we all need to keep learning these things and implementing them into our lives!  Remember, have the talk with the person in the mirror about things like this.  Thanks for listening.  Please take a few moments to subscribe & share this with someone, also leave a 5 Star rating on Apple Podcasts and ITunes or other services where you find this show.  Find me on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/coachtoexpectsuccess/   on Twitter / “X”:  @coachtosuccess   and on Instagram at:  @coachjohndaly  - My YouTube Channel is at: Coach John Daly.   Email me at: CoachJohnDalyPodcast@gmail.com     You can also head on over to https://www.coachtoexpectsuccess.com/ and get in touch with me there on my homepage along with checking out my Top Book list too.  Other things there on my site are being worked on too.  Please let me know that you are reaching out to me from my podcast.  ** I would appreciate anyone to try clicking on the top of the show notes where it says "Send us a text" to leave a few thoughts / comments / questions.  It's a new feature that I'd like to see how it works. **

“The Romans did that many, many times — until normal had changed so radically that there was nothing left of the republic to protect.” — Michelle Berenfeld on getting “back to normal” Are we Rome (yet)? Michelle Berenfeld fears we are. Back in April of last year, the professor of classics at Pitzer College published “The Roman Way to Trash a Republic” in the Atlantic. And now Berenfeld has expanded her argument into Lessons from a Lost Republic, a new book about what Ancient Rome can teach us about our current American moment. There are two Romes, Berenfeld reminds us: the Roman Republic and Imperial Rome. Nostalgic tech guys like Mark Zuckerberg are obsessed with the imperial world of emperors, legions, and world domination, while the more forward-thinking founders of the American republic used imperial figures like Caesar and Augustus as negative lessons from antiquity. Asking whether Trump is Roman is like asking whether the Pope is Catholic. Certainly he's a wannabe Caesar with his fleshy face on our currency, his imperial DC arch, his daily wars, and all those fake blood sports on the White House lawn. But the daily comedy show misses the longer-term political tragedy. Berenfeld fears the shift in power from Congress toward an imperial presidency, a trend she says predates Trump and will outlast him. The gravest Roman conceit was believing, after each crisis, that things could get “back to normal” — a mantra Roman citizens repeated endlessly until there was nothing left of the old republic to protect. Then there's Zuckerberg, who even named his daughters August and Aurelia. For Zuck, Augustus should be praised for doing “tough things” to usher in two centuries of peace and prosperity. But Berenfeld reminds us those tough things included drawing up enemies lists and killing everyone who crossed him. Meanwhile, this supposed peace and prosperity (de)generated the rule of Caligula and Nero. Augustus, Berenfeld argues, was one of history's great spin doctors, claiming to be restoring a corrupted republic while simultaneously dismantling it. No wonder, perhaps, Zuckerberg admires him so much. Berenfeld says that the Roman spectacle of “bread and circuses” should be a warning. Juvenal's complaint was that Romans traded their liberties for gladiatorial games and free grain. We're making the same trade in contemporary America, Berenfeld observes, and getting neither. Most Americans, she concludes sadly, can't even afford a World Cup ticket. Berenfeld's deepest lesson is about power and political agency. Political powers given up are not easily gotten back, she warns. Republics are not saved by Hollywood-style saviors, and there is no golden age to restore. That said, the Los Angeles-based classicist hasn't completely given up hope. Nothing about Rome's trajectory was inevitable, she reminds us. Remixing Benjamin Franklin, the American Republic is ours to keep, if we use our agency as citizens. Just don't tempt fate by naming your daughters August and Aurelia. Five Takeaways •       The Founders' Rome vs the Bros' Rome. Americans are obsessed with the wrong Rome. The TikTok meme, the billionaires, and the manosphere celebrate the empire — emperors, legions, gladiators, world domination — while the founders admired the republic: 500 years of government founded on the rejection of a king, with rule of law, guaranteed rights, and peaceful transitions of power, all rare in antiquity. They designed the American constitution in explicit dialogue with Rome's collapse, asking “what if someone like Sulla or Caesar got this position?” — and regarded the men the bros now worship as usurpers and dictators. Polybius' mixed constitution — part monarchy (consuls), part aristocracy (Senate), part democracy (assemblies) — became their template of checks and balances. A republic, as Franklin warned, if you can keep it.•       On the Nose — and Beside the Point. Trump's Romanism is almost comical: his face on coins, a triumphal arch, blood sport performed on the White House lawn. But Berenfeld's book — which she didn't want to be about Trump at all — argues the real Roman echo is structural: a Senate voluntarily handing its powers to one man, a trend that predates Trump and will outlast him. The gravest error is the “back to normal” fallacy: after each crisis, the Romans told themselves the republic had survived and things could return to normal — many, many times, until normal had shifted so radically that there was nothing left to protect. America's dichotomy of denial and despair repeats it: blaming everything on one president gives cover to everyone else who is ceding, normalizing, and waiting for the storm to pass.•       Bread, Circuses — and Neither. Juvenal's famous sneer, decoded: the circuses were amphitheater games staged sometimes every other day; the bread was a grain allotment for every Roman citizen — in effect, Berenfeld notes, a minimum basic income, something our politics would call socialism. The Roman people traded their liberties and their republic for that package. Americans, she argues, are making the same trade and receiving neither the bread nor the circuses — no basic income, and most people can't afford a World Cup ticket. The party structure rhymes too: the populares and the optimates were both parties of very rich men competing for a few powerful positions, and eventually they looked alike to ordinary Romans — much as America's two parties have begun to look alike to ordinary Americans.•       Marcus Aurelius Was Writing His Memoirs. Every American man Berenfeld meets brings up Marcus Aurelius. The Meditations contain genuine wisdom — thoughtful action, the equal shortness of all lives — but context deflates the cult: it was the private journal of an elderly emperor, written in Greek (the language of philosophy, not of his soldiers), barely read in antiquity and rediscovered much later. “It's a little bit like when George Bush started making paintings.” Andrew's Arendtian reading — stoicism as the inward turn of men whose empire had abolished politics — hangs over the manosphere's version. And the one way she wishes Trump were more Roman: the engineering. Roman concrete got stronger underwater; on the reflecting-pool problem in DC, “if I were an ancient Roman, I could tell him — I've got a guy.”•       Powers Given Up Are Not Easily Gotten Back. The book's core warning: when a legislature grants one man powers beyond his office — always in the name of crisis — those powers stick to the office long after the man is gone, and no savior restores them. Lincoln and FDR stretched their bounds and let go afterwards (or died, as Andrew noted; she conceded). Berenfeld refuses the fascism debate — Mussolini cast himself as a new Augustus, and 1930s historians bought the story — offering a sharper test instead: would you give these powers to a president whose politics you oppose? Nero's fiddle was posthumous PR; an emperor's reputation depends on his successor, which makes the augury of a President Vance worth watching. Nothing was inevitable — not Augustus, not Christianity, not the fall. Political agency is...

Send us Fan MailThe One Virtue That Makes All the Others WorkDid you catch The Odyssey in theaters? I went with my daughter and my honey a couple weeks ago, and Christopher Nolan's version got me thinking about one scene in particular — Odysseus, tied to the mast of his own ship, choosing to hear the Sirens' song without letting it destroy him. That single choice is one of the oldest stories we have about self-control, and it's where I want to take you this week: temperance. Not the Prohibition-era, no-fun version — the real one, one of the four cardinal virtues, sitting right alongside courage, justice, and wisdom.This episode is the Siren Song of Your Cravings (And How to Outsmart It)In this episode I speak to where temperance actually comes from (hint: it's Latin for "the right amount, not too much, not too little"), why discretion and discipline live inside it, and how building my own "mast" — the pantry I don't stock, the friend I text before the hard moment, the lunch I pack before I even leave the house — beats white-knuckle willpower every time. I bring the Maesters, in Homer, the Stoics, Ryan Holiday, and Jud Brewer to make my case. In this episode of Sirens, Cravings, and the Art of Saying No Quote of the Week"Temperance puts wood on the fire, meal in the barrel, flour in the tub, money in the purse, credit in the country, contentment in the house, clothes on the back, and vigor in the body." — Benjamin FranklinCitations·       Homer, The Odyssey (epic poem, source for the Sirens/mast story I talk about)·       The Odyssey (2026 film), directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Tom Holland·       Cicero, on translating the Greek sōphrosynē into Latin temperantia·       C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Book III, Ch. 2, "The Cardinal Virtues")·       Marcus Aurelius, Meditations·       Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control·       Dr. Judson Brewer, research on craving loops (trigger–behavior–reward)·       Dwight D. Eisenhower, on freedom and self-discipline·       Benjamin Franklin, writings on the 13 virtuesLet's go, let's get it done.Get more information at: http://projectweightloss.org

This episode uses animals as a reminder to return to the present moment. Hadot and Marcus Aurelius show that life is lived only in the now, where we can think clearly, act justly, and avoid adding needless disturbance to events. Animals offer a simple model of presence: they don't argue with the past or rehearse the future, but inhabit what's directly before them.

Get 30 Days of Merlin free at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MerlinCrypto.Com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ I am diving centuries into the past to steal the ultimate self-mastery blueprints from two of history's most ruthless battlegrounds: Roman Stoicism under Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the Samurai code of the legendary, undefeated duelist Miyamoto Musashi. If you apply these philosophies blindly, you will absolutely destroy your team's culture. I break down: The "Dichotomy of Control" and why focusing on outcomes is a fast track to burnout. Musashi's brutal rule of "Accepting everything just the way it is" to dominate market chaos. The dangerous traps of emotional suppression and perfectionism that turn modern leaders into cold, isolated micromanagers. How to build "Stoic Empathy"—the rare skill of staying rock-solid under pressure while remaining deeply compassionate and connected to your team. Plus, we share three daily exercises you can start using today to train your mental muscles, guard your focus, and survive any business storm. Stop letting your ego run your business. Tune in and learn how to conquer your own mind. Enjoy! Join the Age of Radio Discord | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/EeamD8WcjN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow me on Goodpods ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://goodpods.app.link/usUyBZzhuNb⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Free Financial Consultation: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/B6nNZ2FbxbhESCHg9⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Red Wizard Gaming Society: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/9D43EszdUB⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   DM if you are interested in Life Insurance! If you or someone you know has been struggling or in crisis please call or text 988 or chat ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠988lifeline.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  

Stoicism says nobody does wrong on purpose: every bad act begins in a mistaken judgement about what is good. But does that survive contact with clear-eyed cruelty, compulsive habit and modern moral psychology?I test the claim against Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Medea, research on psychopathy and the Stoics' own internal disagreement. Then I keep the practical part that still works: catching one assent before it hardens into action.Sources and further reading:- Epictetus, Discourses 1.28 and 2.17- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.1, 7.26 and 11.18- Cicero, On Fate 42-43- Aharoni, Sinnott-Armstrong and Kiehl, “Can Psychopathic Offenders Discern Moral Wrongs?” (2012)- Aharoni, Sinnott-Armstrong and Kiehl, “What's Wrong? Moral Understanding in Psychopathic Offenders” (2014)- Kühn and Gallinat, “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption” (2014)- Grubbs et al., “Pornography Problems Due to Moral Incongruence” (2019) Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.coThe Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

Marcus Aurelius' life looked nothing like ours, but the habits that kept him grounded still work today. In this episode, Ryan breaks down the daily practices Marcus used to stay focused, disciplined, humble, and present, and how you can apply them to your own life.

Today we explore wisdom. Not the "don't put tomatoes in a fruit salad" kind. Serious business wisdom.It turns out, the wise tend to converge on understanding the world in a similar way.In the 20th century, philosophical titans saw this convergence. They look back to the original seers of wisdom and see in them parallels that run so deep, that upon deep contemplation of these philosophies, they found a "highest common factor," including among:Epicteus, Marcus Aurelius, and the StoicsPlato, and various Neoplatonists such as PlotinusSpinoza, SchopenhauerPossibly Hegel, Wittgenstein, though they are famously difficult to interpretJiddu KrishnamurtiLao Tzu, who authored the Tao Te ChingALso Chuang Tzu and Lieh TzuJewish philosophers such as Philo of AlexandriaSufi mystics of Islam, most famously Jalal al-Din RumiJesus of NazarethSt. PaulMeister Eckhart, the mystic Christian St. Jon of the CrossHinduism:The Sages of the UpanishadsAdi Shankara's The Crest-Jewel of WisdomThe Bhagavad GitaThe BuddhaParticularly Zen masters who followedVarious SutrasThe Bardo ThodolIt is the Perennial Philosophy. I call it the One Wisdom. Huxley called it the “Highest Common Factor” of universal truth.SOURCESCamus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. 1942.Huxley, Aldous. The Perennial Philosophy. Harper & Row, 1945.John of the Cross, St. Dark Night of the Soul (La noche oscura del alma).Jung, C. G. Letters, Volume 1: 1906–1950. Princeton University Press.Kahan, Dan. Identity-protective cognition research (cross-referenced, this project).Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (Liuzu Tan Jing).Polanyi, Michael. Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. University of Chicago Press, 1958.Polanyi, Michael. The Tacit Dimension. Doubleday, 1966.Tolle, Eckhart. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. Dutton, 2005.Tao Te Ching (Laozi).Watts, Alan. Become What You Are. Shambhala, 1995 (essays, 1930s–1950s).Watts, Alan. Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide-and-Seek. Sounds True, 2017.Watts, Alan. The Wisdom of Insecurity. Pantheon, 1951.Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. 1921.Wright, Robert. Why Buddhism Is True. Simon & Schuster, 2017.Xiangyan Zhixian — traditional Chan/Zen biographical account (Tang dynasty, c. 820–898).Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), "On the Equality of Things" ("Discussion on Making All Things Equal").Bible. Job 42:5–6; Luke 15:11–32 (KJV).Bhagavad Gita, 2.47.Ovid. Metamorphoses.McGilchrist, Iain. The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. Yale University Press, 2009.Miles Kington. Quoted in The Independent (UK), Mar 28, 2003. Joseph Campbell. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Pantheon, 1949 — "Freedom to Live," Stage 17. Eckhart Tolle. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. New World Library, 1997 Ramana Maharshi, quoted in Ram Dass, "Dying Is Absolutely Safe"Alan Watts, Become Who You Are. Sam Harris, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. Dalai Lama & Paul Ekman, Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion. Times Books, 2008Emmet Fox, The Sermon on the MountErnest Kurtz & Katherine Ketcham, The Spirituality of Imperfection. BantamByron Katie, Loving What Is. Harmony, 2002. Diana Chapman & Jim Dethmer (with Kaley Klemp), The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership. 2014.Epictetus, Discourses / Enchiridion.Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.Plato, RepublicPlotinus, The Enneads.Spinoza, EthicsSchopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation.Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit. Jiddu Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known Philo of Alexandria, On the Creation of the World. 1 Corinthians 1:20, 1:25, 3:19 — "the wisdom of the world is foolishness"John 14:6 — "I am the way, the truth, and the life." John 8:12 — "I am the light of the world."Galatians 2:20 or 2 Corinthians 5:17 -- "in Christ" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Manufacturing Quiet TuesdaysNational Emergency Management Awareness Month, and a Confirmed Administrator at LastHost: Todd T. DeVoe, CEM Runtime: 11:45 Recorded: August 8, 2026SHOW NOTESAugust is National Emergency Management Awareness Month, and this year it arrives alongside news the field has waited two years to hear. On Friday, August 7, the Senate confirmed Cameron Hamilton as Administrator of FEMA, part of a block of 74 nominations. After two years of acting titles and senior officials performing the duties of, there is a name on the door that stays there.Todd DeVoe uses the occasion for something other than policy analysis. This one is a thank you. Not the conference kind. The real one.He works through the profession person by person. The one-person department that also serves as the planning section, the logistics section, and the PIO. The planner who has read the same evacuation annex forty times, looking for the change that will matter, and who will never be told it worked. The duty officer at two in the morning, with the full picture assembled by four. The recovery specialist is still sitting at a kitchen table over a three-year-old declaration. The exercise designer who wrote a scenario meant enough to embarrass people, because an exercise that everybody passes taught nobody anything. The FEMA staff who stayed through the uncertainty. And the twenty-six-year-old, at their first activation, convinced everyone else in the room that they knew something they did not. They do not. Everybody is reading the same situation report.Then the harder part. This profession's best work is invisible by design. The evacuation goes smoothly, and there is no story. The warning goes out early and the numbers stay low. Success is indistinguishable from a quiet Tuesday. Todd reaches for Marcus Aurelius on the vine that produces grapes and does not go looking for applause, and lands on what Awareness Month is actually for: not asking for credit, but explaining what the quiet costs and who pays for it, so the October budget conversation goes a little easier.The last thank you goes to the families. The empty chair at dinner. The eleven-word activation text that reorganizes a week. The skill of falling back asleep after the duty phone rings at three. And the thing most people miss entirely is being the first responder to the responder who came home from a bad one and could not yet talk about it. There is no ICS position for that. Maybe there should be.CHAPTERS00:51 The Senate confirms Cameron Hamilton as FEMA Administrator02:56 Doc, welcome back. Why a permanent name on the door matters03:07 Awareness Month, year two, and the traction it has built04:08 Thank you, department by department06:13 To the ones who are new: stay06:40 When you do your best work, nothing happens07:05 Marcus Aurelius and the business of manufacturing quiet Tuesdays07:58 To the spouses, partners, and kids09:26 A wildland firefighter son, and both sides of that door09:42 Not a profession in decline. A profession that took a hit and stayed on its feet10:52 Your assignment for the rest of AugustYOUR ASSIGNMENTIt takes about four minutes. Find one person in this field whose work you have benefited from and tell them. Not on social media. Call them, and name the specific thing they did. Then find one family member, yours or someone else's, and thank them for the hours that got taken from them.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEIAEM launched National Emergency Management Awareness Month in August 2025.Auburn, Washington signed its proclamation on August 3.San Bernardino County is running a campaign called Behind the Ready.Senate confirmation of Cameron Hamilton, August 7, 2026, in a block of 74 nominations, 51 to 47. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emnetwork.substack.com/subscribe

Bobby Knight once said that "Basketball is the most overcoached and undertaught game in the world", and in many ways, Coach Knight was exactly right. In today's podcast, we talk about the warning signs of overcoaching, ways you can not overcoach and practices that will help you and your team grow! In addition, we've got a great quote from Marcus Aurelius (again) and a study of the "Zen Master" himself, Phil Jackson. Enjoy!

One sentence from Marcus Aurelius made Tom Junod circle it three times, star it, and dog-ear the page. In this episode, Ryan talks with the acclaimed writer about reading Meditations for the first time, why Marcus still feels so modern, and the line he can't stop thinking about.Tom Junod is senior writer for ESPN, where his work has won an Emmy and the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. He is a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing, and a winner of the James Beard Award for essay writing. Previously he was a staff writer at GQ and Esquire. The film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was based on his article in Esquire. Grab signed copies of In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man by Tom Junod at The Painted Porch | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/Follow Tom on Instagram | @tom_junod

This is what it is to be a human. Some of it good, some of it better to resist. But it's the rhythm of life, the bleeding of eras, one into the other.

One thing almost every great goal is missing? A Plan B.Whether you're going vegan, strength training, starting a business, or cutting back on alcohol, most of us have only ever had Plan A: perfection. And when it cracks — it always does — we don't slow down. We stop.Stop planning only for perfection. Start planning in advance for reality - YOUR reality.  Just like professional educators.Mentioned in this episode• Sid Garza-Hillman — MOTT: "most of the time” • Marcus Aurelius: "You have to assemble your life yourself, action by action.” • Day-tight compartments (Dale Carnegie) • The abstinence violation effect (relapse research) • Rigid vs. flexible dietary restraintHaving a clear Plan B isn't planning to fail — it's the reason you won't.  Plan B is there to jump in the moment you'd usually give up so you keep making progress.Subscribe & Review:If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us grow and share the message of plant-based living with more listeners.For more information, to submit a question or topic, or to book a free 30 minute Coaching session visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠veganatanyage.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠info@micheleolendercoaching.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music, Production, and Editing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Charlie Weinshank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For inquiries email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠charliewe97@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Virtual Support Services: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://proadminme.com/⁠

We are 1/4th of the way through this crazy idea! Around a week ago, we discussed the struggles of handling success, so today, we flip that on its head and discuss what to do and how to handle failure. Our lives are not linear; life (and basketball) will trip us up, so today is all about why failure is necessary for growth, how to react to it and the mental approach we need to take even before the season starts. In addition, we have a great quote from Marcus Aurelius and a discussion on perhaps the greatest coach in NBA history, Gregg Popovich.

Marcus Aurelius was not satisfied just getting the gist of Epictetus' powerful teachings and you shouldn't be, either.

Rome didn't fall because it ran out of great men. It fell because it reached a point where being great simply wasn't enough anymore.Marcus Aurelius was arguably the most competent emperor Rome ever produced. Stoic philosopher trained from childhood. Disciplined administrator. Physically brave general who spent over a decade personally commanding the Danube frontier through the winters. If you designed a system to produce the ideal leader, Marcus is what it looks like when the system works exactly right.And during his reign (161-180 AD), all three fault lines of the Roman system opened at the same time for the first time in history. The Antonine Plague — likely smallpox — arrived in 165 and killed somewhere between 5 and 10% of the empire, hitting the army disproportionately. The Marcomannic Wars broke on the Danube in 166 and never stopped for the rest of his life. In 175, one of his own most trusted generals declared himself emperor on nothing more than a false rumor that Marcus had died.Marcus responded exactly right at every turn. He sold imperial jewelry to pay soldiers rather than debase the currency. He held the frontier personally for a decade. He put down the Cassius revolt without civil war. He knew, from his Stoic training and his study of Roman history, exactly what was happening to him. And he still couldn't stop it.This is Episode 111 — the transitional episode between the "Life After the Fall of Rome" series and the upcoming Roman Republic series. It's the moment where the pattern first becomes visible at the peak of the empire. And the answer to "why couldn't Marcus stop it" is: the fault lines were built into the Roman model centuries before Marcus was born. To understand where they came from, we have to go back to the Republic. That's where we're headed next.CHAPTERS:00:00 The Philosopher-Emperor Writing While Losing03:11 The Peak Marcus Inherited (Adoption Succession)06:17 The Three Fault Lines Open at Once (161 AD)06:41 Money: The Antonine Plague Breaks the Economy09:58 Borders: The Marcomannic Wars Begin12:57 Power: The Avidius Cassius Revolt (175 AD)14:55 Why Marcus Could See the Pattern16:24 The Meditations as a Diagnostic Document18:07 Commodus: The Succession Failure22:06 The 23-Year Record: Right Decisions, Wrong Direction24:32 Modern Parallel: Competent People in Failing Systems26:31 What Comes Next: Back to the RepublicSOURCESMarcus Aurelius, Meditations — Books 2, 4, 6, and 12 — the private notebooks written on campaignCassius Dio, Roman History — Books 71-72 covering Marcus's reign, contemporary-adjacentHistoria Augusta — "Life of Marcus Aurelius" — later and often unreliable but useful for details like the Trajan Forum auctionAnthony Birley — Marcus Aurelius: A Biography — the definitive modern biography, thorough on campaigns and successionMary Beard — SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome — for the sharp point on adoption succession being biology-driven rather than principledKyle Harper — The Fate of Rome — essential for the Antonine Plague context and demographic collapse argumentPeter Heather — The Fall of the Roman Empire — for the ongoing money/borders/power framework consistencyWalter Scheidel — demographic modeling of the Antonine Plague

This episode is a replay from The Existential Stoic library. Enjoy! What is Stoicism? Why does Stoicism matter? In this episode, Danny and Randy discuss why Stoicism matters.Subscribe to ESP's YouTube Channel! Thanks for listening!  Do you have a question you want answered in a future episode? If so, send your question to: existentialstoic@protonmail.com 

https://eggshelltherapy.com/podcast-blog/2026/07/30/frank/If you have searched for help with anxiety or overthinking, YouTube has probably offered you ten Stoic principles that will change your life, or Taoism explained as going with the flow, sometimes in an approximation of Alan Watts's voice.My guest is Frank P. Saunders Jr., a philosopher who works on Chinese thought and who has spent the past couple of years making videos about philosophy and public philosophy. We began with McStoicism, the version of Stoicism made to go down easily and keep you coming back. Of the distortions he identifies, the one he thinks does the most damage is the promise that this is not difficult. When the ten tips do not work, people conclude that Stoicism does not work for them, or that they are the kind of person for whom nothing works. His formulation is that the results were overstated and the effort was understated.The second thing that gets removed is God. Surrendering to a world that is indifferent to you is a different act from aligning yourself with a world that is going somewhere.On emotions, the Stoics did say you should let go of certain feelings, but only because they thought doing so would make you a genuinely better person, someone who could not be shaken by loss or circumstance. The popular version keeps the letting go and loses the point of it. Stoicism was about becoming brave, honest, fair, and useful to the people around you. Marcus Aurelius keeps saying you do this for your community, not for your own calm. However, these are rarely mentioned online in the fast food versions of Stoicism, which ask nothing of you, though they may also give little back. The second half of our chat turns to the problems with AI-generated Alan Watts video and perennialism. Watts would tell a Taoist story, then a Zen story, then something about a Christian choir, and make them all point the same way. Frank's objection is that the traditions are not saying the same thing.On wu wei: Frank argues that nothing done at an expert level is effortless. What changes with mastery is where the effort goes, because the expert knows what to attend to.  Eggshell Therapy and Coaching: eggshelltherapy.com/Imi Lo:  imiloimilo.comSister Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Zcl8ZUsu4AePugDoWtXcgFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/eggshelltransformationsNewsletters: https://eepurl.com/bykHRzDisclaimers: https://www.eggshelltherapy.com/disclaimers  Trigger Warning: This episode may cover sensitive topics including but not limited to suicide, abuse, violence, severe mental illnesses, relationship challenges, sex, drugs, alcohol addiction, psychedelics, and the use of plant medicines. You are advised to refrain from watching or listening to the YouTube Channel or Podcast if you are likely to be offended or adversely impacted by any of these topics.Disclaimer: The content provided is for informational purposes only. Please do not consider any of the content to be clinical or professional advice. None of the content can substitute professional consultation, psychotherapy, diagnosis, or any mental health intervention.  Opinions and views expressed by the host and the guests are personal views, and they reserve the right to change their opinions. The opinions of the guest do not reflect the position of this channel or Imi. We also cannot guarantee that everything mentioned is factual and completely accurate. Any action you take based on the information in this episode is taken strictly at your own risk.  For a full disclaimer, please refer to: https://www.eggshelltherapy.c...

Marcus Aurelius lacked a freedom that we so readily take for granted...

Hey friends, Chase here. Every summer, I revisit conversations from the archive that have stood the test of time. Not because I'm nostalgic, but because the best ideas don't expire. They deepen. This is another installment of Summer School—the set of episodes I personally return to the most when I'm stuck and need something true to lean on. This one with Ryan Holiday is high on that list. I've gone back to it multiple times this year alone. Ryan is a legend—author, media strategist, New York Times bestselling writer, and the person who brought Stoic philosophy into popular culture for a generation of creatives and entrepreneurs. This conversation is from 2017, before he'd fully hit the stride we know him for now. He'd already published something like six books in five years. He was already a force. And yet you can hear, in this episode, exactly where his work was headed. What stands out isn't just marketing tactics. It's framing. Good marketing isn't only writing good copy or taking a nice product photo. It's making work that starts a discussion. It's asking better questions before you begin. And it's using your own mindset—perception, action, will—to keep going when the creative path gets hard. Those tools were spot on then. They're truer now. Nobody cares what you're thinking about doing. Talk about your ideas after you've started them and then show people what you've done. Summer School: Ryan Holiday on Stoicism, Marketing, and Creating Work That Lasts Ryan dropped out of college at 19 to work with Robert Greene, became director of marketing at American Apparel, and later built Brass Check, advising clients like Google, Tim Ferriss, and Tony Robbins. Then he did something that looked, on paper, like career suicide: he wrote Trust Me, I'm Lying—a book about how marketers, companies, and politicians manufacture and manipulate attention online. Instead of burning his marketing career down, it opened writing as a profession. He began identifying as a writer first—keeping a hand in marketing so he wouldn't only comment from the sidelines. That tension runs through the whole episode: how information spreads, what it means to compete for attention, and how to build work that doesn't disappear after the launch week. At the center is Perennial Seller—the art of making and marketing work that lasts. Not the fidget-spinner hit. Not the trend piece. The Original Pantry Cafe that never closes. The book that sells more copies year after year because it solves a real problem. The boot that gets better the longer you wear it. If you're a creator, entrepreneur, or leader trying to make something that matters—and survive the noise long enough for it to land—this episode is still one of the sharpest in the archive. What You'll Hear in This Episode Why Ryan left New York for a cattle ranch outside Austin—and how distance, physical work, and humility made him better at the cerebral work How Trust Me, I'm Lying mapped the attention economy years before "fake news" became a daily phrase Why modern marketing is less about perfect product shots and more about starting conversations A practical crash course in Stoicism: perception, action, and will Ego vs. confidence—and how to market without marketing to yourself Austin Kleon's line: you can't be the noun without doing the verb What makes a perennial seller—and why industries obsess over "new" while most of their money comes from what lasts The "other 50%": craft gets you in the door; packaging, positioning, relationships, and community finish the race Two questions before every project: Who is this for? What does this do for them? Three Stoic Disciplines for Creatives Ryan's version of Stoicism is deliberately practical. Not academic debate—the art of living. Philosophy for the role you're already in: photographer, founder, writer, leader. He walks through three disciplines: 1. Perception How do you look at the situation? Someone is rude. Your company is in trouble. Your work isn't getting seen. Do you decide it's unfair, impossible, purely negative—or do you look for what you can actually use? The Stoics' move: there's no inherent good or bad—there's how we look at things. We don't control most of what happens to us. We do control the last crucial part: what we tell ourselves it means. Marcus Aurelius did that work through writing—Meditations as a private practice of catching your own mind in the act. 2. Action Seeing differently isn't enough. What do you do with the information? Ryan's favorite cut: Casey Neistat telling someone pitching a business idea, essentially—don't tell me the idea. Tell me when you've started it, then show me what you've made. Thinking about running a marathon doesn't count. Starting does. This is the discipline that kills the fantasy. Ideas are cheap. Execution is the only proof. 3. Will How do you handle the moments when life kicks your ass and you can't reverse them? Ryan tells the Edison story: factory on fire, son shell-shocked, Edison telling him to get his mother—she'll never see a fire like this again. Even what you can't control can still transform you. Hardship is often the filter that keeps everyone who doesn't want it as badly as you do from finishing. If it were easy, there'd be more amateurs—and less value. Perennial Seller (and the Other 50%) The face-palm insight behind Perennial Seller: the New York Times bestseller list doesn't track perennial sellers—yet a huge share of publishing income comes from books that came out years or decades ago. Industry attention chases "new." Durable value often lives elsewhere. Ryan's frame for durable work is almost annoyingly clear: This is a blank that does blank for blank. Who is it for—really? Not "everyone" or "smart people." Actual humans. Where they live. What they do. What does it do for them? His editor's line: it's not what a book is—it's what a book does. Then comes Chase's "other 50%," which Ryan amplifies: making the thing is a marathon. Finishing it doesn't mean you've won. There's a second marathon waiting—marketing, packaging, relationships, platform, the bridge from your desk into someone else's life. "If you build it, they will come" has killed a lot of great work. You're not just competing with peers who launched this week. You're competing with time-tested work that already lives on Netflix, in bookstores, in cultural memory. Title, cover, logo, copy, collaborators—these aren't afterthoughts. They're part of the creative expression. Books have covers because people judge them. Your work does too. And if you're already hunting for shortcuts before you've started? That's a signal. Principles over formulas. The shortcuts get exploited the moment they work for everyone. Timecodes So You Can Jump Around 00:00 – Welcome and why this episode is part of Summer School 04:52 – Ryan Holiday joins; life on a ranch outside Austin 09:14 – From renegade marketer to writer: Trust Me, I'm Lying and how attention spreads 15:05 – Why marketing today means starting a discussion 16:58 – Stoicism as a practical art of living 21:54 – Discipline one: perception 25:34 – Discipline two: action (start it, then show it) 28:47 – Discipline three: will (Edison's fire and transforming hardship) 31:36 – Ego vs. confidence; marketing without marketing to yourself 37:01 – Fall in love with the verb, not the noun 40:14 – Perennial Seller: the art of making work that lasts 47:08 – "This is a blank that does blank for blank" 51:07 – Habits of people who make great work (editors, collaborators, objectivity) 54:47 – The other 50%: craft plus packaging, relationships, and community 01:04:35 – Frameworks: Who is this for? What does this do? 01:19:05 – Daily Stoic, memento mori, and closing thoughts Why This Conversation Still Matters In 2017, Ryan was already describing an attention landscape where your best work competes with cats, outrage, porn, fake news, and infinite other options in the feed. That landscape didn't calm down. It accelerated. What still cuts through is the opposite of trend-chasing: work built on timeless problems, principles that survive platform changes, and the humility to keep doing the verb while everyone else celebrates the noun. When I'm stuck—when the world feels noisy and my own next project feels either too precious or too thin—I come back to this episode for the same reminders: Control how you see it. Take action. Let the hard parts transform you. Ask who it's for and what it does. Don't confuse finishing the making with finishing the work. Fall in love with the craft more than the identity. And don't wait until you feel safe to do the honest version of the thing. That's why it's Summer School material. The platforms changed. The books multiplied. The stakes got louder. The questions held. Keep Going Deeper If this conversation resonates: Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts The Obstacle Is the Way Ego Is the Enemy Trust Me, I'm Lying Daily Stoic: dailystoic.com Ryan online: ryanholiday.net Follow Ryan: Website | X/Twitter | Facebook Questions to Reflect On Am I still stuck in "thinking about" the project—or have I started something I can show? Where am I treating a hard situation as a verdict, instead of as information I can act on? Am I marketing to an audience—or marketing to myself? Have I fallen in love with the noun (author, founder, photographer) more than the verb? If I had to fill in "This is a ___ that does ___ for ___," could I do it clearly—today? Where have I finished the making and abandoned the second marathon: positioning, packaging, relationships, community? Am I building on timeless problems—or on platforms and tactics that may not survive the next cycle? The Core Idea Work that lasts isn't the work that wins the news cycle. It's the work that keeps solving something real for someone specific—long after the launch adrenaline fades. Ryan's invitation in this conversation is both simple and demanding: sharpen your perception, take action before you announce, let difficulty refine you, kill the ego that wants applause without evidence, and build for durability instead of novelty. If there's one lesson worth carrying forward from this Summer School session, it's this: Make something that starts a conversation—and lasts long enough to deserve one.

Do you ever feel like you're doing everything right but are still somehow falling behind?You're following all the advice, but instead of feeling more confident, you feel overwhelmed by conflicting opinions, and anxious over what everyone else is doing with their money.In this episode, we explore lessons from two very different books: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins.We look at two habits that these books challenge. Habits that can make financial problems feel bigger than they really are and push us towards decisions that we know, deep down, won't move us towards gaining financial freedom.If market volatility, other people's success, or the fear of missing out ever cause you to question your decisions, this episode will help you approach uncertainty with clarity and calm.Covered in this episode:0:00 – Intro.1:27 – What a lot of advice gets wrong.7:06 – The Onion Man Theory: How our judgments can make problems feel bigger than they really are.13:48 – The Let Them Theory: How to stop wasting energy on things outside your control.17:42 – How to stay calm when markets fall and panic sets it.20:04 – Why outward signs of success don't always tell the full story.20:34 – How to stop FOMO from derailing your financial decisions.23:28 – Why your reaction may be creating a bigger problem than the event itself.Subscribe to Ditch The Suits on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode.LEARN MOREDitch The Suits - https://www.ditchthesuits.com/ Meditations book - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=27ti0f6UlLYC&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false The Let Them Theory book - https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Let_Them_Theory.html?id=qOErEQAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=yCONNECTTravis Maus on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/travis-maus/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4tVWSbhT5gYcXIwjUQklgw?si=04d2b1c7976a402e Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ditch-the-suits-your-money-your-life/id1551210529 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DitchtheSuits_Podcast

"...whatever you do, let your aim be goodness, goodness as it is rightly understood. Hold to this in every action..."This week, I am reading a quote from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, written around 171 AD.Reflection questions:Think about a recent setback in your campaign. What would it look like to tell your donors about it honestly, seek their advice, instead of quietly working around it?Where could a moment of openness with a donor actually deepen their trust in the project rather than shake it?Reflection on quote:Throughout this latest series, we've talked about how leading a capital campaign is like standing at the base of a mountain where the trail is obscured from view by the undergrowth of the forest and how we are called to lead that journey with integrity. Along the way, we've explored curiosity when facing scrutiny, honesty when sharing the campaign's impact, and clarity in how we communicate with our community.In this final episode, we're looking at how openness fits into that same leadership: what it means to be honest with donors about the challenges we meet along the way. On a hike, you cannot avoid every root, every loose rock, every stretch of overgrown trail. As much as we want every activity in a capital campaign to go well, that's not real life, and when something goes sideways, it's tempting to stay quiet and hope the donors and the community don't notice.But our setbacks are actually one of the best opportunities to build trust with donors if we're willing to be open about them. When we see failure during a capital campaign as an opportunity, we can hold on to that phrase, "All that happens, happens right." We don't plan for failure. But no matter how carefully we plan a campaign, some setback is inevitable. When we've led with integrity, that setback can actually move the campaign forward as long as we stay transparent and open with our donors.That brings us to the second half of the quote: "Let your aim be goodness in every action." We don't fail on purpose. Nobody plans to host a poorly attended event. Nobody hopes for a cost overrun during the construction.But failure is simply a part of capital campaigns. So we stop aiming for perfection or for looking polished, and we aim for something better: goodness, openness, transparency, doing right by the people who believe in this project and have already given to it.They want to see it thrive. They want to give advice because it's their community, too. When we are honest with them about the bumps along the way, we are not weakening the relationship. We are strengthening it.This work has entered the public domain.What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

One of history's most powerful rulers was shaped by a teacher he never met. In this episode, Ryan talks with Professor William O. Stephens about how Marcus Aurelius discovered Epictetus, why the former slave's teachings hit him so deeply, and how those ideas about freedom, power, and self-mastery helped shape the philosopher king.William O. Stephens is a philosopher specializing in Stoicism, ethics, and ancient philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and spent over 30 years teaching at Creighton University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. His work spans topics like friendship, ecology, and human nature, with a focus on Stoic thought. His latest book is Marcus Aurelius: Philosopher-King (2025), and he is also the author of Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed, Epictetus's Encheiridion: A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics, and Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom. Check out more of William Stephens' work at https://WilliamOStephens.com/

Marcus Aurelius Anderson sits down with Ed Hinman, Marine infantry officer veteran, public figure protection specialist, historian, and author of The Barbarian in You. Ed shares how his time at the Naval Academy, deployments across Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Africa, and a pivotal reckoning with ego and identity led him to build a life around three core principles: vigor, wonder, and fellowship. Drawing on history, philosophy, and hard experience, Ed makes the case that living a full life is not about optimization — it's about reconnecting with the most primal, truest parts of yourself. The conversation weaves through the creative life, the craft of writing, the mentorship of Steven Pressfield, the wisdom of Montaigne, Emerson, and Marcus Aurelius, and the courage it takes to follow what resonates rather than what looks good on paper. Episode Highlights: 1:54 - Ed and Marcus discuss the mentorship of Steven Pressfield and the discipline required to show up for the creative life 29:44 - Ed introduces his three-part philosophy of vigor, wonder, and fellowship as a framework rooted in how pre-civilized humans actually lived 49:23 - Ed recounts his Marine Corps career, the ego-driven disappointment of deployments that went nowhere, and how psychosomatic pain forced him to ask what he actually wanted 58:58 - Ed and Marcus explore the idea of listening to intuition over empirical evidence, following resonance rather than a prescribed path, and why the barbarian in you is the truest version of yourself Ed Hinman served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps, graduating from the Naval Academy and deploying five times across Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Africa before earning a master's degree in history and building a career in public figure protection with Gavin de Becker's firm. He is the author of The Barbarian in You and the founder of the Barbarian in You blog, where he writes about history, strength, friendship, and the philosophy of living with vigor, wonder, and fellowship. Visit barbarianinyou.com to find Ed's book, blog, and writings. Follow him on Instagram at ed_hinman. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When did we stop asking what we could do better and start looking for someone else to blame? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast we examine one of the most common and costly habits in modern life: the blame game, and what Stoic philosophy says about how to break it.Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode is an honest look at how blame keeps us stuck, why it feels so comfortable, and what taking real responsibility for our lives actually looks like in practice.The shift did not happen overnight. A teacher approaching retirement described how in her early years, parents would tell underperforming children to work harder. Over time, that finger moved from the child to the teacher, from the self to everything outside it. That shift is not just happening in schools. It is happening in our relationships, our careers, and our inner lives.Epictetus placed blame squarely on the discipline of assent; we are not adding the correct judgment to what is happening. The discipline of desire reminds us that chasing externals makes blaming externals inevitable. And Epictetus described three stages of progress: the beginner blames everyone else, the intermediate blames themselves, and the advanced person simply does the work.The moment you stop blaming is the moment you start growing.Support the showviastoica.comYouTube: @viastoicaProduced by: Badmic.comNote: In the episode, I attributed the three stages of blame to Marcus Aurelius. This is actually from Epictetus, Enchiridion 5. The wisdom is the same; the source just needed correcting.

This episode is a replay from The Existential Stoic library. Enjoy! Are you experiencing an existential crisis? You might feel lost, anxious, depressed, and/or hopeless. Danny and Randy discuss how to overcome an existential crisis.  Check out the Cleveland Clinic's article featured in this episode: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/ways-to-overcome-an-existential-crisis/Subscribe to ESP's YouTube Channel! Thanks for listening!  Do you have a question you want answered in a future episode? If so, send your question to: existentialstoic@protonmail.com  

Marcus Aurelius was checked by philosophy, but if he hadn't been, he could have easily been a Nero or a Caligula. The American Founders knew this well.

Send us Fan MailMost people think legacy is something you build at the end — a monument, an inheritance, a name on a building "someday." That's the first lie. The second one is even more common: legacy is what you leave behind.In this solo episode, I break down the two lies about legacy almost everyone believes — and why both of them are keeping you from building one right now.Inside this episode:• The moving-truck moment that made me question everything I'd chased• The three questions I asked myself in the field — and the sad answer to all three• Why your legacy is a Kairos problem, not a Kronos problem• What Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Deuteronomy actually say about inheritance (hint: it's not the greeting-card version)• Marcus Aurelius vs. the Spartans — and the tension that reframes how you should live today• The one question to ask yourself before you go to bed tonightIf this hit you, share it with one person who needs to hear it today.

Are you inspired by the courage and strength of our nation's heroes? This week on Acta Non Verba join us in exploring the mission of Debbie Lee, an author, public speaker, political activist and Gold Star Mom who has spent her life honoring our troops and military families. In response to her son's last letter home to "pass on the love, the kindness, the precious gift of human life," she founded America’s Mighty Warriors to provide programs that improve quality of life for our military personnel and their families. Hear her powerful story as she inspires and encourages us all with her dedication to defending our defenders and fighting for freedom. Listen in as she shares her extensive advocacy work, her faith, and the importance of resilience and courage. Lee also stresses the significance of gratitude, kindness, and confronting grief. You can learn more about Mamma Lee’s mission at https://americasmightywarriors.org Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The most powerful man in the world still needed rules to live by. In this episode, Ryan looks at the rules Marcus Aurelius seemed to return to again and again, especially when life was difficult, people were disappointing, and the responsibilities kept piling up.

The Meditations of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius are perhaps the best-selling self-help book of all time. Rooted in the rational philosophy of the Stoics, the 12 books offer a stream of personal musings on everything from cultivating self-discipline to being a successful leader. Following their episode on Resilience, Nadia, Keir and Jem offer a weird-left perspective on the Meditations, looking at their influence on western thought and current popularity among tech bros and the alt-right. Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

May the puns be with you. Shayne and Jay crack open a cold one and dig into five Star Wars quotes that hit way harder than you'd expect from a franchise with laser swords and a guy in a black helmet who breathes like he needs a nap. From Qui-Gon Jinn's focus philosophy to Leia's thoughts on hope, this round goes deep. Like, Marcus Aurelius deep.**Topics include:**Why your focus literally determines your reality (and why Anakin forgot that)Obi-Wan's "from a certain point of view" and whether that makes him a liarLeia dropping wisdom bombs in The Last JediA gut-punch quote from Andor that neither of them fully understood but loved anywayThe saddest thing Obi-Wan ever said on Mustafar**Round 321**~~~~~~~**Want more Beer Thursday?** Join the Patreon and get access to bonus content. The next 17 Patrons who sign up at the $10 level get access to the exclusive Beer Thursday Facebook group. Don't miss your spot.

Most speakers assume the flood of AI-generated content is bad news for them. In this solo episode, John Ball argues the opposite: as content gets cheaper and more abundant, a real human voice saying something only they could say becomes harder to ignore, not easier to overlook.John traces why speaking has held power for centuries, from Cicero to Churchill to Martin Luther King, and pulls in a callback to an early conversation with Stoic philosophy expert Donald Robertson on Marcus Aurelius, who treated rhetoric as a discipline rather than decoration. From there, John properly defines what a keynote actually is (and isn't), why the format exists, and why panels, workshops and webinars can't do the same job. He closes with a specific, evidence-backed prediction for where professional speaking is heading, drawing on a recent conversation with David Newman and a preview of an upcoming interview with Dominic Eldred-Earl of London Speaker Bureau.Get the email outreach templates to get you booked: https://present-influence.kit.com/96ec2d2b85In this episode:Why the post-Covid hunger for real human connection was the first sign of where this was headingWhat Marcus Aurelius and Stoic philosophy have to do with modern speakingA proper definition of a keynote, and why it varies in style but not in structural purposeWhy panels, workshops and webinars can't replicate what a keynote doesThe specific reason AI can't replace a speaker with a genuine point of viewAn early preview of what London Speaker Bureau is seeing in the market right nowChapters:0:00 Why speaking is becoming more valuable, not less1:00 The post-Covid hunger for real human connection3:00 Speaking as an ancient, powerful medium4:00 Historical speeches and why the medium still works5:00 Marcus Aurelius, Stoicism and rhetoric as discipline6:00 What a keynote actually is7:00 Why AI can't replace a real point of view8:00 What London Speaker Bureau is seeing in the market9:00 The prediction10:00 CTA and what's coming next4. FAQ Section (AI Retrieval Format)What does John Ball say about AI and the future of public speaking? John Ball argues that AI-generated content is making professional speaking more valuable, not less, because a real speaker's point of view is one of the few things AI cannot replicate.What is a keynote, according to John Ball? John Ball defines a keynote as a deliberate structural format built around one voice holding a sustained, undiluted block of audience attention, distinct from panels, workshops and webinars, though style and delivery can vary widely within that structure.Who is Donald Robertson and why does John Ball mention him? Donald Robertson is a Stoic philosophy expert and author who appeared on an early episode of Professional Speaking to discuss Marcus Aurelius' approach to rhetoric, which John Ball references as an example of speech treated as a serious discipline rather than performance.What did David Newman say about AI and content that John Ball references? David Newman argued on a previous episode of Professional Speaking that how-to content became commoditised once ChatGPT went public, leaving a speaker's way of thinking, beliefs and predictions as the remaining scarce value.Who is Dominic Eldred-Earl and what does he say about the speaking market? Dominic Eldred-Earl of London Speaker Bureau is an upcoming guest on Professional Speaking who reports that demand for professional speakers keeps increasing even as more speakers enter the market, with strong speakers continuing to get booked.Visit https://strategic-speaker.scoreapp.com to take the 2-minute Strategic Speaking Business Audit and find out what's blocking you from getting more bookings, re-bookings, referrals and bigger fees. There's a special surprise gift for everyone who completes the quiz.Want to get coached for free on the show? Fill in the form https://forms.gle/mo4xYkEiCjqtz9yP6, and if we think your challenge could help others, we'll invite you on.For speaking enquiries or to connect with me, you can email john@presentinfluence.com or find me on LinkedInYou can find all our clips, episodes and more on the Present Influence YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PresentInfluenceThanks for listening. Rating the show 5* on Spotify helps their algo recommend the show, so please take a moment to follow the show and leave a rating.

In this episode, Kurt puts Jon on the hot seat with a simple game: Was this famous person a Stoic...or not? Winston Churchill. Queen Elizabeth II. Napoleon Bonaparte. Amelia Earhart. Marcus Aurelius is too easy, so don't expect any freebies. Along the way, they separate Stoicism from simply "having a stiff upper lip," talk about why this 2,000-year-old philosophy has suddenly become fashionable again, and discover that being calm under pressure isn't the same thing as being a Stoic. It's a history quiz, a philosophy lesson, and round after round of Kurt asking, "Are you sure?" until Jon isn't.

Send us Fan MailWhat if the  to peace isn't about controlling your life, but changing your relationship with reality?In this episode, we explore one of the most challenging ideas in Stoicism through a single line from Epictetus:"Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well."At first glance, it sounds like surrender. Lower your expectations. Stop caring. Accept mediocrity.But that's not what the Stoics meant.We'll explore the difference between giving up and giving your full effort without demanding a particular outcome. Along the way, we'll examine the psychology of control, the Stoic idea of "co-fated" events, and why your actions still matter—even if the future is ultimately outside your control.We'll also discuss:Why suffering often comes from resisting reality.The difference between acceptance and passivity.Locus of control, the illusion of control, and self-fulfilling prophecies.Marcus Aurelius on why labeling outcomes as "good" or "bad" leads to resentment.Practical examples from sports, everyday life, and my own experiences.The central idea is simple:Act as though everything depends on your effort. Accept that the outcome never did.When you stop demanding reality be different, you don't become passive—you become free.

A new voluntary program at the U.S. Naval Academy is using Stoic philosophy to help midshipmen build resilience, moral clarity, and inner discipline during Plebe Summer. In this episode, we discuss how ancient ideas from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and Vice Admiral James Stockdale are being applied to modern military leadership—and why spiritual readiness may need to evolve for an increasingly diverse and less religious force.

People fall prey to the same traps—the ones that have existed since the days of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, indeed for all time.

Whenever someone does something to us—minor or major—we always have this choice.

The Strangest Secret was released in 1956. Earl Nightingale’s 35-minute, six-and-a-half-thousand-word recording was one of the earliest motivational tapes. It sold more than a million copies and became the first spoken-word recording to achieve Gold Record status. The recording was released during a period of post-war economic expansion in the United States. Consumer culture was booming, and suburban home ownership was rising. The promise of upward mobility felt tangible for a growing American middle class encouraged to live a story about abundance, opportunity, and individual advancement. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I look at some of the ideas and assumptions running through The Strangest Secret, and how they echo themes that have become deeply embedded in self-help culture over the past century. https://youtu.be/-t_aynxdw9E What interests me is less whether Nightingale’s advice works than the story he tells about success, failure, responsibility, and human potential. It’s a format followed by generations of motivational speakers, coaches, entrepreneurs, and personal development enthusiasts. It continues to influence how many of us think about ourselves and the world today. I heard about The Strangest Secret through a video by Sean Munger titled The Tools Cult: History of the Amway Motivational Tape Scam. My attention was caught by a reference to Napoleon Hill, who inspired Nightingale when he read Think and Grow Rich in 1948. That book, as well as Nightingale’s tape, became important resources on the Amway reading list. Nightingale’s Definition of Success “When we say about 5% achieve success, we have to define success, and here's the definition. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” This is a reasonable concept. To act in the service of bringing a worthy ideal into being provides a flexible definition that can be applied in many ways. Nightingale says he believes that success is a life lived with a specific sense of purpose and direction. So it’s confusing when he seems to undermine this by viewing success through a financial lens. He suggests that if you follow 100 men between the ages of 25 and 65, you would witness a desire for success at the start of life, but by the time they’re 65, one will be rich, four will be financially independent, five will still be working, and 54 will be broke. This underpins his position that only 5% of people are successful. So which is it? Being financially independent by age 65 or progressively realising a worthy ideal? Those things are not necessarily linked. An artist, a teacher, a carer, or a community organiser, and anyone who does something despite the lack of guaranteed financial reward. By Nightingale’s own definition, these people may well be successful. They are realising a worthy ideal. Yet his framework shifts from an existential definition of success to an economic one, where in reality, a person can only be deemed successful if they make lots of money. Self-Help Tropes Nightingale’s talk conforms with many of the self-help tropes we are becoming familiar with on this journey. The Secret “If you understand completely what I'm going to tell you from this moment on, your life will never be the same again. You will suddenly find that good luck just seems to be attracted to you. The things you want just seem to fall in line and from now on you won't have the problems, the worries, the knowing lump of anxiety that, perhaps, you have experienced before. Doubt, fear, well they'll be things of the past.” The idea of a secret runs through the history of self-help. There is always some missing piece, some hidden principle that, once understood and applied, will change everything. The details vary slightly from book to book, but the structure remains remarkably similar. The reader is invited to believe that happiness, peace, prosperity, confidence, healing, or fulfilment are all waiting on the other side of a single insight. It’s a compelling promise. Nice if true. Metaphor As Evidence Self-help authors often lean on metaphors in ways that make them seem like evidence for a position. Nightingale says, “People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going,” and compares successful people to ships sailing towards a predetermined destination. He then imagines a ship without a captain, crew, or destination and concludes that it will drift aimlessly. The comparison sounds persuasive until you stop and think about it. A ship is designed for a destination. Human beings are not. Some of the richest experiences in life emerge through experimentation, curiosity, accident, and changing direction. A ship without a crew and a destination isn’t fulfilling its literal purpose and reason for existing (built by humans as a logistical tool). A human is not the same. There are many reasons people choose not to structure their lives around the pursuit of goals. “The man who has no goal, who doesn't know where he is going and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion and anxiety and fear and worry, becomes what he thinks about. His life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry and if he thinks about nothing, he becomes nothing.” I would suggest that many successful people function effectively without the kind of goals Nightingale advocates. And people who have focused so obsessively on a single drive that they’ve lost important things like their health, relationships, and meaningful hobbies. Cherry-Picked Quotes Like many self-help authors, Nightingale draws on the authority of famous thinkers. One example is his quotation of Marcus Aurelius: “a man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.” I couldn’t find this in any of the translations of Meditations I checked, suggesting it is more likely a paraphrase than a direct quotation. The same pattern appears in his use of William James. Nightingale focuses on James’s claim that if you wish to be rich, learned, or good, you can become those things. “If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly ascertain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich. If you wish to be learned, you will be learned. If you wish to be good, you will good. Only you must then really wish these things and wish them exclusively and not wish at the same time a hundred other compatible things just as strongly.” To achieve something extraordinary requires excluding countless other possibilities. What happens when wealth becomes the exclusive organising principle of a life? What gets pushed aside? Relationships? Leisure? Health? Community? James seems at least as interested in that question as he is in achievement itself. Nightingale doesn’t acknowledge this. The Strangest Quote of Them All Perhaps the most confusing quote he uses is from George Bernard Shaw, who said, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them.” It sounds like Shaw was spouting a self-help slogan. But this sounded strange to me because Shaw was a committed socialist and a leading member of the Fabian Society. He spent much of his life criticising the idea that individuals simply rise or fall according to personal merit. He repeatedly explored how economic and social structures shape people’s lives in his plays. Throughout his work, Shaw explored the relationship between individual agency and the social conditions people inherit. So where did this quote come from? It is actually a line spoken by the character Vivie Warren in Mrs Warren’s Profession, not by Shaw directly. As with any playwright, author, or comedian, we need to be careful about treating a character’s words as the artist’s personal philosophy. Charles Dickens (Fagin – Oliver Twist) The Obligatory Call To Action (and disclaimer) Like any good self-help talk, Nightingale finishes with a challenge. Write down what you want more than anything else. Carry it with you. Look at it every day. Maintain a positive outlook and give more than you’ve ever given before. The framework handles failure with a familiar disclaimer. If the method works, it gets the credit. If it doesn’t work, responsibility falls back on the individual. You didn’t believe enough, weren’t committed enough, lost focus, or didn’t give what was required. This secret is neither particularly strange nor surprising. It is a derivative of Napoleon Hill. In fact, it’s almost identical to what he wrote in Think and Grow Rich. There is always another level of effort required and another reason success remains just beyond reach. The possibility that the promise itself might be flawed rarely enters the conversation. My Enduring Question There is a gap between the question Nightingale starts with and the answer he arrives at. As a child growing up in poverty, he wanted to understand why some people prospered while others struggled. It’s an interesting question to explore. It opens up the potential to probe into themes of opportunity, power, ownership, luck, and the socio-economic landscape of society itself. Yet by the end of The Strangest Secret, that complexity has been replaced by a one-dimensional explanation and cure. Inequality is a direct product of our thoughts, goals, and willingness to work in the service of our personal dream. This move has become so familiar within self-help culture that it can be difficult to notice. Social questions become personal. Structural problems are solved by mindset. Inequality becomes a failure of ambition, and burnout becomes a failure of attitude. More than seventy years after The Strangest Secret was released, people are still being sold variations of the same promise. Support My Work It takes me time to research, produce, and edit these episodes. You can support me by sending a one-off donation or join us in the membership.

Bible Thumper Thursday

Some fathers show us who to become. Others show us who not to become.In this Father's Day weekend episode, Ryan looks at two very different examples of fatherhood. First, he reflects on Marcus Aurelius and the extraordinary influence of Antoninus Pius, the adopted father who taught him compassion, humility, discipline, responsibility, and how to hold power without being changed by it.Then Ryan talks with Tom Junod about the harder side of inheritance: what it means to love a father who caused pain, kept secrets, inspired fear, and still shaped the man his son became. Tom's new book, In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man, is about masculinity, moral injury, family secrets, and the lifelong work of deciding which parts of your father you carry forward and which parts you refuse to repeat.Tom Junod is senior writer for ESPN, where his work has won an Emmy and the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. He is a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing, and a winner of the James Beard Award for essay writing. Previously he was a staff writer at GQ and Esquire. The film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was based on his article in Esquire. Follow Tom on Instagram | @tom_junod

Cathy and Todd discuss Gladiator, released in 2000 and directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Russell Crowe as Maximus, a Roman general betrayed by the Emperor’s son Commodus, who murders his own father Marcus Aurelius to seize power, then orders the execution of Maximus and his entire family. Sold into slavery and forced into the arena, Maximus fights his way back to Rome for one purpose: vengeance. With a box office of $466 million, five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe, and a Hans Zimmer score that became one of the bestselling soundtracks of all time, the film didn’t just succeed, it reinvented an entire genre and inspired everything from HBO’s Rome to The Hunger Games. It’s filled with unforgettable lines like, “What we do in life echoes in eternity” and “Are you not entertained?”, and it happens to be one of Cathy’s all-time favorite movies. Subscribe to Cathy's weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd! Some Ways to Support Us Sign up for Cathy's Substack Order Restoring our Girls Links shared in this episode: For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com. This week's sponsor(s): Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration. MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys Other Ways to Support Us Follow us on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World

Want to work with Muscle Intelligence?  Apply Now Most men try to out-discipline their emotions and wonder why they still snap, freeze, or stew at the worst possible moment. Donald Robertson, the cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist who wrote the book on thinking like a Roman emperor, has spent three decades proving there's a better operating system. Drawing on the same Stoic playbook that ran an empire, he and Ben discuss why composure isn't suppression, why the calmest man in the room is almost never the one trying hardest to stay calm, and where the real leverage hides inside every reaction you have. The edge, it turns out, lives in a gap most people never notice… the split second between what happens to you and what you make it mean. Robertson breaks down the two-phase machinery behind anger and anxiety, the reason your meditation practice keeps failing you the moment you actually need it, and the counterintuitive move Marcus Aurelius used to command loyalty when his own generals turned against him. If you've built the career, the body, and the bank account and still get hijacked by your own nervous system, this is the conversation that explains why — and what the most self-possessed men in history did about it. 5 Key Takeaways Why every emotion arrives in two phases and why elite composure is decided entirely in the second one The reason willpower backfires, and what Stoics trained instead Why your meditation and journaling don't transfer to high-pressure moments (and the fix) The leadership move that made Marcus Aurelius untouchable even during a civil war How to model real composure for your kids without pretending to be perfect Chapters 0:00 Meeting Donald Robertson 4:30 From Therapy to Stoicism 7:47 Virtue As the Only True Good 10:14 Why Success Can Feel Empty 14:25 Why Meditation Leaves You Exposed 16:00 The Pause Before You React 22:21 Why Only Three Stoics Survived 27:16 Marcus Aurelius: Power and War 38:08 How an Emperor Truly Led 45:44 Stoicism in the Therapy Room 50:49 Is Anything Really "Bad"? 55:13 The Socratic Test of Success 1:00:41 A Lightning Tour of Philosophy 1:09:42 Modeling Wisdom for Your Kids 1:16:00 The Two Phases of Emotion 1:21:50 Why Studying Stoicism from Soundbites Fail You 1:29:01 Where to Find Donald Connect with Donald Substack – https://donaldrobertson.substack.com Website – https://donaldrobertson.name