Podcasts about stoic philosophy

Marcus Aurelius wrote about how the philosopher is one with their weapon—like a boxer, more than a swordsman. A boxer just clenches their fist. A fencer has to pick something up. Through repetition, through absorption, we're trying to fuse ourselves with our philosophy.

You probably wish you didn't have to. Of course, you didn't want it to happen. It would be nicer if things went as planned. As we've said before, this is what we trained for!

After recording in-studio, Mel Robbins and Ryan Holiday headed to the Bastrop Opera House for a live conversation and audience Q&A. They discuss the biggest misconceptions about the Let Them Theory, why Stoicism isn't about suppressing feelings, and how self-control is really about creating space between what you feel and how you respond. Mel also opens up about how learning to pause changed her relationships, her parenting, and her sense of peace after years of living on edge.Mel Robbins is the creator and host of the award-winning The Mel Robbins Podcast, one of the most successful podcasts in the world, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author. The Let Them Theory was the top selling book of 2025 according to Publisher's Weekly, with +7 million copies sold within nine months of its release date. It is on pace to have the best non-fiction book launch of all time. She is also the author of the multimillion-copy-selling The 5 Second Rule, The High 5 Habit, and seven #1 audiobook releases on Audible.

As Marcus would say, we can't be satisfied with just “getting the gist” of things we read. Read deeply. Read repeatedly.

They knew that life was tough. They knew that a fragile person would not survive. But does that mean the Stoics were unfeeling? Utterly disconnected? Harsh and invulnerable?

Seneca believed wisdom comes from focusing on one small idea each day, something simple you can sit with and let make you better.

Again and again, the Stoics pored over the same texts. So the ideas could take firm hold. So they could be absorbed. So it could become muscle memory, infused into their DNA.

After recording the podcast, Ryan and Mel Robbins walked next door to The Painted Porch to talk books. Head to Ryan Holiday's YouTube Channel to watch the video of him giving Mel Robbins book recommendations at The Painted Porch: https://www.youtube.com/@RyanHolidayOfficial

Would the Stoics agree with Mel Robbins' Let Them Theory? In today's episode, Mel Robbins sits down with Ryan to look at The Let Them Theory through a Stoic lens. They discuss what Marcus Aurelius would really say about letting go, where acceptance becomes strength, and why so much of our stress comes from fighting things that were never in our control to begin with. Ryan and Mel talk about jealousy and comparison, why letting go does not mean giving up, and learning how to protect your energy. Mel Robbins is the creator and host of the award-winning The Mel Robbins Podcast, one of the most successful podcasts in the world, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author. The Let Them Theory was the top selling book of 2025 according to Publisher's Weekly, with +7 million copies sold within nine months of its release date. It is on pace to have the best non-fiction book launch of all time. She is also the author of the multimillion-copy-selling The 5 Second Rule, The High 5 Habit, and seven #1 audiobook releases on Audible.Tune into The Mel Robbins Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify Follow Mel Robbins on Instagram and TikTokPick up a signed copy of The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins at The Painted Porch: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/Grab a copies of Mel Robbins' other books: The Let Them Theory and The 5 Second Rule It's not too late to join The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge! Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

What about if, instead of fighting against the current, we fought instead “to be the person that philosophy tried to make us?”Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. Sign up for The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge at dailystoic.com/challenge.

2025 is dead and gone. Who we were in 2025 is dead and gone. Here we are, lucky enough to rise again in 2026. A year not guaranteed to anyone. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

When we develop the discipline to prepare our minds and our bodies for hardship, we have the discipline to see the hard times through to the end. Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

The first few weeks of 2026 will decide far more than you think. In this episode, you'll hear the best of James Clear's most important advice from his past conversations with Ryan on how to start the year the right way before bad habits lock in. James shares what to focus on first, what to ignore, and how to build momentum without burning yourself out. They talk about why systems matter more than goals, how to design habits to stick in real life, and how to avoid the common January mistakes that keep people stuck in the same loop year after year.James Clear's 2025 interview: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTubeJames Clear's first interview on The Daily Stoic Podcast: Apple Podcast, Spotify, or YouTube. James Clear is the author of the New York Times Bestseller, Atomic Habits and his latest book, The Atomic Habits Workbook. Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

We've been blessed with another go, or at least the start of another go. Will we take it? Or will we go on the same as we did before and before and before?No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

This is what we do, isn't it? We think about doing something…but we put off actually doing it until the last minute.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

Here we are at the end of one year and the beginning of another. What do we have to show for it? Did we do what we set out to do? Did we meet those resolutions?Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

Let's focus on getting better. Let's get serious about stuff we've put off. Let's lend a helping hand. Let's “fight to be the person philosophy tried to make us,” as Marcus Aurelius said.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

This is a quieter Warrior Mindset episode about energy, restraint, and what changes after years of responsibility.Endurance matters early. But mastery demands precision. Stoic philosophy and warrior traditions don't teach endless effort, they teach economy.If you've felt less patient, less willing to waste energy, and more intolerant of inefficiency, you're not breaking. You're sharpening.This episode explores:Why wasted energy becomes the real enemyThe three phases of responsibility and masteryStoic discipline, frame-holding, and economy of forceWhy resentment is a signal, not a failureRestraint as strength under controlThis lesson only shows up after years of carrying weight.Send us a text

You do not control the year ahead. You do control how you meet it. In this episode, Ryan walks through the Stoic framework for becoming better in the year ahead built around courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.Get The Daily Stoic New Year New You & all other Daily Stoic courses for FREE when you join Daily Stoic Life | dailystoic.com/life

The end of the year has a way of reminding us that nothing lasts forever. In today's episode, you will hear a deep dive into the Stoic practice of Memento Mori, the reminder that you could leave life at any moment. Not as something dark or depressing, but as a way to sharpen your focus on what actually matters.You will hear conversations with psychologists, grief experts, and artists who have all confronted mortality in very real ways. From near death moments and personal loss to ancient Stoic wisdom that still holds up today, this reminder helps make you more present, more patient, and more intentional with your time.

Ryan was recently a guest on Shilo Brooks' podcast, Old School, to talk about a book that's meant a lot to him over the years, Walker Percy's The Moviegoer. They discuss why this quiet Southern novel, set in postwar New Orleans, remains so resonant and what it reveals about meaning, distraction, and the universal search for purpose.Catch the rest of the episode by checking out Old School with Shilo Brooks on Youtube, Apple, or Spotify

It was a bad year. You picked up some bad habits. You let some good habits slip. You wasted time on stuff that didn't matter. But just because that's true doesn't mean things have to continue that way.

Remarkably, Jesus and Seneca lived nearly parallel lives, with many sources suggesting they were born in the same year. Even more striking are the overlaps in their teachings. This Christmas morning, it's worth reflecting on the shared wisdom of these extraordinary lives.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.Get The Daily Stoic New Year New You & all other Daily Stoic courses for FREE when you join Daily Stoic Life | dailystoic.com/life

ICYMI: This episode is one of our earliest episodes, and originally aired on 5/14/2020   In this introductory conversation, Dr. Jonathan Pennington joins the Center for Hebraic Thought as its newest fellow and shares how his journey through philosophy and biblical scholarship led him to see the New Testament as part of a deeply sophisticated intellectual tradition. Pennington discusses how early Christianity, though written in Greek and shaped within a Hellenistic world, did not abandon its Jewish roots but rather translated its robust metaphysic across cultural lines. Drawing from his work on Jesus as a philosopher, Pennington explains that the New Testament doesn't reject or capitulate to Greco-Roman philosophy—it stands alongside it, often outthinking and outlasting it. In contrast to Stoicism's emotional detachment and denial of suffering's reality, the Bible presents a profoundly realistic vision: a God who enters the world, values the body, and promises the restoration of creation through Shalom. Pennington argues that Jesus—especially in Matthew's Gospel—functions as a public philosopher. In moments like the Sermon on the Mount or debates with religious elites, Jesus offers strikingly rational, ethical, and metaphysical responses to life's biggest questions. This episode introduces not only a new CHT fellow, but a vision of Scripture as intellectually vibrant, emotionally honest, and endlessly translatable. We are listener supported. Give to the cause here: https://hebraicthought.org/give For more articles: https://thebiblicalmind.org/ Social Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HebraicThought Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hebraicthought Threads: https://www.threads.net/hebraicthought X: https://www.twitter.com/HebraicThought Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hebraicthought.org

Virtue is not a theory. It is something you practice. In the moments where you could overreact. In the moments where quitting would be easier. In the moments where doing the right thing costs you something.In this episode, Ryan explores the four Stoic virtues through conversations with people who actually live them. You'll hear from a fighter pilot who shows courage under pressure, a marathon runner disciplined in daily practice, a historian who reframes justice as action, and Ryan himself on treating wisdom as a lifelong pursuit.

To the Stoics, virtue was a way of life. Not something we are, but something we do. So what would a year look like if you actually practiced this?Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

In today's bonus episode, Ryan and Dr. Rangan Chatterjee talk about why New Year's resolutions usually fall apart and what actually works instead. They discuss why changing behavior is so hard, the key to making real change, and how most of us focus on the habit itself without understanding what it's really doing for us. Dr. Rangan Chatterjee is a physician, author, TV presenter and podcast host of Feel Better Live More where he talks with leading health experts who offer easy health life-hacks, expert advice and debunk common health myths. Check out Dr. Rangan Chatterjee's latest book Make Change That Lasts. You can follow him on Instagram @DrChatterjee, on X @Dr.ChatterjeeUK, and on YouTube @DrChatterjeeRangan

Procrastination isn't saving you…it's only adding interest to the bill you're going to have to pay eventually.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge. Get The Daily Stoic New Year New You & all other Daily Stoic courses for FREE when you join Daily Stoic Life | dailystoic.com/life

Things falling apart. Traditions crumbling. New technologies. New threats. New trends. Welcome to ancient Rome. Welcome to the past…the present…and the future.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.Get The Daily Stoic New Year New You & all other Daily Stoic courses for FREE when you join Daily Stoic Life | dailystoic.com/life

In today's episode, Ryan Holiday sits down with legendary biographer Walter Isaacson for a wide-ranging, deeply thoughtful conversation recorded live at the Texas Tribune Festival. They talk about Walker Percy and The Moviegoer, how Stoicism shows up in fiction, and why the ancient virtues still matter in the modern world. They talk through Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Viktor Frankl, and why history tends to outlast the noise of the present moment.

Most people will enter 2026 hoping life just gets better. Jesse Itzler knows that's not how real change happens. In today's episode, Jesse breaks down the three simple rules he follows every year to guarantee it doesn't slip by.He explains why change has to start before January, how locking in the right priorities forces everything else off your calendar, and why more hustle isn't the answer in 2026. If you want a year that actually feels different — and you want a plan you can stick to — this episode shows you how.Jesse Itzler is an entrepreneur, author, endurance athlete, former rapper, and part-owner of the Atlanta Hawks. He is the author of two books, Living With A Seal where he lived and trained with David Goggins for 31 days. His other book is Living with the Monks where he lived with an isolated religious community in the mountains of upstate New York. He co-founded Marquis Jet, helped build ZICO Coconut Water, and created the viral New Year planning tool called the “Big Ass Calendar”. Plan 2026 using the Big Ass Calendar that Jesse created: https://thebigasscalendar.com/Check out Jesse's books: Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training With The Toughest Man on the PlanetLiving with the Monks: What Turning Off My Phone Taught Me about Happiness, Gratitude, and FocusFollow Jesse on Instagram, YouTube, and X @JesseItzler Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

Fortune doesn't care about our plans and preferences. No, Seneca reminds us, she behaves as she pleases.

These are disorienting times. Cruel times. Dysfunctional times. And it's natural to want someone, anyone, to step in and fix it. But they're not going to. That's not how this works.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

The pressure of being great changes when you're carrying more than your own ambition. In today's episode, Ryan sits down with Paralympian Ezra Frech to talk about the discipline required to compete at the highest level and the weight that comes with representing more than just yourself. Ezra shares what it actually takes to be a top professional Paralympian, his experience growing up with a disability, the role his parents played in building his confidence, and more. Ezra Frech is an American track and field athlete who competes in high jump, long jump and sprinting events. He is a two-time Paralympian, having competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and won two gold medals at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. Ezra co-created and produced a three-part docuseries called Adaptive with NBC Sports + Peacock. Check it out here! Follow Ezra on Instagram and TikTok @EzraFrech and on YouTube @ItsEzraFrechMake 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

How are you helping? What are you doing? How are you acting like a Stoic as opposed to just ‘being stoic?

The world needed Marcus Aurelius to become the person we admire and study today. This required conscious and consistent effort on his part. You're no different. And you know it.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

Shallowness and cruelty and stupidity may be rampant, but we must resist it—resist it without bitterness or despair—by being bright lights in a dark time.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Stoics were trying to do what we're all trying to do now: find some peace. For them, philosophy wasn't an academic hobby. It was something they leaned on to remember what they could control and to let the rest go. That's why their words still hold up today and continue to help people stay calmer, clearer, and more level-headed. In today's episode, you'll hear eight Stoic lessons you can use to feel a little more steady and at peace.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

It's easy to defend yourself. It's harder to tell the truth. In today's episode, Ryan sits down with journalist Olivia Nuzzi for a raw, unfiltered conversation about what it really means to get through dishonor honorably. In the wake of her recent scandal, Olivia opens up about how small compromises compound into big consequences, why accountability still matters in a culture that rewards shamelessness, and the strange grace of being forced off a path you didn't realize was destroying you.From 2017 to 2024, Olivia Nuzzi was the Washington corre­spondent for New York magazine. Most recently she was the West Coast Editor for Vanity Fair. Her new book, American Canto, is out now.

Did you know that Meditations wasn't the only book that Marcus Aurelius wrote?

It'd be wonderful if we always did what we know we want or need to do. But that's not how the world is. It is filled with temptations, distractions, and forces tugging us toward the rocks.Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

How does Camila Cabello stay centered in the chaos of fame? Today's bonus episode brings back an evergreen lesson from her Daily Stoic episode that's worth hearing again.

Being the smartest person in the room is usually where the trouble starts. In today's episode, Ryan sits down with journalist and author Helen Lewis to talk about genius, ego, and why so many “brilliant” people eventually spin out. They discuss the myth of the lone genius, why smart people overthink themselves into bad ideas, and how ego quietly wrecks careers, reputations, and entire movements. ​​Helen Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic who writes about politics and culture. Her first book, Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights, was a Guardian, Telegraph and Financial Times book of the year. She has written for The New York Times, the Guardian, The New Statesman, and Vogue. She is the host of the BBC podcast series The New Gurus and Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat, and co-host of Radio 4's Kafka vs Orwell and Strong Message Here. She won the 2024 Kukula Award for excellence in nonfiction book reviewing.Check out Helen Lewis' book The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous IdeaFollow Helen on Instagram @HelenLewisPosts Read Helen Lewis' article: How Joe Rogan Remade Austin

“Well-being is realized by small steps,” Zeno would say looking back on his life, “but is truly no small thing.”

We're set in our habits. We're quick-tempered, we eat poorly, we're easily distracted. We skip exercise, we put stuff off, we make excuses. How did that work out for you in 2025?Make 2026 the year where you finally bring yourself closer to living your best life. No more waiting. Demand the best for yourself. The Daily Stoic New Year New You challenge begins January 1, 2026. Learn more and sign up today at dailystoic.com/challenge.

The sooner you realize that you are not the center of the universe or the intended recipient of everything, the more understanding you can be, the less judgment you'll feel required to have.

Every crisis creates the same instinct in people: go back to the wisdom that has outlasted everything else. In today's episode, Ryan and Mark Manson dive into why Stoicism keeps coming back during moments of crisis, why world leaders and big thinkers have leaned on it for centuries, and what its modern resurgence gets right and wrong.Check out Ryan's FULL episode on Solved with Mark Manson on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Grab Mark's books: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k Journal, and Everything Is F***ked: A Book About Hope, at The Painted PorchFollow Mark on YouTube, and check out more of his work at https://markmanson.net/

Even the giants of history couldn't outrun insecurity, comparison, or the feeling of not having enough. In today's episode, Ryan continues his conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin to talk about why success rarely feels satisfying in the way you expect, why the goalposts always seem to move, and how Andrew has seen this pattern play out in some of the wealthiest and most accomplished people in the world.Andrew Ross Sorkin is a financial columnist for The New York Times and a co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk Box. He is also the founder and editor of DealBook, a financial news service published by The New York Times. He wrote the bestselling book Too Big to Fail and co-produced a movie adaptation of the book for HBO Films. He is also a co-creator of the Showtime series Billions. His new book is 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation. You can grab signed copies of 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin at The Painted Porch: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/Follow Andrew Ross Sorkin on Instagram @SorkinSays and on X @AndrewRSorkin

The myth of the self-made man is just that, a myth. There has never been such a thing.

It doesn't matter how smart you are. In the moment, if you can't control your emotions, you will be stupid.