Podcasts about stoics

The Stoics studied powerful people not to worship them, but to learn from them. In this episode, Ryan looks at Elon Musk through the lens of courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom, and what his life reveals about the difference between success and virtue.

Happiness is a complex emotion and mental state that can be achieved through virtue or pleasure. But should it be for the good of the individual or society? Those in favor of virtue point to the Stoics and the Founding Fathers, saying you should strive for a life of moral virtue and rationality. Those in favor of pleasure say everyone should be able to experience it and define their sources of happiness. Now we debate: The Pursuit of Happiness: Virtue or Pleasure?  Arguing Virtue: Jeffrey Rosen, CEO & President of the National Constitution Center; Author of “The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America”  Arguing Pleasure: Roger Crisp, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford; Uehiro Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St. Anne's College, Oxford  Nayeema Raza, Journalist at New York Magazine and Vox, is the guest moderator.  Join the conversation on Substack—share your perspective on this episode and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for curated insights from our debaters, moderators, and staff.  Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and TikTok to stay connected with our mission and ongoing debates.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last year, the President celebrated his birthday with a military parade. This year, he hosted a UFC cage match on the South Lawn of the White House. It's easy to compare it to the gladiator games honoring the Roman emperor, but Phil asks whether it's a sign that America would rather emulate pre-Christian Roman values than biblical ones. Americans can no longer agree on how to teach American history, so we're not teaching it much at all. Is it possible to recover a shared national story? Nijay Gupta is back to discuss his latest book, "Paul for the World," and why the Apostle would not recognize a modern Christianity that's focused on heaven rather than earth. Also this week—the science behind dad jokes. Holy Post Plus: Ad-Free Version of this Episode: https://holypost.substack.com/p/725-the-cage-match-for-americas-story Bonus Interview: https://holypost.substack.com/p/should-the-church-preserve-ethnic 0:00 - Show Starts 3:12 - Theme Song 3:35 -  Sponsor - PolicyGenius - Secure your family's tomorrow so you have peace of mind today. Go to https://www.policygenius.com/HOLYPOST to find the right life insurance for you 4:38 - Sponsor - Rocket Money - Find and cancel your old subscriptions with Rocket Money at https://www.rocketmoney.com/HOLYPOST 5:38 - Science Supports Dad Jokes 14:49 - UFC Fight at the White House 30:45 - Sponsor - Feeding America - Feeding America, led by neighbors! Give now to end hunger at https://www.feedingamerica.org 31:15 - Sponsor - BetterHelp - This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/HOLYPOST and get 10% off your first month! 32:17 - "American Dream" Finding Cuts 35:02 - What Story is America Telling? 52:16 - Interview 57:46 - Is Social Justice Christian? 1:06:20 - Epicureans and Stoics 1:14:33 - Bonhauffer and the Incarnate Church 1:28:15 - End Credits   Links Mentioned in News Segment: Sciences Supports Dad Jokes: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2026/06/15/science-suggests-cringe-worthy-dad-jokes-may-serve-an-actual-purpose/   No Common American Narrative: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/07/american-history-common-narrative/687301/   Other Resources: Paul for the World: A Grounded Vision for Finding Meaning in This Life—Not Just the Next (What Paul's Letters Say about Work, Friendship, Money, Wellness, Justice, and More) by Nijay Gupta: https://amzn.to/3RZR8ON   Holy Post website: https://www.holypost.com/   Holy Post Plus: www.holypost.com/plus   Holy Post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/holypost   Holy Post Merch Store: https://www.holypost.com/shop   The Holy Post is supported by our listeners. We may earn affiliate commissions through links listed here. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.  

As we grow stronger, wiser, healthier, and more disciplined, a subtle danger emerges: contempt.It's easy to celebrate strength. It's much harder to remain compassionate toward weakness—especially the weaknesses we once saw in ourselves.In this episode, I explore a paradox at the heart of Stoicism: how to pursue excellence without developing disdain for those who are still struggling.From the gym floor to leadership, from courage to cowardice, the Stoics remind us that virtue should produce humility, not superiority. After all, everything we possess—including our strength—is borrowed.A reminder for anyone trying to improve themselves without losing their humanity.

As we grow stronger, wiser, healthier, and more disciplined, a subtle danger emerges: contempt.It's easy to celebrate strength. It's much harder to remain compassionate toward weakness—especially the weaknesses we once saw in ourselves.In this episode, I explore a paradox at the heart of Stoicism: how to pursue excellence without developing disdain for those who are still struggling.From the gym floor to leadership, from courage to cowardice, the Stoics remind us that virtue should produce humility, not superiority. After all, everything we possess—including our strength—is borrowed.A reminder for anyone trying to improve themselves without losing their humanity.

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

Guest: Mariana Alessandri, PhD — existentialist philosopher, author, and self-described "defender of dark moods"  If you've ever been told to "choose happy," "stay positive," or "look on the bright side" while your world was falling apart — this episode is for you.  Dr. Debi Silber sits down with philosopher Mariana Alessandri to explore why our society's obsession with toxic positivity is actually hurting the people who are suffering most. Mariana, author of a groundbreaking book on dark emotions (covering anger, sadness, grief, depression, and anxiety), brings a refreshing and deeply compassionate philosophical lens to the emotions we're taught to hide, suppress, or apologize for.  In this episode you'll discover:  Why the pressure to "be positive" has an insidious underbelly — and how it turns us against ourselves  The difference between saying "I'm broken" and "I'm in deep pain" — and why it matters  How souls connect more deeply in suffering than in joy (and the philosophy behind it)  The two wolves parable — and why starving the dark wolf may be keeping you stuck  Why anger deserves a hearing, not a judgment — and how it can be a form of self-care  The concept of "sympathetic resonance" and what heartstrings have to do with empathy  Why sharing your pain is a gift — not a burden — and how to find the people you can trust with it  How to talk about your pre-betrayal self with dignity, not shame  Mariana's two takeaways for everyone: It's not your job to cheer people up — and sharing pain is a gift, not a burden.  Connect with Mariana Alessandri:  Website: marianalessandri.com  Instagram: @mariana.alessandri  Resources mentioned:  Night Side of Nature (Mariana's book — chapters on anger, sadness, grief, depression, and anxiety)  Philosophers referenced: Miguel de Unamuno, Audre Lorde, Maria Lugones, Aristotle, the Stoics, Epicureans  The two wolves parable  Susan Caine's concept of "bittersweet" 

What did "materialism" actually mean to the ancients, and how does it differ from our modern scientific understanding? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Max Wade (Ph.D., Boston College) to bridge the gap between ancient Greek ontology and modern philosophical debates.We dive deep into the "weirdness" of ancient thought, exploring why the Stoics believed in physical gods and why the Epicureans were the only true ancient materialists. Dr. Wade challenges the secularized modern reading of Socrates and Plato, revealing how their theories of divine design were actually a reactionary response to pre-Socratic natural philosophy.In this episode, we discuss:The Miriology of Being: Why the relationship between parts and wholes is the key to unlocking ancient ontology.Active vs. Passive Matter: The crucial distinction that separates Platonists, Aristotelians, and Stoics from the Epicureans.The "Swerve": Why materialism and determinism were considered incompatible in the ancient world.Plato's Atlantis & Egyptian Wisdom: Why reading Plato literally misses his point about the soul's forgetfulness and eternal truth.Marxism & Hegel: How modern materialism is often a misreading of ancient concepts through a German Idealist lens.About Our Guest: Dr. Max Wade is a scholar of ancient philosophy whose dissertation focused on Plotinus' Ontology of Artifacts. Follow his work at maxway.substack.com.Send us Fan Mail Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian, Drea, Free Beer 

Are Stoics really emotionless? It is the most common thing people believe about Stoicism, and it puts a lot of people off the one idea that might actually help them.In this conversation I sit down with Erick Cloward, host of the Stoic Coffee Break podcast and author of Stoicism 101, to take the myth apart. We get into why the word "stoic" came to mean cold and shut down, and why the Stoics actually felt their emotions fully. They just learned to be masters of them rather than ruled by them.Erick shares the example that makes it click: two people miss the same bus. One shrugs and reads a book, the other is furious. Same event, two reactions. The difference is never the event. It is the judgement you add to it. We also get into amor fati, the view from above, and what it really takes to react less and recover faster.Try this after listening: next time you react strongly, name the event in plain terms, then name the story you added on top. The gap between them is where the work happens.Erick's book and podcast: stoic.coffee Companion article: https://www.stoichandbook.co/podcast/are-stoics-emotionless/ Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.coThe Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

Join us at the intersection of Stoic philosophy and Masonic practice. Bro. Franklin Rings discusses how Marcus Aurelius' writings on “Vices” inform the use of our Working Tools. Learn how to view vices not as unique failures, but as common distractions that challenge the independence of the mind.Show notes and links: Join us on Patreon. Start your FREE seven day trial to the Craftsmen Online Podcast and get instant access to our bonus content! Whether it's a one time donation or you become a Patreon Subscriber, we appreciate your support.Visit the Craftsmen Online website to learn more about our FREE American History "Summer School" online course with Arizona State University, New York Masonic History, and our Masonic Education blog!Follow the Craftsmen Online Podcast on Spotify.Subscribe to the Craftsmen Online Podcast on Apple Podcasts.Follow Craftsmen Online on YouTube, hit subscribe and get notified the next time we go LIVE with a podcast recording!Yes, we're on Instagram.Get our latest announcements and important updates in your inbox with the Craftsmen Online Newsletter.Email the host, RW Michael Arce! Yes, we will read your email and may even reach out to be a guest on a future episode.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/craftsmen-online-podcast--4822031/support.

How much of the life you are living was actually chosen by you? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, we explore authentic living: the practice of examining the scripts inherited from parents, culture, school, and social media, and deciding for the first time which ones are genuinely yours.Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. This episode invites you to look honestly at the voices shaping your choices, not to blame them, but to see them clearly and to begin living from your own values rather than someone else's story.Most of us were handed a script before we could read it. Family wrote the early lines. School added more. Culture and religion filled in the gaps. And now social media rewrites it daily: feeding you someone else's version of success, happiness, and what a good life looks like. The Stoics called the faculty of conscious choice prohairesis, the one thing that has always been yours. Most people spend their entire lives using it to fulfil someone else's vision without ever noticing.This episode of the Via Stoica Podcast asks one of the most important questions in Stoic philosophy and in life: who wrote your script and why are you still listening to them? If you have ever felt that the life you are living belongs to someone else, this conversation is for you.Support the showviastoica.comYouTube: @viastoicaProduced by: Badmic.com

Looksmaxxing promises to make you more attractive, more confident, and more powerful. But at what point does self-improvement become obsession? In today's episode, Ryan looks at what the Stoics would say about this viral trend, the dangers of chasing external validation, and what it actually means to become your best self.

The Stoics remind us that everything has its compensation…if we choose to see it, if we choose to welcome it.

What does it really mean to love your fate? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, we look at one of the most used phrases in modern Stoicism, where it actually comes from, and what Stoic philosophy says about acceptance, fate, and how to show up when life does not go as planned.Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. Here, philosophy is not something you recite. It is something you practice, especially when the difficult moments arrive.Amor fati was never a Stoic phrase. Nietzsche coined it, and his version was radical: a total, eternal affirmation of everything that has ever happened, exactly as it happened. The Stoics had a different relationship with fate. They saw the world as a chain of cause and effect governed by the logos, and they asked a simpler question: Will you walk with it, or be dragged?That is where the real practice begins. Not in the good moments, when acceptance is easy, but in the ones that test you. The rejection, the injury, the plan that falls apart. Those are the moments Epictetus called the exam. The ones that show you how much you have actually learned.This episode will not tell you to love what hurts. It will show you how to welcome it anyway.Want to go deeper? Read the full guide: viastoica.com/how-to-practice-amor-fati/Support the show

Most morning affirmations ask you to declare a future you wish for. The Stoics did the opposite. They began the day by recollecting what was already true.This is a short guided practice built from eight lines drawn from Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca. No manifestation, no raising your vibration. Just eight reminders, a little silence between each, a brief rehearsal of one difficulty you expect today, and a single quiet plan to carry into it.Best listened to first thing, before you open your phone. Find somewhere to settle, and let the day start a little steadier. Free 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.coThe Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com

It is harder to be courageous when all you see are examples of cowardice. Well, the Stoics can help us with this.

Born in 103, he was a philosopher from the Samaritan town of Shechem in Palestine, who had devoted his life to the search for truth, trying many philosophical schools and sources of human wisdom: the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans and finally the Platonists. One day an old man (whose name and origin are unknown) appeared to him and spoke to him of the Prophets and Apostles who had learned of God not by their own wisdom, but by revelation of God Himself. He read the scriptures and was convinced of the truth of the Faith, but he would not be baptised or call himself a Christian until he had tested all the pagans' arguments against Christianity. To this end he traveled to Rome, where he engaged in debate at philosophical gatherings, impressing all with his wisdom. In Rome he also witnessed the martyrdom of Sts Ptolemy and Lucian; this moved him to write an Apologia for the Christian faith and the Christian people, which he gave to the Emperor Antoninus and the Senate. They were so moved by this document that the Emperor ordered that persecution of Christians should cease.   For the remainder of his life, Justin devoted all his skills to the proclamation of the Gospel and the defense of Christians. To the end of his life, wherever he preached Christ, he always wore his philosopher's garb. In addition to his Apologia, he wrote a number of other learned defenses of the faith.   Eventually he was imprisoned following the false accusations of Crescens, a jealous Cynic philosopher. He died (one source says by beheading, another by poison) in Rome in 167 under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, successor to Antoninus.

Are you waiting for the right moment to start living your life? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, we look at what Stoic philosophy says about responsibility: not the kind the self-help world sells you, but the deeper, more demanding kind. The responsibility for your own soul.Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. Here, philosophy is not theory. It is a daily practice of honest choices, taken one moment at a time.Most of us are waiting for something. For the situation to improve, for permission, for the stars to align. But every moment spent waiting is a moment of handing over the wheel to someone else and hoping they are driving in your direction. The Stoics called this the loss of your prohairesis: your capacity to choose, to act, and to become who you are.Self-knowledge is where this starts. You cannot take responsibility for someone you do not know. That means sitting with the uncomfortable parts, the patterns, the past experiences, the beliefs you have never examined. Not to judge them, but to understand them. Because once you know where you are, you can begin moving toward where you want to go.The lights are already on green. This episode will remind you of that.Support the show

Stoic Morning Meditation — Ancient Wisdom for Anxiety Relief | Calm Your Mind | Guided Meditation━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The more powerful our tools become, the more important our judgment becomes. In today's episode, Ryan talks with Jeremy Utley and Henrik Werdelin, hosts of Beyond the Prompt, about what the Stoics can teach us about AI, modern technology, and the skills we can't afford to outsource.Beyond the Prompt is hosted by Henrik Werdelin, an entrepreneur known for co-founding BarkBox, prehype, and other startups, and Jeremy Utley, a lecturer at Stanford and author of Ideaflow.

Bill Lampton: Hi there. Welcome to the Biz Communication Show. I’m your host, Bill Lampton, the Biz Communication guy, bringing you tips and strategies on communication that will boost your business. Now in our eighth year of producing this video, audio podcast. And as you know, I do not just share my on— my own wisdom about business communication, but I bring on an expert and our conversation will enlighten you and me both with tips and strategies that will help us boost our business. Today it’s a wonderful privilege to welcome a long-time friend, colleague, associate, mentor, Terry Brock, coming to us from Orlando, Florida. Terry Brock is a communicator and I can underscore that. Since he was a kid, in fact in second grade, he has been writing. He worked as a journalist for many years and his undergraduate degree is in communications working with radio, TV, and newspaper. Today Terry and his partner and fiancé, Gina Carr— and Gina was a recent guest on the Biz Communication Show— Terry and his fiancé, Gina Carr, have a membership program called Stark Raving Entrepreneurs where they help people build their business, leveraging the daylights out of AI and other tech. Today he joins us again to talk about what is happening and how you can move your business to the next level. So, I know you’ll join me in welcoming Terry Brock. Hello, Terry. Terry Brock: Great to be with you, Bill. Thank you for having me on board. Bill Lampton: Well, your— your introduction, which you kindly provided, did not even begin to describe your uh immense qualifications, which I’m very familiar with. Not long ago, Terry, you and I were having a visit, as a matter of fact, you and Gina came to see me here in my home in Gainesville, Georgia, and I remember asking you how many countries you had spoken in, directed seminars in, or done training in. What is that latest number? I know you’re a global presenter, what is that latest number? Terry Brock: Well, the latest as of now is uh 44 countries and counting. So, they would include um places like England and Canada and France and Dubai, and even Texas. And so, you know, a lot of different places there. Bill Lampton: Well, truly, you— you— some people call themselves a global speaker because they made one presentation outside the country, but you definitely are a global speaker. And in recognition of the great impact you’ve had globally, you have received the highest honors available from the National Speakers Association. And I still remember in 1998, I believe it was, you and I met at a National Speakers Convention, and then I had other encounters with you when you lived in Georgia and we were both members of the Georgia Chapter of the National Speakers Association. This was before you set your business and your residence in Orlando, Florida. One of the great traits that you have, and there are many as a presenter, is that you involve your audience. It’s not just [laughter] it’s not just what I would call a— a mannequin with a mouth. [laughter] Just somebody who spews out a message and hope people are getting it. And also, you’re not a novice who, when you want to get your audience involved, you say, “Hey, anybody got any questions?” and there’s this [laughter] there’s this frightening deadly silence. Share with us, please— many of us are presenters, whether we’re professional or whether we’re business and professional people— share with us some of the strategies and techniques that you use, Terry, to get your audience vocally and physically involved in the presentation. Terry Brock: Well, that’s a good question because I think that’s important when you’re connecting with people. You want to find out what it is that’s on their mind. One of the things I found a change that I’ve done recently that helps, maybe this will help some of the viewers and listeners here, often I would ask for, “What would you like to hear about? What topic do you want to hear?” And that’s good, not bad, they might say, “Well this or that.” We work do a lot with AI. So, they’d want to know about using Chat GPT for this or maybe using Gemini for this or how does this tool work, etc. Those are good, but even better is when you can do your research and then lean forward and ask people, “Where are you having problems right now? What are some of the big frustrations you’re having with technology? What’s the biggest problem you bump into with Chat GPT or what are your biggest concerns or worries about it?” Something like that, those kind of questions that are tailored for the market, whatever it is that you’re serving, does a lot better. I think in terms of what a surgeon, a physician would do, when you go into this physician’s office, the physician often doesn’t say, “Well, would you like to know more about this medicine or would you like to know about this medicine?” No, they say, “How you doing? Any pain, any hurt, anything I can do to help you out?” A really good physician will do that and so, I’ve been thinking that’s a probably a good way to do it, and I think then you respond back to the people based on where they’re hurting. And by the way, as you know this very well, Bill, today, we’re in a great shape as better than ever before. That sounds like hyperbole, but it’s true because now we can do the research and find out where are they hurting. Where are they bumping into problems? With tools like Perplexity, it does great work with research. So does Chat GPT now and Gemini and particularly Grok. Grok is giving you real-time information of what’s going on right now, particularly relevant in some areas when there’s say a crisis or an emergency going on. So, I think what we want to do is be aware of what’s possible and then always be oriented toward how do we solve their problems. Nice to talk about a topic and we’ll mention that, okay fine if it’s relevant to them, but more importantly, find out where they’re hurting, where they’re bumping into real-world pain and how we can grab a tool over here that’ll help that or a tool over here that’ll solve that problem. Bill Lampton: Audience analysis is absolutely a vital key because the presenter, whether you’re an executive or whether you’re a professional speaker, the presenter, if— if it’s a solo act, audiences today are— are not um they’re not going to stick with you, and so you need— and I see perpetually, you and I both know Lois Creamer who advises us so often about what is happening in the speaking business. And one of the points that she makes repeatedly is that we must be problem solvers. We must not just be topic experts, but we must be problem solvers. And carrying this just a little bit farther, Terry, you’ve done your audience analysis and you get up to present, and knowing you, you do not talk for 60 minutes or whatever is allowed without really getting the audience involved. And as— and as I said a few minutes ago, the old way is saying, “Hey, anybody got any questions?” [laughter] and of course, usually no one will be the first one, and there— there are none. So, how do you get true involvement, feedback, maybe a Q&A? How do you get the audience stimulated to do that, guided to do that? Terry Brock: I don’t think there’s any one particular way to do it, but there’s some things we can do today that help a lot. Like for instance, I recently spoke uh out in Texas uh to a group of people that are in landscape and in nurseries, that working with those and earning with, out of the green industry, growing just wonderful, wonderful people. And I wanted to study their industry and find out what are they going through. So, I used my buddies, as I like to say, my buddies Chat GPT, Perplexity, Grok, and some other tools out there to find out what is going on, what is bothering people in those industries out there in Texas right now. And so, I knew some of the issues that were going on, and I had some fun with it, Bill. You’ll appreciate this. What I did is I looked at what was going on, and one of the issues they’re having concern with right now is with labor— getting people to come and work for them, what the prices are going to be for labor, etc., etc., and the shortage. And so, what I did is I say, “I understand that in your industry right now, here in Texas, you’re going through uh labor issues trying to find out,” and they’re kind of shaking their head going, “Yeah, he knows what he talking about.” I say, “Let me show you a way we can figure that out,” and what I did is I reached over, grabbed my phone, went over to Chat GPT, popped it into voice mode and I said, “Chat GPT, need you to act as an expert here in Texas in the area of nursery and with grooming and growing shrubs and things like that. What is going on right now that is causing problems in labor? What are— do you see happening in that?” And it came back and gave me an extensive conversation there about what’s happening, the issues, etc. I cut it off saying, “Okay, okay, that’s real good. Hang on just a minute.” And I paused, I looked at them, I say, “Is what Chat GPT told us accurate?” And they said, “Yeah, yeah, that’s true, but uh we all know that.” I said, “Yeah, that’s right. And you want to know what he can do to tell you to get around that and work around it.” They go, “Yeah.” I say, “Okay, we just confirmed though that he knows what he’s talking about. He,” because I was using the male voice at that time, “he was there, uh give me the information to that what was said. Is that correct, correct?” And they’re all going, “Yeah.” I go, “Now, the other issue is what?” And they told me some of the issues. I said, “That’s right.” And then I said, “I repeated that back into Chat GPT, and it came up with some solutions for them, some of which they had heard, some they had not. They’re writing it down, they go, ‘Oh, this is great.’ And I said, ‘This is what’s happening right now in the industry and this is how you can do it.’ If we had more time right now, we could go further in-depth on it, but here’s how you can do it on your own.” And I gave them the instructions on what to do with Chat GPT or other LLMs. So, Bill, cycling back around to what you’re asking about, find those areas where they’re hurting, where they, your audience, has pain, and then customize it. And today, we can leverage the daylights out of these tools to help us find out what’s really going on underneath the surface because people will go— go out on Reddit, and they’ll type, “Boy, I’m really mad with this company because they did this and this and this.” And then you start watching that, does that replicate in other areas? “Oh, okay. Now we know something that’s good here.” This company has been doing this in a couple areas, people don’t like that. Guess what we need to tell that company? “Hey, yeah, listen to what people are talking about.” So, it’s like you’re getting a sneaky way to do it, but using it right here with our phones, our LLMs like Grok, Chat GPT, Gemini, and some others, Claude also a very good one. Bill Lampton: Audience analysis is absolutely a vital key because the presenter, whether you’re an executive or whether you’re a professional speaker, the presenter, if— if it’s a solo act, audiences today are— are not um they’re not going to stick with you. And so, you need— and I see perpetually, you and I both know Lois Creamer who advises us so often about what is happening in the speaking business. And one of the points that she makes repeatedly is that we must be problem solvers. We must not just be topic experts, but we must be problem solvers. And carrying this just a little bit farther, Terry, you’ve done your audience analysis and you get up to present, and knowing you, you do not talk for 60 minutes or whatever is allowed without really getting the audience involved. And as— and as I said a few minutes ago, the old way is saying, “Hey, anybody got any questions?” [laughter] And of course, usually no one will be the first one and there— there are none. So, how do you get true involvement, feedback, maybe a Q&A? How do you get the audience stimulated to do that, guided to do that? Terry Brock: I don’t think there’s any one particular way to do it, but there’s some things we can do today that help a lot. Like for instance, I recently spoke uh out in Texas uh to a group of people that are in landscape and in nurseries, that working with those and earning with, out of the green industry, growing just wonderful, wonderful people. And I wanted to study their industry and find out what are they going through. So, I used my buddies, as I like to say, my buddies Chat GPT, Perplexity, Grok, and some other tools out there to find out what is going on, what is bothering people in those industries out there in Texas right now. And so, I knew some of the issues that were going on, and I had some fun with it, Bill. You’ll appreciate this. What I did is I looked at what was going on, and one of the issues they’re having concern with right now is with labor— getting people to come and work for them, what the prices are going to be for labor, etc., etc., and the shortage. And so, what I did is I say, “I understand that in your industry right now, here in Texas, you’re going through uh labor issues trying to find out,” and they’re kind of shaking their head going, “Yeah, he knows what he talking about.” I say, “Let me show you a way we can figure that out,” and what I did is I reached over, grabbed my phone, went over to Chat GPT, popped it into voice mode and I said, “Chat GPT, need you to act as an expert here in Texas in the area of nursery and with grooming and growing shrubs and things like that. What is going on right now that is causing problems in labor? What are— do you see happening in that?” And it came back and gave me an extensive conversation there about what’s happening, the issues, etc. I cut it off saying, “Okay, okay, that’s real good. Hang on just a minute.” And I paused, I looked at them, I say, “Is what Chat GPT told us accurate?” And they said, “Yeah, yeah, that’s true, but uh we all know that.” I said, “Yeah, that’s right. And you want to know what he can do to tell you to get around that and work around it.” They go, “Yeah.” I say, “Okay, we just confirmed though that he knows what he’s talking about. He,” because I was using the male voice at that time, “he was there, uh give me the information to that what was said. Is that correct, correct?” And they’re all going, “Yeah.” I go, “Now, the other issue is what?” And they told me some of the issues. I said, “That’s right.” And then I said, “I repeated that back into Chat GPT, and it came up with some solutions for them, some of which they had heard, some they had not. They’re writing it down, they go, ‘Oh, this is great.’ And I said, ‘This is what’s happening right now in the industry and this is how you can do it.’ If we had more time right now, we could go further in-depth on it, but here’s how you can do it on your own.” And I gave them the instructions on what to do with Chat GPT or other LLMs. So, Bill, cycling back around to what you’re asking about, find those areas where they’re hurting, where they, your audience, has pain, and then customize it. And today, we can leverage the daylights out of these tools to help us find out what’s really going on underneath the surface because people will go— go out on Reddit, and they’ll type, “Boy, I’m really mad with this company because they did this and this and this.” And then you start watching that, does that replicate in other areas? “Oh, okay. Now we know something that’s good here.” This company has been doing this in a couple areas, people don’t like that. Guess what we need to tell that company? “Hey, yeah, listen to what people are talking about.” So, it’s like you’re getting a sneaky way to do it, but using it right here with our phones, our LLMs like Grok, Chat GPT, Gemini, and some others, Claude also a very good one. Bill Lampton: I remember, uh Terry, that [laughter] I was not the most technical guy ever to go into this business, and I would imagine that you remember a publicist, Raleigh Pinsky. Raleigh wrote a book on how to become highly influential, how to publicize yourself. And I go back to a time, and I’ve told this on the Biz Communication Show before, but it’s highly relevant. I go back to a time when I was just starting out and Raleigh Pinsky’s and I got on a phone conversation. She was in Arizona, I was in Georgia, and I said, “What do you think I need to learn to get started?” And she mentioned a couple of things and I said, “Oh, oh, no. That’s— that’s just way too complicated for me.” And she said, “Bill, we’re not hanging up this phone until you get this right.” And I finally did, Terry, and guess what? It was how to copy and paste on the computer. [laughter] Terry Brock: I’m thinking you still use that little ditty now every— every so often. [laughter] Bill Lampton: So, we’ve come a long way. And what amazes me so much about artificial intelligence and the particular tools that you mentioned is that when you ask a question, which is the way to really find the information, the second that you stop typing the question, AI begins giving you the answer. [laughter] And— and and um I wouldn’t— I wouldn’t try to sell an— an Encyclopedia Britannica today, Terry. [laughter] You know, we get our answers uh much more instantly, much more specifically, and there’s nothing at all outdated about them. One of the points that we observed at the start is how you’ve spoken in so many countries, how you have been awarded the highest award of the National Speakers Association. And Terry, there are people who are listening, I’m sure, who are curious about the speaking profession today. And there are some who have had some speaking experience and they’re thinking about becoming a professional speaker. So, right after this message, we want your advice on how we would go about doing that. Be back in a couple of seconds. [Commercial Break] Bill Lampton: We’re here on the Biz Communication Show. I’m your host, Bill Lampton, the Biz Communication guy, welcoming the opportunity to speak with Terry Brock, one of my long-time friends, associates, mentors, and certainly a role model. Terry, just before that short break, I mentioned that there are people who are wondering, how do you get started today? Not 20 years ago or 30 years ago, when you and I started. How do you get started today to become a professional, full-time professional speaker? Terry Brock: Well, there’s no one way to do it because it varies from a lot of people, but a way that I have seen and we’re seeing with many, many professional speakers is you want to be knowledgeable and an expert in a particular area, so that you can solve problems. As you were saying before and our friend Lois Creamer talks about that extensively. So, you want to be able to solve problems and do it in a way by presenting. But people need to know about you. Right now, competition is white-hot. There’s so many people that are speaking, that are giving information, and doing a very good job of it, too. So, you’ve got to stand out in a real good way that solves their problems. A good way that I have found works for me, works for you, Bill, and is working for many other people as well, is make sure you have a very good professional appearance on YouTube, regularly. Regular communication that you send out, being able to stay in touch with people solving their problems. If people want answers, they often go today to YouTube. YouTube has exceeded the viewers on the traditional networks, long ago. No longer are we tied to ways that it was years ago when we’d have the three networks, or then the cable stations. Today, we’re doing it on the net and YouTube is there because it can get fine-tuned. I’m amazed, and Gina and I sit and watch YouTube and are amazed at the kind of specificity and degree of influence that is out there for many different people in given fields. We have certain people that we follow in AI, certain people that we follow with um improving our lives, certain people— I like following uh the Stoic philosophy, and seeing what they’re doing. I’m a big fan of Miyamoto Musashi, the Japanese samurai warrior long ago, and people like that. I like to see those and they have a lot of channels for that. This is the beauty of it. So, I would say to get started, think about the problem you can solve first, not just what you can do or what you think is a nifty groovy idea. “Well, that’s real good, Sparky, but uh [laughter] it doesn’t really matter what you think, what matters is what they think.” So, this is where the LLMs, those large language models, AI tools can show us people are looking for help in this area, and they’re not getting enough of it. And by the way, that’s an area that you know about that’s really good or you could learn it because it’s very close. It’d be like if a medical doctor needed to learn about a given disease but she hadn’t studied that yet, she hadn’t studied as much about that, but she could easily come up to speed on it, studying on her own, studying at the University of YouTube, we call it that euphemistically, [laughter] going out there, taking in some college courses, some extra medical courses to learn that disease if a lot of people are there and it ties in with her background. That’s the way to do it today. You find out those areas where people are hurting, where they have a need, you find the— well like they told us in business school, you find a problem and you solve it. You want to find out what’s going on, and today we’ve got the research to be able to do that as never before. I was just doing some research uh before our call today on some areas that are going on and what you can trust online and what you can’t trust. And it was really revealing for me. I’m going to be sharing that later today at our Stark Raving Entrepreneurs meeting. It happens to be today we’re going to be talking about things, and showing this tool that has shown what was going on, and we knew that it was going on then, but there were other tools that were saying something different. And then they were even saying what is happening now, that’s not true, that’s misinformation, that was a term they were using, or disinformation. And yet, it really was happening and now we can look back and go, “Okay, this is good to know for the future.” That way when you know what is right, and you know what is accurate and a reliable source, and you know how to use that tool, now you got a real edge and that gives you the ability to get out and speak as a speaker. And another thing, Bill, if I could mention, right now, again I agree with you, the market has changed. It’s no longer the way it used to be in the field of professional speaking. Yes, there’s still is a place for a person standing on a stage with a microphone, real people there, talking to them. There is a place for that. We like that, we like that human connection. But also, there’s other ways we communicate— that we communicate as you and I are doing right now with video. We’re communicating with one person to many so you can do that. Our Stark Raving Entrepreneurs, we do that where we have people around the world that join us and we get a chance to solve problems and have feedback as if we were in the same room. Find out how you can do that, how you can communicate in other ways. We’re also doing a lot with writing, now more than ever, and it’s easier than ever because we can get the LLMs to help us write— not writing it for us, but as an assistant giving us the raw material that we then take and craft along with what we want. Audio is still very strong with podcasts. You can do audio-only or you can do audio and video that would be on say YouTube, where you might have an interview. This is a great way for you to solve problems. Often people talk about what we are as a professional speaker and I say that we all need to aim for being a CSP. Now, CSP has a meaning within the National Speakers Association of a Certified Speaking Professional. That’s a good thing to have for professional speakers. I encourage them to look into it. I have one myself, but I don’t mean that in this case. Here I mean CSP is a communicator who solves problems. That’s what we need to go for. Find out what the problems are, how you can solve it, and then have the skills in communication to use that, and you can learn a lot about that from the Biz Communication guy, Bill Lampton. Those of you watching this, I’m going to embarrass Bill a little bit here but uh he is incredibly good. He also has his doctorate, a real doctorate in communication. He has helped many people with this, and he can help you with these kind of areas and more. So, get in touch with this young man. He’s got some real wisdom. Bill Lampton: Thank you for that very kind endorsement, Terry. I am— I am a— a true devotee of YouTube. To me, this is a visual encyclopedia that— that is— it’s in your and my price range. [laughter] We get so much free advice there on practically any topic from a great range of experts. And I remember you and I were having a conversation, as we do often sharing ideas, about a year and a half ago. I mentioned to you that I had started doing YouTube Shorts, which is 60 seconds or less. And you said, “Bill, that’s a good idea.” Well, Terry, I now produce, while I continue to host interviews such as this, I now produce three 60-second-or-less YouTube Shorts a week because you and I know and all of our viewers and listeners know that our attention span is not what it was even 20 years ago. There was a time when people would listen to very long monologues or even very long dialogue, but we want it quickly now and so, I— I have found value in YouTube Shorts and I assume you’re producing those as well. Terry Brock: Oh yeah, I find them really helpful because people want information quickly and you can get a lot of views that way. People get a chance to know you and then it can lead to your long-form videos which would be there and what they do. Actually, the way YouTube does it now, it was 60 seconds and now they say it can be three minutes or less, which is okay, but Bill, you’re right on target once again. 60 seconds and less gets more views because people think three minutes, boy, that’s a long time. Huh? [laughter] But they’re thinking of it that way. So, we’ve got to adapt and change to the market. And that’s the important whenever we’re alive, we’ve got to say not— let me— don’t let me tell you about what’s happened in the past, I mean, that’s— we— that’s nice, but when you think about it, Bill, when you and I were younger, when I say think of uh like 1940s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s around in there, there were things that people were looking at that were in the past at that time. Well, what we’ve got to always do throughout history is say, what are people looking for now? Right now, right now. Now, we can bring in what we had in the past, you and I talking about uh Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, Seneca, and people like that, the Stoics like that, that’s good. Their wisdom is still good today and that’s what we can bring in versus some of the styles and customs that might have been valid in the 1820s or the 1840s or the 1900s. Whatever it is, that’s okay. What we’ve got to do is focus on what people want right now. Bill Lampton: Terry, we have time for one more question. I invite you to tell us about something I mentioned in the introduction, Stark Raving Entrepreneurs, which is your weekly grand training opportunity. Tell us the format, what happens, and also, how do we get access to that? Terry Brock: Well, thank you for asking. It’s a program that’s designed to help entrepreneurs who uh want to get out there and do things on their own, serving a market by using technology particularly. Using video was one thing we did, we were actually called Video Rockstars before we became Stark Raving Entrepreneurs. But now what we do is we show people every week, like today we’re going to do that, how to use certain tools and how to make that work to translate into business. How to use AI, how to use Grok, how to use Chat GPT, how to use these. Matter of fact, today, I’m going to be talking about Grok in key areas where you can use that tool to generate business, to do research, to create magnificent videos more than you can in other places, and the audio as well. These kind of things that are available. So, Stark Raving Entrepreneurs, we give people an opportunity to build their business the way they want and we build it on a rock-solid foun— philosophy that we both, Gina and I, embrace and that is, live and let live. Do whatever you want in life. Bill Lampton: How do we— how do we access uh that? Is it a membership deal or is it just come in and— and watch or what— what’s the deal on that, Terry? Terry Brock: Yeah, it’s a membership and we offer the opportunity for people to get involved. Come over to starkravingentrepreneurs.com. If you go to starkravingentrepreneurs.com, you’ll find the information there, all of it’s there. And uh let us know and if you got a specific question, drop me a note. I’m terry@terrybrock.com and be happy to help you and work with you on that because you need to ex— do the things you want to do in life. As long as you’re not harming someone else, get out there and have fun, learn it and build your business. It’s really the best way to secure your future and those of your loved ones is to have your own business where you’re not dependent on anyone else, but you can do it on your own and make the world a better place. Bill Lampton: I certainly endorse Stark Raving Entrepreneurs and I encourage every viewer and listener to check into that. Terry, as always, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing you periodically on the Biz Communication Show and always, you’re not contemporary, you’re way ahead of contemporary. [laughter] You’re a— you’re a pace setter and anytime important change comes along that we need to be aware of, you’ve— you’ve got on the leader’s cap. You learn it and then, very fortunately for the rest of us, you translate it into our lingo and you help us learn these vast new accessories, or I’ll call them really necessities, that we need for success. Certainly, we have viewers and listeners who want your contact information, so will you share that with us, please? Terry Brock: Yes, and you can reach me at terry@terrybrock.com. And those of you that might be joining with audio, Terry and Brock can be spelled different ways, so Terry is T-E-R-R-Y and Brock is spelled the right way, B-R-O-C-K. So, terry@terrybrock.com, and I answer all of those requests that I can get to, which is usually 100%, so I’ll look forward to hearing from you on that. Bill Lampton: Thank you, Terry. And I— I believe that Terry Brock, if I were to look back over three decades, if I were to look at the top three coaches, mentors, colleagues who have taught me and who have encouraged me and who have supported me, Terry Brock would be in that top three, there’s no question about it. Terry Brock: Thank you, Bill. Bill Lampton: And now I’d like to give my contact information. My YouTube channel is Bill Lampton, PhD. On there, you— in fact, I go back, Terry, to 2007 when I started recording instructional videos about communication. And many of those are solo presentations, but in the last eight years, the Biz Communication Show has been hosting experts. So, I hope and encourage you to, when you go to my YouTube channel, Bill Lampton, PhD, to subscribe there. Then, my website, since my tagline is Biz Communication guy, logically, my website is bizcommunicationguy.com. When you’re there, you’ll have an opportunity, which I invite you to take, to subscribe to my podcast, which I hope you will do. And then I welcome telephone conversations so that I can hear what your communication problems and challenges are, explore solutions, find if I’m the resource that you need to work with, or do I refer you to someone else. And an initial call like that has no financial involvement. That number, 678-316-4300. Before we close, I want to recognize the co-producer of the Biz Communication Show, Mike Stewart, Nashville-based. He’s been a marketing and technology guide for me for many years. And his website is localinternetpresence.com. Terry Brock, again, so many gems of wisdom, so many guidelines from a genuine unquestionable expert, and that’s you. So, please tell us how you would sort of pull together our conversation today and leave us with a minute and a minute and a half of what I might say are— are some nuggets or some gems that we really ought to remember and act on? Terry Brock: We are living in an exciting time right now. It’s also very scary when we see AI changing our world profoundly, really every day, new things happen, it can get scary, but there’s great opportunities for those who can understand what’s happening and then be able to take that and use it to do good for others. Helping others out, helping them to achieve their goals is the way to do it. When you can help others get what they want, you’ll be able to get whatever you want, my buddy Zig Ziglar said that long ago, that you can get anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want. Take the power that’s available with AI and all these other little tools that are out there, that can help you to serve others better, to help them meet their needs, and by doing that, you’ll have the lifestyle that you want, the future that you want. The more you can help them, the better off you’ll be. Bill, it’s an honor to be with you as always. I appreciate you and for those of you watching it, get to know this guy. I know him one-on-one, he is genuine, sincere, and he really knows his stuff with a real PhD. I mean, he earned it and all that. So, he’s a guy you want to get to know for your communication, to get better and better. Bill, thank you so much for having me with you today. Bill Lampton: My privilege and keep that calendar handy because as you know, I will call on you again. And three months from now, we— we will have other remarkable changes that you have mastered and we’ll be calling on you, so keep that calendar handy. Terry Brock: You bet. Bill Lampton: Thanks to those of you who joined us for this dynamic conversation with Terry Brock on the video and on the audio portions of the Biz Communication Show. Invite you to be with us again next week for another informative, interesting, exciting, and beneficial version of the Biz Communication Show. I’m Bill Lampton, the Biz Communication guy.

Memorial Day hits different when you slow down enough to feel it. We're honoring the men and women who paid the ultimate price, and the unofficial start of summer makes me a little contemplative. So today's a different show. I'm walking you through the three things I've been working on for years with every coaching client. Awareness. A peaceful base. And what I call the anticipation engine. Old Stoic ideas, dressed up new for the life you actually live. Pour the coffee. Sit with this one a minute. Then press play. Featured Story A client said to me the other day, "Scott, why don't you charge more?" Because I like you, I told him. You should charge more, he said. I don't really need to, I said. The way I work, my retention is something most coaches never see. My longest client is nine years old. I average about six years for personal clients. I average about six years for personal clients. That's why I rarely have openings. The reason it works is what I'm walking through today. We're always dialed in. It never gets old. We're always reaching for balance — and that balance has roots in something the Stoics figured out a long time ago. Important Points Awareness isn't the destination. It's the line that quietly shows you what's yours to carry and what never was. Put your worry on the calendar. Pick the day you'll actually deal with it, and stop renting suffering until then. Set goals from a solid base, not from grasping. Aim well, let the arrow go, and stop riding your peace on the outcome. Memorable Quotes Most of the wrecks you think will happen are just renting suffering in your brain because they aren't even real yet. Peace isn't something you generate. It's what's quietly left when you stop fighting for what was never in your hands. The archer's goal isn't to hit the target. His goal is to shoot well — all in, open-handed, and ready for what comes. Scott's Three-Step Approach First, build deep awareness of what's actually happening in your life — every little thing, processed, seen, named. Then use that awareness to build a peaceful base — solid ground that holds even when the day blows up around you. Finally, fire up the anticipation engine — aim at a goal, go all in, and let the result loop you back to awareness. Chapters 0:38 - Why we actually honor Memorial Day today 2:14 - The three things I work on with every client 3:19 - Awareness lives in the gap between thought and action 5:42 - The peaceful base nobody else is teaching 8:50 - Anticipation engine and the archer who lets go 11:31 - Pre-pay the worst case and walk in light 13:32 - The loop that keeps you growing for years Connect With Me Search for the Daily Boost on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify If you enjoy the Daily Boost, you might like Notes From Scott. A few mornings each week, I send a short note with something I've been thinking about or noticing lately. Sometimes those ideas turn into podcast episodes later. You can sign up at https://notesfromscott.com. Email: support@motivationtomove.com Main Website: https://motivationtomove.com YouTube: https://youtube.com/dailyboostpodcast Instagram: https://instagram.com/heyscottsmith Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/motivationtomove Facebook Group: https://dailyboostpodcast.com/facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who are you beneath the persona you perform for others? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, we sit with that question and what Stoic philosophy says about the difference between the character we are building and the mask we wear for the world.Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. Here, philosophy is not theory. It is the daily, honest work of examining who you are and how you show up.Most of us are building something for an audience. A reputation. A version of ourselves shaped by approval, attention, and the fear of not being enough. Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations for no one but himself: an audience of one. That is not a small detail. It is the whole point.The Stoics called our deepest aim eudaimonia: a well-ordered life, lived from the inside out, in accordance with your own nature and values. Not fame. Not wealth. Not the version of success that looks good on a screen. To get there, you have to strip away what is not truly yours: the noise, the performance, the need for external validation. And ask the harder question. When the audience disappears, when the algorithm moves on, who are you then?This episode will not answer that for you. It will help you start looking.Support the show

In today's fast-paced world, it's easy to get caught up in the idea that success is just around the corner, but the truth is, our lives are shaped by the standards we accept, not the goals we set. This week on the Building Better Humans project podcast, we delve into the importance of setting high standards and how they can make or break our lives. The standard you walk past is the standard you accept, a principle that applies to every area of life, from leadership and business to relationships and personal growth. By tolerating mediocrity, we slowly erode our identity and become someone we never intended to be. The Stoics understood that character is built in the small decisions we make daily, not in grand moments of inspiration. If you're ready to stop making excuses and start building the life you want, tune in to this episode of the Building Better Humans podcast to discover how setting high standards can simplify your life and lead to growth. Take an honest look at your life, identify areas where your standards have slipped, and start making changes today. The Building Better Humans Project is brought to you by ADVENTURE PROFESSIONALS. Visit www.adventureprofessionals.com.auADVENTURE WITH GLENN ONLINE MINDSET PROGRAMS 1-ON-1 MENTORINGSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Was Nero really that bad, or has history been telling the same story for 2,000 years without asking who started it? In today's episode, Ryan looks at the myths, accusations, and contradictions behind Nero's reputation, and asks whether he was really a monster, a scapegoat, or a warning.

Send us Fan MailRome isn't presented as a background detail, it's the pressure cooker. We start our Romans journey by rebuilding the setting behind Paul's most comprehensive explanation of the gospel: the Roman Empire at its height, the cultural and political center of the known world, and a growing community of believers trying to live out faith in a place that sets trends for everyone else. Getting that context right changes how you hear every word that follows, especially when Romans was written around 56 to 58 A.D., just years before the world-shifting events of A.D. 70.We talk through why this letter is unique among Paul's epistles. He's writing to a church he didn't personally plant, a network of saints meeting across the city rather than one neat institution. We also face the real friction points: the aftershocks of Claudius expelling Jews from Rome, Jewish believers returning, and Gentile believers now holding visible influence. That mix creates disputes over identity and practice, and Romans speaks directly to that fault line by centering salvation on God's faithfulness and justification by faith, not tribal status.Then we zoom in on Paul's method. Romans reads like a courtroom brief because Rome understands law, argument, and proof. We connect Paul's Pharisaic “legal mind” with his exposure to public philosophy, including debates with Stoics and Epicureans, and why that double-edge preparation makes him the right messenger for the empire's capital. If the gospel is going to spread to the ends of the earth, it has to stay clear when it reaches the center of influence first.Subscribe for the full Romans study ahead, share this with a friend who wants deeper Bible context, and leave a review with your biggest question about Romans so we can tackle it together.Support the showBE PROVOKED AND BE PERSUADED!

The Stoics had high standards. They also understood that perfection was not possible.

Watch the video episode here: https://youtu.be/_CKtK4ajc2M----The manosphere has been quoting the Stoics to young men for years. Marcus Aurelius. Epictetus. Seneca. The version they've been selling — anger as strength, dominance as virtue, emotion as weakness — is the exact opposite of what those philosophers actually wrote.In Meditations 11.18, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his private journal that gentleness is more manly than rage. Seneca, in Letter 63, wrote that we may weep but must not wail — and admitted he had been overcome by grief himself. Epictetus, in Discourses 2.10, said that the man who becomes a wild beast has lost something essential. Musonius Rufus argued in Lecture IV that virtue is the same in man and woman, and Cleanthes — Zeno's successor as head of the Stoic school — wrote an entire treatise titled On the Thesis that Virtue Is the Same in Man and Woman in the 3rd century BCE.This video walks through what the original Stoics actually said about being a man, why the manosphere reading of Stoicism is a misreading, and four traits of the Stoic version of manhood you can use to test whether you're actually living the philosophy.

This video continues the Book of Acts series in chapter 17 starting from verse 11. The Bereans are described as more noble than those in Thessalonica because they received the word with readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to verify what they heard. Many in Berea believed including honorable Greek women and men while Jews from Thessalonica stirred up the people against Paul. Paul is sent to Athens where his spirit is stirred by the city's idolatry and he disputes daily in the synagogue and marketplace with Jews, devout persons, Epicureans, and Stoics before addressing the Athenians at the Areopagus about their superstition and the altar to the Unknown God.

Most people think the worst thing in the world is being alone.But the Stoics made an important distinction between loneliness and solitude.Loneliness is the painful feeling of disconnection — the sense that you do not belong, that no one truly sees you, understands you, or stands beside you. Solitude, however, is something entirely different. Solitude is peace within yourself. It is the ability to sit quietly in your own company without needing distraction, validation, or noise.In this episode, I explore why human beings fear loneliness so deeply, how our evolutionary history shaped our need for connection, and why community matters far more than modern individualism often admits.I also reflect on Robin Williams' famous quote:“The worst thing in the world is not to be alone, but to be around people who make you feel alone.”From a Stoic perspective, this quote reveals something profound about belonging, perception, emotional dependence, and the search for inner stability.This episode is about:The difference between loneliness and solitudeWhy human beings crave connectionThe Stoic idea of a “well-ordered mind”Why some people cannot tolerate being aloneThe danger of seeking relationships from desperationFinding peace both with others and within yourselfYou do not need to become emotionally isolated to become strong.You need to become stable enough that your peace does not disappear when silence arrives.

In today's episode, Ryan shares timeless lessons from the ancients on how to ask better questions, think more clearly, and make the most of AI without losing your ability to discern what's true.

In this episode of The Building Better Humans podcast, Glenn shares a powerful message about the connection between discipline and freedom. With a personal anecdote about his own experiences leading expeditions and adventures, he highlights the importance of self-mastery and the benefits of living a disciplined life. Freedom is often misunderstood as the ability to do whatever we want, without rules or responsibilities. However, Glenn suggests that true freedom comes from discipline, which allows us to be in control of ourselves and our actions. He draws on the wisdom of the Stoics, who believe that freedom is achieved through self-mastery and the ability to say no to temptation, yes to discipline, and calm in the face of pressure. If you're looking to break free from the chains of chaos and live a more intentional life, this episode is a must-listen. The Building Better Humans Project is brought to you by ADVENTURE PROFESSIONALS. Visit www.adventureprofessionals.com.auADVENTURE WITH GLENN ONLINE MINDSET PROGRAMS 1-ON-1 MENTORINGSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Support my work for as little as £0.87/wk: https://stoicismpod.com/members -- In this episode, I lay out a practical, step-by-step Stoic framework for making decisions well. A lot of people interested in Stoicism know the quotes, know the terminology, and understand the broad concepts — but when an actual difficult choice appears in front of them, they still don't know what to do. This episode is about solving that problem. I begin by making a distinction the Stoics took very seriously: the difference between wanting something and determining whether something is right. Most difficult decisions are not difficult because we don't know what we desire, but because we're uncertain what action accords with virtue and reason. From there, I walk through an orthodox Stoic decision-making method rooted in Panaetius and preserved through Cicero's De Officiis. The process begins with examining what the Stoics understood to be the four roles every human being occupies simultaneously: Our universal human nature as rational beings bound by the virtues. Our individual nature — our temperament, strengths, and weaknesses. Our circumstantial roles — parent, child, citizen, employee, neighbour. Our chosen roles — career, projects, commitments, ambitions. I use a detailed example throughout the episode: a person deciding whether to take a major overseas promotion while also caring for an aging mother whose health is declining. The key Stoic insight is this: the right action is usually found at the intersection of all four roles. Most modern ethical thinking frames difficult choices as trade-offs, but Stoicism instead asks us to search for the action that satisfies all our legitimate roles without violating virtue. I then explain the “tragic conflict clause” — what to do when no intersection seems possible. In those cases, the Stoics held that lower-order roles must be abandoned before virtue itself is compromised. After identifying a candidate action, I introduce three tests the Stoics would apply: The rational defence test: can you clearly explain why the action is right? The sage test: would a genuinely wise person choose this? The role-fidelity test: does the action honour your responsibilities regardless of what others do? Finally, I discuss the importance of post-action review — what the Stoics called prokopē, or progress. Stoic character is built not through perfect choices, but through repeated examination, correction, and refinement over time. The core point of the episode is simple: Stoicism is not passive inspiration or emotional comfort. It is a disciplined framework for reasoning through life well and choosing in alignment with nature, virtue, and our roles. Listening on Spotify? Leave a comment! Share your thoughts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paul wasn't just helping people get to heaven. Nijay Gupta joins me to make the case that Paul's letters were written for people trying to figure out how to live, not how to escape. Drawing from his new book Paul for the World, Nijay walks through the Greco-Roman world Paul was writing into - its economic disparity, its philosophies, its hunger for meaning - and shows how we can see our world similarly. The conversation moves through economics, the arts, the Stoics, and the resurrection to land on a grounded, new creation vision of the Christian life. This is a conversation about meaning, hope, and what it looks like to be fully alive in the world God hasn't given up on.Nijay K. Gupta (PhD, Durham University) is Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He is the coauthor (with A. J. Swoboda) of the book Slow Theology, cohost of the Slow Theology podcast, and founder of the popular Substack newsletter Engaging Scripture. Gupta is an award-winning author of numerous books, including Tell Her Story, Strange Religion, and commentaries on Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. He is also a senior translator for the New Living Translation. Gupta lives in Portland, Oregon.Nijay's Book:Paul for the WorldNijay's Recommendation:God's HomecomingConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeSupport the podcast and the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below NEW PODCAST: American Evangelicals - A History PodcastA thoughtful, deep dive into one of the most talked-about movements in American history.Support the show

Most people are trying to fix symptoms instead of causes.You miss the gym and think you lack discipline.You eat poorly and think you have weak willpower.You feel exhausted and think you've become lazy.But what if those aren't the real problem?In this episode, I talk about root causes — the foundational issues underneath the visible struggles in our lives. I use my recent work travel and disrupted sleep routine as an example of how one weak pillar can quietly affect everything else: mood, discipline, diet, training, recovery, and emotional resilience.The Stoics understood something modern people often forget: if you misdiagnose the problem, you can spend years fighting shadows.You don't need to fix 100 problems individually.You need to find the few upstream problems generating the rest.And you don't need to be perfect.You just need to become directionally right.

Do you ever feel like everyone else has it figured out and you're the only one falling behind? In this episode of the Via Stoica Podcast, we look at where that feeling really comes from and what Stoic philosophy teaches us about separating a setback from your identity.Welcome to the Via Stoica Podcast, the podcast on Stoicism. Here, Stoic philosophy isn't theory. It's a practical tool for the moments when life feels like too much.Feeling like a failure rarely starts with one event. It starts with the standards we're measuring ourselves against and whether those standards were ever really ours to begin with. When we absorb other people's definitions of success, we hand them the answer key to our own lives.No wonder the results feel wrong. Self-awareness starts the moment we ask: whose expectations am I actually living by? The Stoics were clear. Character and how you act are the only real measures. Not money, not status, not how things look from the outside.This episode is for anyone who has felt stuck, inadequate, or quietly resigned to the idea that this is just who they are. It isn't. That's exactly where your agency begins.Support the show

Explore the fascinating world of religion in Ancient Greece, from the powerful Olympian gods like Zeus, Athena, and Apollo to sacred rituals, temples, myths, and festivals that shaped daily Greek life.Find me and my music here:https://linktr.ee/filipholmSupport Let's Talk Religion on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/letstalkreligion Or through a one-time donation: https://paypal.me/talkreligiondonateSources/Recommended Reading:Bowden, Hugh (2010). "Mystery cults in the Ancient World". Thames and Hudson Ltd.Burkert, William (1987). "Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical". Wiley-Blackwell. Burkert, Walter (1988). "Ancient Mystery Cults". Harvard University Press.Chulp, Radek (2016). "Proclus: An Introduction". Cambridge University Press.Cooper, John M. et. al (translated by) (1997). "Plato: Complete Works". Hackett Publishing.Dodds, E.R. (2004). "The Greeks & The Irrational". University of California Press.Eidinow, Esther & Julia Kindt (ed.) (2017). "The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion". Oxford University Press.Gerson, Loyd P. (ed.) (2019). "Plotinus: The Enneads". Cambridge University Press. (This is the translation of the Enneads I have been using in this episode).Gerson, Loyd P (2008). "Cambridge Companion to Plotinus". Cambridge University Press.Gregory, John (ed.) (1998). "The Neoplatonists: a reader". Routledge.Huffman, Carl A. (ed.) (2017). "A History of Pythagoreanism". Cambridge University Press.Iamblichus "On the Mysteries". Tranlsated by Emma C. Clarke, John M. Dillon & Jackson P. Hershell. Writings from the Graeco-Roman World. Society of Biblical Literature.Inwood, Brad (ed.) (2003). "The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics". Cambridge University Press.Kirk, G.S., J.E. Raven & M. Schofield (1983). "The Presocratic Philosophers". Second Edition. Cambridge University Press.Parker, Robert C.T. (2011). "On Greek Religion". Cornell University Press.Proclus "The Elements of Theology: A Revised Text with Translation, Introduction, and Commentary". Translated by E.R. Dodds. Second Edition. Oxford University Press.Shaw, Gregory (2014). "Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus". Angelico Press/Sophia Perennis.Ustinova, Yulia (2017). "Divine Mania: Alterations of Consciousness in Ancient Greece". Routledge.Wallis, R.T. (1998). "Neoplatonism". Second Edition. Bristol Classical Paperbacks. Hackett Publishing Company.Zhmud, Leonid (2012). "Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans". Translated by Kevin Windle & Rosh Ireland. OUP Oxford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's reading of The Screwtape Letters focuses on Chapter 3, a letter about personal/family relations and the importance of managing your impressions regarding facial expressions, tone of voice and other mannerisms. Things can break down rapidly when a relationship drifts toward enmity and assumed bad faith, and Lewis's warning here is to reflect on how you let yourself off the hook for grating mannerisms—while scrutinizing those of everyone else. When two humans have lived together for many years it usually happens that each has tones of voice and expressions of face which are almost unendurably irritating to the other. Work on that. Bring fully into the consciousness of your patient that particular lift of his mother's eyebrows which he learned to dislike in the nursery, and let him think how much he dislikes it. Let him assume that she knows how annoying it is and does it to annoy — if you know your job he will not notice the immense improbability of the assumption. And, of course, never let him suspect that he has tones and looks which similarly annoy her. As he cannot see or hear himself, this is easily managed.It's a distinctly Stoic letter, almost like Lewis drew directly from Epictetus. It is not the only time Screwtape Letters offers blocks of wisdom that parallel the Stoics. In this video, I also draw on a book called Jesus & Stoicism by Brittany Polat, which compares Bible verses with lines from the Stoic philosophers, to show where these “virtuous pagans” were on the right track when it came to ethics that Christianity made mainstream in the West. I highly recommend it for your bookshelf. You can buy it at the link above. This video is free for everyone to enjoy as a thank-you for being on the newsletter. We're glad you're here, and every subscription helps us keep Geeky Stoics going. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.geekystoics.com/subscribe

Cato's life was his philosophy, and the Stoics never stopped looking to his example. In today's episode, Ryan explores why Cato the Younger became one of Stoicism's most admired figures, and what his life can teach us about courage, character, and standing for what's right.

These are impersonal forces. This is fortune and fate. It's not targeting you. It's not favoring or picking on you.

Arete. To the Greeks, it meant excellence. It was the ultimate expression of human greatness—moral, physical, spiritual. It's what the Stoics were chasing. It's what you're chasing today. But how do we get there?

The terrible diagnosis. The betrayal. The broken heart. Are they Stoics really saying you should love that? Is that what it means to “amor fati”—to love your fate?

The Stoics weren't just leaders and philosophers. They were parents, spouses, and friends, who experienced joy, who fell in love, who cherished the beauty of the world around them. Reading Marcus Aurelius can change your life, but only if you know how to read his work

It's strange that we need a day to remind us we're part of the planet we live on. In this Earth Day episode, Ryan explores the Stoic idea of sympatheia, the belief that we're part of a larger whole and that what affects the world affects us too. He looks at how modern life, filled with noise, busyness, and constant stimulation, pulls us out of alignment with nature. Earth Day is a reminder of that connection, but the Stoics believed it should shape how we live every day.

Mischke conducts a fascinating, wide ranging interview with William O. Stephens, author of the new book, "Marcus Aurelius: Philosopher King."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mischke conducts a fascinating, wide ranging interview with William O. Stephens, author of the new book, "Marcus Aurelius: Philosopher King."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's episode, Ryan answers questions from a live audience in Sydney, Australia. Some of these questions include: How do we keep our ego in check when things are going well? How does a Stoic handle guilt and shame? What do the Stoics say about navigating profound loss? + more! Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/

The Stoics urged us to read, study, and journal, not as abstract philosophy, but to help us recover from the stuff life throws at us.

You live in a time of abundance, medicine, knowledge, and opportunity—things the Stoics could not have imagined in their wildest dreams.

The Stoics appreciated success, but it wasn't something they coveted. It may have impressed others, but it wasn't how they defined themselves.Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/