Philosophy
by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman
Philosophy before breakfast?
Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman wrote one short page for every day of the year, 366 in all. Each opens with a line from a Stoic writer, then spends a few paragraphs on what it means for the day ahead. You start on today's date, whatever it is.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
The year follows the three Stoic disciplines. January to April is perception, how you see things. May to August is action, what you do about them. September to December is will, how you bear what you can't change. Each month then narrows to one theme within its discipline.
January is about clarity, February about passions and emotions. The months carry on through subjects like duty and resilience to November, which is acceptance, under the Latin motto amor fati. December closes the year with meditation on mortality, using death as a reason to stop wasting time.
Most of the lines come from three men in very different positions. Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome. Seneca was a playwright, a statesman and one of the richest men in the empire. Epictetus was born a slave. The authors' point is that the same ideas held up for all three.
In everyday English, a stoic person is one who shows no feeling. Holiday and Hanselman argue the Stoics never aimed for that. They felt anger, fear and grief like anyone. What they practised was noticing those feelings before acting, so that emotion didn't make their decisions for them.
Control
Start each day with the same step. Sort what's up to you from what isn't.
Perception
See things as they are, without the story you add about how bad they are.
Action
Do the right thing now. Don't wait for perfect conditions or a better mood.
Will
Accept what happens, even the hard parts, as the material you get to work with.
Evening review
End the day like Seneca did, looking back at what you did well and what you'll fix.
One thing to try
Tomorrow morning, read one page and copy its opening line onto your phone's lock screen. Glance at it at lunch. Before bed, ask yourself honestly whether you lived by it today, and where you didn't. Do the same for a week, a new line each day.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. The Daily Stoic comes with a Name That Idea round to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appPhilosophy before breakfast? Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman wrote one short page for every day of the year, 366 in all. Each opens with a line from a Stoic writer, then spends a few paragraphs on what it means for the day ahead. You start on today's date, whatever it is.
A year in three disciplines; From clarity to mortality; An emperor, an adviser, a slave; Stoic doesn't mean unfeeling.
Tomorrow morning, read one page and copy its opening line onto your phone's lock screen. Glance at it at lunch. Before bed, ask yourself honestly whether you lived by it today, and where you didn't. Do the same for a week, a new line each day.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from The Daily Stoic in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Name That Idea round to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
