Gamechanger Sessions: Leading and Thriving in 2021 No. 1
Ryan Holiday, Bestselling Author & Creator of The Daily Stoic
Original livestream recorded on December 7th, 2020
Ryan Holiday is the author of several New York Times bestselling books, most recently Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius and Stillness Is the Key, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers lists. His other books about Stoicism and ancient philosophy include The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, and with Stephen Hanselman, The Daily Stoic. His books have been translated into over 30 languages and have been read by more than three million people worldwide.
In addition to his books, Holiday is the founder of TheDailyStoic.com— likely the largest community of Stoics since days of Rome or Greece—which includes a podcast (10M downloads annually), newsletter (250K subscribers) and over 1 million followers on its social media platforms. Holiday is an in-demand public speaker, continually praised for talks that are insightful, relevant, timely, and forward thinking.
Watch the video to learn more about:
What we can learn from the Stoics in Ryan’s new book Lives of the Stoics
How Ryan has built one of the best learning communities in the world on timeless wisdom
What Ryan believes the future of learning will entail post pandemic
Key Moments
04:21 – What Stoic philosophy is and why it is can help us cope with unexpected difficult situations in our lives
07:34 – Ryan’s own origin story and why he became interested in Stoic philosophy
08:51 – On Stoicism principles as a toolbox for trust in oneself
11:48 – A passage from Ryan’s Daily Stoic newsletter
12:57 – What the old term Memento Mori means and why it carries so much weight especially during the pandemic
17:37 – On how plagues can pose a threat to both the health and character of people
19:55 – On Ryan’s previous experience as a marketing executive and why that was important for his success when he started writing about Stoicism
24:50 – Why passion should never be your only driving force behind chasing a project or career path
28:58 – What Stoic principles teach us about education and the importance of lifelong learning
31:38 – Why reflection on past learnings is so important for your learning process
33:30 – Why community is so valuable for the Daily Stoic and for Ryan’s own personal learning journey
35:51 – How we can use the lessons of the current pandemic to thrive in 2021
39:09 – How Ryan’s new book, Lives of the Stoics, portrays the imperfections of the very famous
ancient Stoic philosophers and how they used those tensions to achieve greatness
41:48 – What we’ve learned from history and how similar patterns have come to play out today
Q&A from Gamechanger/Mastermind Audience:
45:32 – How one can apply Stoic philosophy to get back on track when they feel lost
46:53 – What impacts COVID have had on at-home learning and training
48:34 – How the notion of agency becomes especially important in these times
51:47 – Why collecting information from all sources, even ones you don’t share an opinion, are important for formulating wisdom
53:37 – What Ryan is reading about now and what he plans on working on next
55:26 – Why courage is important especially as we enter 2021