Ryan Holiday - Mastering Ego, Modern Stoicism and Leveraging Mentors

"To accept it without arrogance and to let it go with indifference." - Marcus Aurelius

Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday) is the bestselling author of Trust Me, I’m Lying, Conspiracy, Ego is the Enemy & The Obstacle Is The Way and the creator of @DailyStoic. His work has been translated into over 30 languages and has appeared everywhere from the New York Times to Fast Company.

His company Brass Check, has advised companies such as Google, Quest Nutrition and Complex, as well as multi-platinum musicians and some of the biggest authors in the world including Tim Ferriss, Tony Robbins and Arianna Huffington.

With Ryan we cover becoming an author, perils of ego, modern stoicism, leveraging mentors and much more.

In this episode we cover

The beginning of Ryan's writing career and when he finally felt like he became an author [00:17]
Looking into the purpose of education and asking how do you want to live your life [02:44]
How ego is translated in the modern world, it's various stages and it's impact on one's identity [06:12]
'Oceanic Feeling' - a potential antidote to ego [13:05]
Mastering 'Total Recall' - Ryan's process to learning and remembering [15:29]
Moving stoicism from thinking to an action-oriented practice [19:15]
The value of indifference, not taking yourself to seriously and not tying your self-worth to a specific need, want or event [23:00]
Scaling pocket change - leveraging tangible artifacts to inspire intentional action [25:10]
Mentors - leveraging principles from ancient wisdom vs the specific advice from living mentors [26:36]
Discussing the power of indifference during suffering and managing expectations [29:52]
One book Ryan would save from a fire [34:23]
Ryan's approach to essentialism and only doing what's necessary [36:36]
The moment Ryan understood the value he was bringing to the world [37:36]
The difference between somebody who wrote something and an author [38:35]

Selected Links And Books From The Episode

Book: The Odyssey by Homer
Link: Article on the concept of 'Oceanic Feeling'
Link: What is stoicism?
Book: The Daily Stoic Journal by Ryan Holiday
Link: The concept of 'memento mori' written on Ryan's coin
Link: The concept of 'amor fati' written on Ryan's coin
Book: 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
Book: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Link: The concept of 'essentialism'
Book: The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

People Mentioned

Odysseus
Pierre Hadot
Marcus Aurelius
Seneca
Epictetus
Mark Devine
Cato
Victor Frankl
Gary Vaynerchuk

Where to find Ryan

Twitter: @RyanHoliday & @dailystoic
Instagram: @ryanholiday
Website: https://ryanholiday.net/ & https://dailystoic.com/
Company: Brasscheck

Other Links

Full Transcription
Lean more about Athletic Greens
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