The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living is a book on stoic philosophy written by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman in 2016. Who should read this: anybody and everybody who is seeking self control and guidance in life
This book is life changing. It completely changed my perspective on how to approach my work, dilemmas and relationships with others but also with myself. It’s one page a day format, made myself, who had never understood stoicism truly before, a firm believer and also gave me time to meditate on the daily passage and how to implement this into my way of thinking. Stoicsm has the reputation of meaning emotionless and however, after ready I found it to mean the opposite, it is to fully embrace ever feeling but understood that it will pass and it is only true or important if YOU decide it is.
The book has three disciplines to master — the discipline of perfection (how we see and perceive the world) , action (the decisions and actions we take and to what end) and will (how we deal with things we cannot change, attain clear and convincing judgement and come to a true understanding of our place in the world). Each moth is dedicated to a specific approach to life within these disciplines such as January — Clarity, July — Duty, November — Amor Fati (A Latin phrase that may be translated as “love of fate").
Stoics like Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, who are regularly mentioned in the book, give the reader three different perspectives, that of a businessman, a slave and an emperor, respectively. This allowed myself to garner a sense of relatability to each, if they experience hardship and come out of the other-side so can I, while creating a steadfast mentality and unwavering understanding of the saying ‘what will be, will be’. Lessons I learned from the book range from controlling of your thoughts, living a fulfilling life and being a virtuous citizen of the world.
As a Gen Z growing up in times of constant turbulence and disruption in my most formative years this book has brought me solace and a clear, instructive way to deal with life. From the pandemic to cost of living crisis, the mental clarity the book has provided has been invaluable. Tim Ferriss, describes the book as his ‘own person operating system’ which I wholeheartedly agree with. Through the establishment of my own self-control, I’ve created balance within myself. The book states “Everything is change. Embrace that. Flow with it.” , in the near future with the rise of technological developments such as AI, there will be nothing but unremitting advancement. Futurist Ray Kurzweil explains the singularity, when technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable changes to human civilisation will reach us by 2045. We must adapt to this, work with this and embrace the change if we are to be fortunate.
In a time of great uncertainty it feels good to know I have the power of self mastery-provided through this book.
