#1836 - Ryan Holiday

Joe Rogan (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience. Sweet.

Ryan Holiday (0:15)

Hi.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

Nice to meet you, man.

Ryan Holiday (0:15)

Yeah, good to meet you.

Joe Rogan (0:16)

Happy birthday.

Ryan Holiday (0:17)

Thank you.

Joe Rogan (0:17)

How old are you?

Ryan Holiday (0:18)

I'm 35

Joe Rogan (0:19)

Wow, do you feel 35?

Ryan Holiday (0:21)

I feel like after like late 20s, I just kind of like, well, I got to check in every year to be like, wait, how old am I again? You know, so I, not really, I guess.

Joe Rogan (0:30)

It's a strange time, 35

Ryan Holiday (0:33)

Why?

Joe Rogan (0:33)

Because you're kind of middle-aged.

Ryan Holiday (0:37)

Yes.

Joe Rogan (0:37)

But you're young.

Ryan Holiday (0:39)

Well, I was like successful pretty early in my life. So like, I was always like the kid, you know, like I dropped out of college at 19 And so, and I worked in Hollywood. And so I was always like the youngest person in the room by far.

And so like, that's, it's not been part of my identity, but I like felt it, you know.

Joe Rogan (0:56)

What did you do in Hollywood?

Ryan Holiday (0:57)

Well, I dropped out of college. I worked at a desk in a talent agency. And then, and I started signing new media clients. And then very quickly, it didn't work out. But you want to know, so.

So I, I was working for one of the reasons it didn't work out. It didn't work out because it was horrible life. And I don't know why anyone would want to have it, but I was working at this desk. I was an assistant and I was also a research assistant for Robert Greene, the 40 Laws of Power guy.

Joe Rogan (1:26)

Sure.

Ryan Holiday (1:26)

By the way, I brought you the new one from him.

Joe Rogan (1:30)

Oh, great.

Ryan Holiday (1:30)

He signed it for you.

Joe Rogan (1:31)

Oh, that's awesome.

Ryan Holiday (1:32)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (1:33)

Robert's a great guy.

Ryan Holiday (1:33)

He's my favorite human being in the whole world.

Joe Rogan (1:35)

All right. Damn, I want to be your favorite.

Ryan Holiday (1:38)

Let's see. Well, no, so I was working for Robert and I had the 40 Laws of Power on my desk because I was working on it. And one of the partners became convinced that I was up to shit.

Joe Rogan (1:52)

What?

Ryan Holiday (1:52)

Yeah, yeah, like he was like, he just, he got it in his head that I was like, not a threat, but I was like someone to be suspicious of. And...

Joe Rogan (2:03)

Because you had the Laws of Power on your desk?

Ryan Holiday (2:06)

Yeah, yeah, it was the weirdest thing.

Joe Rogan (2:07)

You're too ambitious?

Ryan Holiday (2:08)

I guess, yeah, it was.

Joe Rogan (2:09)

Wow.

Ryan Holiday (2:10)

And I remember one time the partner I worked for, he like never, like he was always gone and he never liked to be on call. So he had me on some call for him and I was supposed to like be like feeding him info, you know, like when you're on the conference call, I was supposed to like type him stuff and you know, like you log in to the call and it's like, you're the seventh caller, but there was only supposed to be like six people on the call and so the partner's like, someone else is on the call, like who is on the call? And I was like, am I supposed to say something? Cause like I'm not supposed to be on the call and I kind of froze, it's only like 20 and I froze.

And he kept, you know, who's on the call? Who's on the call? And it was like too late to say anything.

That's why I'm like feeling it, like the nervousness. The nerves, really? Well, no, cause it was so stressful. This is like, you know, this is like an Artie Gold type, right?

Joe Rogan (3:02)

Right.

Ryan Holiday (3:03)

And then all of a sudden I hear like footsteps down the hall and it's like his assistant and the assistant is like looking through the door and see, I'm like, oh shit, I hang up the phone. Oh God.

It makes the noise and then I hear like stomping down the hall and he like bursts into the thing. It's like, what the fuck are you doing? I knew you were up to something. Like I saw you reading that book, you know, and it's like this whole, he's just like screaming at me. And then like he could tell that I was like not scared enough and so he, I'll never forget, he grabbed the door and he slammed it and then opened it again and then slammed it and then opened it again like just pure like physical intimidation.