Stoicism's Lessons For A Disciplined Life - Ryan Holiday - #541

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello everybody, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Ryan Holiday. He's a podcaster, marketer and an author. Discipline is one of the world's hot topics because it's become apparent that in order to achieve anything, you must be able to temper your desires and direct your efforts. The Stoics believed this 2000 years ago, and between then and now, there's been a plethora of historical examples which can teach us how to build and sustain discipline. Expect to learn why sanity is your most precious resource, why discipline without an end goal is pointless, how to stay disciplined when success arrives, why Martin Luther King let a Nazi punch him in the face, how to enforce discipline without lambasting yourself for falling short, what Eisenhower's smoking habit can teach us about self-control, why 75 Hard might not build discipline long term, and much more. I actually got to do this in person with Ryan, which was nice, because I've lived in Austin for seven months and still we haven't found time to see each other yet, even though we've been in touch for many years. He's great. I really, really appreciate Ryan's historical view, the number of examples he's got from the last few centuries and the millennia of people fighting with discipline. He's great. You're really going to enjoy this one. In other news, this episode is brought to you by 8 Sleep. Good sleep is the ultimate game changer and nature's best medicine. Consistent good sleep can help to reduce the likelihood of serious health issues, decrease the risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure and even reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. Getting good sleep is hard and one of the main reasons that people struggle to fall to sleep is that they are either too hot or too cold. Having a temperature regulated mattress or mattress topper is the game changer for this. The Pod Pro Cover by 8Sleep is the most advanced solution on the market for thermoregulation which pairs dynamic cooling and heating with biometric tracking. So not only does the cover change each half of the bed for you and your partner, it adjusts the temperature throughout the night based on your sleep stages. 8Sleep uses fall asleep up to 32% faster, reduce sleep interruptions by 40% and get up to 30% more deep sleep. Also, you can get $150 or 150 pounds off the Pod Pro and the Pod Pro cover if you go to 8sleep.com/modernwisdom. That's E I G H T sleep.com/modernwisdom and 8Sleep ships within the USA, Canada and the UK. In other other news, this episode is brought to you by Whoop. Whoop is a personalized digital fitness and health coach that monitors your body's physiology 24-7 via a non-invasive wearable and provides you with feedback on your lifestyle, training, sleep and recovery via an accompanying app. Whoop doesn't just tell you what you've done, it tells you what you need to do. Crucially, Whoop is more than just a fitness tracker. It is a coach that helps you to identify areas for improvement in your life, reinforcing positive behaviors and helping you to alleviate habits that have a negative impact on your overall health and well-being. You put into a little journal each day what you did the day before with regards to taking caffeine or sleep supplements or doing an ice bath. Did you feel sick? Did you feel down? Did you drink alcohol? All of this together is combined with the data that it automatically gathers about you and then at the end of each week and at the end of each month, it gives you an overall output report and that compares all of the habits that you're doing in your life and reminds you exactly what is helping, what isn't and how much of an impact it's having. Also, you can join for free. Pay nothing for the brand new Whoop 4 Strap. Plus, you get your first month for free and there's a 30-day money back guarantee. So you can buy it for free, try it for free and if you don't like it after 29 days, they'll give you your money back. Head to join.whoop.com/modernwisdom. That's join.whoop.com/modernwisdom.
And in final news, this episode is brought to you by MyProtein, the number one sports supplement company on the planet, literally the best in the world. And their Clearway protein has just had Mike and Ike flavors released, which are great. But orange and mango in the UK or strawberry in the US are unbelievable. It looks and tastes like juice, but has more protein in than a normal protein shake. It's light and fruity so that you can drink it during a workout. Also, they do a vegan version. So if you are vegan, you can also get Clearway in vegan formula. Their foods, their bars, their layered protein bars are amazing and have got 25 grams of protein in and tastes like a chocolate bar. Pretty much anything that you need, whether it's creatine, sports supplements, all the rest of it is available from MyProtein. And I have a super secret product page with all of the products that I use and recommend. A lot of people ask what supplements I use from MyProtein. They're all on one page. Go to bit.ly slash protein wisdom. That takes you to my page and it unlocks the code Modern Wisdom, which will get you the maximum discount available site-wide on everything from MyProtein. If there are super secret discounts, it'll unlock those as well. Bit.ly slash protein wisdom and Modern Wisdom, a checkout. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ryan Holiday.