Embracing Alive Time And Stoic Wisdom with Arnold Schwarzenegger And Robert Greene

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1:52Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Sundays, we take a deeper dive into these ancient topics with excerpts from the Stoic texts, audiobooks that we like here or recommend here at Daily Stoic, and other long-form wisdom that you can chew on on this relaxing weekend. We hope this helps shape your understanding of this philosophy, and most importantly, that you're able to apply it to your actual life. Thank you for listening.

2:40Hey, it's Ryan Holiday. Welcome to another weekend episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. I used to do more of these, and I sort of stopped just because we've had so much other content I wanted to share, but it was a particularly crazy week that I just got back from. And a couple of times as I was both enjoying myself or feeling overwhelmed, I thought, there's some stoic lessons in this, and maybe I should share. And so that's what I thought I might do today. So last week, it began at, I don't know, five in the morning, four in the morning. I had to get up and fly to California where I was supposed to do a thing in the morning and then I got moved at the last second to the afternoon.

3:22But anyways, I flew out to LA. I got to my hotel. Sort of my speaking agent was like, look, we tried to get you in early. There's no promises. You may have to wait a while. So I sort of do my little premeditatio malorum going, okay, am I mentally prepared? I will be hungry. I will be tired. am I prepared to simply sit in a hotel lobby and wait for my room or how am I going to use this time anyways I got into Santa Monica and I was pleasantly surprised the the room was ready even though it was early in fact I'd had to book two nights in the hotel even though I was going to spend zero nights there so I could be in the morning and be in the afternoon and be there till you know the evening or whatever but uh it was worth it so I could get some work done right try to do the alive time stuff, try to not waste time.

4:11So I got to my room, did a little reading, did a little writing, got a run in. And then I went and I shot some video down on the beach in Santa Monica with Dawson and Rachel, who both worked for me. And then it was time to head over to interview someone who I have a lot of memories about growing up. Maybe you do too. I was interviewing Arnold Schwarzenegger about his new book called Be Useful, which is great. that episode will come out in a little bit so stay tuned for that but uh like i have this i told him as we got up there i had this memory i remember my parents took me to the rally at the capitol where he announced his candidacy back in 2003 i don't remember much from it i just remember that twisted sister was there and they were playing we're not going to take it you know that classic 80s hair metal song and arnold was late or there was some delay and i remember they just played the song over and over and over.

5:06They just played it on loop until he showed up, which was many, many renditions. So I sort of have that memory. And he was governor of California for a good chunk of my teens then, which was a surreal, sort of strange experience. And he has an incredible life story. And he and I go back. I know his chief of staff and his speechwriter. I've known him a long time, Daniel. And one time I was going to Graz to give a talk. This is right after the obstacles away had come out. And I think Arnold had read Obstacle and I know Daniel had. And so I said, hey, I'm going there. And I said, anything I should do?

5:41And he introduced me to this friend of his. And that friend showed my wife and I around. It was quite an evening. And so anyways, full circle for me to finally get to meet him in person, interview him, which I did, which is great. and then I step out of the interview. And the one and only Rich Roll is in the lobby. They had booked us back to back. Arnold did the Daily Stoic podcast and then he did Rich Roll's podcast. So we got to shoot the shit for a while there in Arnold's very cool office. Again, sort of a surreal sort of pinch me experience that I never expected to happen in my life. And Rich sent me a text after and just sort of said, is this real life?

6:21And I said, yeah, it's crazy, man. So wrapped up the interview And then I had to drive to Ojai after that. And so I'm driving up the PCH to Ojai as the sun is setting. It's been a crazy day. I'm exhausted. And it just hit me how wonderful life is, how absurdly beautiful life is. It's probably one of the most beautiful drives in the world, up PCH through, you know, from Santa Monica to Malibu. And you're just driving along the ocean. I mean, I was actually struck by two thoughts. So one was just how insanely beautiful the sun setting over the ocean got through traffic, it clears up, I'm listening to music, talk to my kids on the phone, you know, just life on planet Earth is beautiful and amazing.

7:08And then also this other thought hit me, which is just how awful human beings are in the sense that somebody saw this coastline and said, we need to clear a chunk of it for automobile traffic. And that's what I was experiencing. So there's kind of a high lowness of the human species right there. First, the engineering marvel that is the PCH Highway 1, and then the sheer entitlement and destructiveness of human beings embodied all there in one. I get up to Ojai, I have like five minutes to check into my room, and then I'm meeting a friend for dinner, Pete Holmes, the comedian who's also been on the podcast, who's booked millions of dollars a year, Netflix specials, all the prizes of the profession are his.

7:52And the person was sort of unhappy and busy and too busy and said he never gets to see his kids. And, you know, and Pete was just like, what are you talking about? Like, this is all a voluntary thing. You are choosing for it to be this way. And, and it was, it was right. And I've thought about that myself. And, and, and I felt good in the sense that although I had to do a talk the next day, actually two talks, three talks the next day, I was going straight from those talks that evening to my hotel and flying home just to see my kids for less than 24 hours. I could have spent that in a hotel room, would have been more relaxing.

8:31Maybe I even would have performed better, but I had prioritized in my schedule how to do that. So I really like that. It's also interesting. Amy Adams was sitting at a table across from us. It was a beautiful evening. And I went home. I went to the hotel. I crashed. I got up that morning and went for a very nice run in Ojai. And then I spoke at this thing called Mastermind Talks, which I'll run a clip of that talk at some point in the future. It's a cool full circle moment for me. Also, I first did that talk 10 years ago, right after Trust Me, I'm Lying came out. I did it again, right when The Obstacle is the Way was coming out.

9:11And the talk I gave was all about how when The Obstacle is the Way came out, my publisher didn't think it was going to work. One of my friends thought it'd sell like 5 ,000 copies. And so for now, approaching the 10-year anniversary of The Obstacle is the Way, just to see the experience, the trajectory, the insane luck that I've had, it just really made me feel really grateful. but as a before i went on jason who's the founder of mastermind talks and his wife who's the co-founder with him candace uh she was like i have a present for you she was like i was in this uh rare bookstore in hojai and i was just looking at the the first editions they had and i think you might like this book and you know what she handed me she handed me a first edition of the harder they fall by bud schulberg which is a book i've talked about this before it's a book that changed my life i read it when I was at American Apparel, it's about a publicist who shouldn't be a publicist, who dreams of being a writer.

10:04And I have this memory of that book changing my life. Like I shortly thereafter quit and became a writer. In retrospect, these things are always more complicated than that. I found out it took four or five years before I made that leap. But to now have this, I mean, it was just absolutely perfect. So I will treasure that forever. So thanks to Jason and Candice for having me. So I gave my talk there in the morning. I got to go back to my hotel, swam some laps in the pool, went back down, and then did a 75-minute Q &A there at Mastermind Talks with some old friends and folks. I'll probably bring you that as an episode someday.

10:39And then I had to get in the car and race down without being frantic or stressed because that's not a good headspace. I had to race down back to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, George Raveling was coming to Mastermind Talks the next day, so I missed him. but I had to go because I was doing my live talk in LA with the one and only Robert Green at the Evil Theater. Incredible experience. Thank you all who came out. I think it went really good. I'll be able to bring you that. It's just, you know, again, a full circle crazy moment. You know, 15 plus years ago, I met Robert when I was 19 years old. The idea that we would be selling out a theater in Los Angeles doing a talk together, just absolutely unreal.

11:19It was great to meet all of you in person to be able to talk about these ideas that was just super cool and then to the hotel crash drive home all right drive to the crash get on the shuttle the airport fly home and the i drove straight to the bookstore i picked up my son jones so my wife could work and then he and i hung out at the house but one of the things that she and i had talked about uh that i am working on i talked about re-entry right when i were talking i was like hey i if I don't come home in the middle of this trip, I'm going to be gone for six days. And that's too much. I don't want to miss my kids that much.

11:54And I don't want to be out of pocket that much. And so I want to come home in the middle. And we sort of talked about, is the stress work worth it? Is the fatigue worth it? And she said, it's of course worth it, but only if you are additive when you come home. And what she meant was like, am I going to come home and and have a bunch of needs and be out of it and need to adjust? Or am I going to connect right back into life? That's one of the things I think you learn as you travel a lot for work and you have kids is like, life goes on when you're not there. I think there's a stoic humility message.

12:28Like the world is a revolver on you. The world revolves around the things that need to happen. And when you're out, other people do extra to compensate for that.

12:42Thanks to Toyota Trucks for sponsoring this episode. When I bought my ranch in 2015 out here in Bastro County, I drove my car about halfway down the dirt road that we live on, thought this isn't going to work, stopped, parked it, walked the rest of the way home, borrowed my wife's car, drove into Austin and bought a truck. What I bought was a Toyota Tacoma. And this truck wasn't just transportation getting me to and from my house. It unlocked a whole different style of living for us, not just on the ranch, but in our little Texas towns. There were places I could go now that I couldn't go before, especially out here in the piney forests, through the fields and on the unpaved roads like the one that I lived in.

13:27We got to go deep into the hill country's wild beauty. We've driven all the way out to East Texas. We've driven across the country. And by we, I mean not just my wife, but both my kids who I drove home from the hospital in that truck. Toyota trucks are built for those who understand that the best adventures happen when you're willing to veer off course. Because you never know when you'll end up on a Toyota adventure detour. And of course, this is stoicism too, because every detour, every obstacle is an opportunity. But it's helpful if you can handle the difficulty inherent in that. If you've got the resilience and the right companion to make it wherever the road takes you, discover your uncharted territory.

14:09Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours.

14:22So when you come home, you have to plug back in. You have to, you know, it's like I have to go straight in and start doing the dishes. I have to go in and cook dinner. I have to go in and, you know, I have to do family stuff, selfless stuff, not what do I need to adjust, right? So I did that, was home not too long, had to head to the airport the next day. And I flew to Seattle for the next gig, which was a cool experience I was excited about. That gig got canceled last time because Robert got really sick. so I appreciate everyone who stuck with us who moved things around on their calendar to have us again and uh I got in I signed all the books for the merch and then prepped the venue it was all ready and then we're doing the talks all's going well and right as we're transitioning to the Q &A we're in the like the early stages of the Q &A a woman fell and she hit her she hit her head so loudly like the camera picked like we don't have footage of it but like you can hear it happening on the footage of the event I just noticed sort of a commotion we sort of rushed down and this woman had slipped or fallen or passed out I don't know exactly but she fell and she hit her head really hard and there was blood and the paramedics had to be called and the police came and it was you know, it was quite an experience.

15:55I feel so badly for her. From what I understand, she's doing better now. And I got a text from her daughter that said she's finally been discharged from the hospital. She's in good spirit. She's ready to be home. And we're all happy that she's okay. And she really appreciates everyone pulling for her. Everyone in the audience was absolutely incredible. So patient. Nobody I felt like was inconvenienced or frustrated by it, even though, you know, it's obviously not what anyone expected. It's not what they paid for. People have babysitters and places they need to go and flights to catch or whatever.

16:28But everyone was amazing. It was so, it was much more inspiring to see all the sort of civilians who rushed to help. There's a doctor in the audience and she helped and everyone was calm. You know, first off, it's just a reminder that you never know what's going to happen. You never know what's going to happen to you. And you just got to deal with it calmly. you've got to remember that uh this inconvenience for you can be the worst moment in someone's life uh that you know there but for the grace of god go i i try to tell myself and then of course in the big scheme of things none of these things are that important and we just have to be patient and try to be good to each other so thank you to everyone who stuck around that event went great so cool to me all everyone was telling me backstage is just like how historic that venue was.

17:12I guess Houdini had performed there at the Moore Theater. All my favorite crunch bands had performed there. You know, just a surreal, very cool experience. Went back to the hotel and crashed, woke up early, took the flight home. And then by Friday, I was back in the swing of things, did a really cool podcast there on Saturday, which I'll bring you soon. And now I'm back in the rhythm of things. While I was in Seattle, I went to Elliott Bay Books, which is one of my favorite indie bookstores in the United States. And I got the new Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk book, which I burned through. So lots of reading, lots of memories, lots of things that got accomplished this last week.

17:57One of those stoic lessons I was mentioning, remember pre-Meditashim Malorum, plan for things to go sideways, always have a backup plan. When I book travel through the speaking agency, they always book me on a flight and a backup flight. And I try to never accept flights or I never try to take my first flight, sorry, my flights to events. I always do only if there is a backup flight. So things can't go sideways. For instance, driving down from Ojai to LA for the gig, lots of traffic. So you'll leave early in advance. I always try to have the backups, the backups, the backups, because people are depending on you, right?

18:36And if it's more convenient for me, but there's less of a margin for error, really what I'm just doing is externalizing those consequences on other people. Number two, the idea of reentry, right? It's not all about you. How quickly can you make fast transitions? We had Randall Stuttman on the Daily Stoic Leadership Challenge a while back, and he said, you know, job of leaders to make fast transitions. Transitioning from one talk to the next talk, to the drive, to the third talk, right? From the talk to dinner afterwards, from the dinner afterwards to sleep, sleep to the airplane, airplane to home, home to being a dad.

19:17How fast can you transition between the different roles? This requires discipline. It requires focus. It requires, I think, reducing ego a bit. And it requires presence. It's a very important idea. And then the third idea, what I took from this, is just a memento mori. You know, you never know what's going to happen. A little accident can dramatically change the course of someone's life. And you should be patient with people, you should be kind to people. And we should not put stuff off, not delay, because you never know. And then on the memento mori, it wasn't just that, like, she fell. But when I went to see Arnold, he and I were reminiscing about that friend that had shown us around Graz.

19:57and I remember a couple years ago I went to Google the guy. I was going to send him an email or something just to say I was thinking about him and it turned out he had sort of tragically died, died quite young. And so I can't think of that evening, that great time we had together without also thinking of, hey, you never know, and that's why you can't take people for granted. And then I guess the final lesson, the thing that stuck with me most is sort of a gratitude, right? A gratitude as I drove up PCH and all of that beauty. Gratitude as I got to do what I love, to hang out with Robert on stage with people when people bought tickets.

20:37Gratitude to get to meet the people that have read my books. Gratitude to be alive. All of this is wonderful and puts your problems in perspective. It's just a lesson I'm trying to meditate on always. I will stop yammering. I know you don't sign up for this podcast to just listen to uninterrupted blocks of me talking more than a couple minutes at a time. That's why I keep those emails short. Anyways, that's what I wanted to talk about on this Sunday episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. Thanks to everyone who came out. Thanks to everyone who read the books. Thanks to everyone for everything. It's the joy of my life to get to do all this.

21:08And I appreciate you all so much. Thanks to my family also for putting up with a crazy week like this. Thanks to Arnold for coming on the podcast and many, many other things. Thanks for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. just a reminder we've got signed copies of all my books in the daily stoic store you can get them personalized you can get them sent to a friend the obstacle is the way you go as the enemy stillness is the key the leather bound edition of the daily stoic we have them all in the daily stoic store which you can check out at store.dailystoic.com

21:58My family owns a 2023 Toyota 4Runner, and honestly, it's my favorite vehicle that I've ever owned. Around town, it's smooth and reliable, but where it really shines is on our trips into the backcountry. We've taken it on backpacking adventures to Colorado and New Mexico, loaded it up with gear, and never had to think twice about whether it could handle the terrain. That's what Toyota trucks are built for. Off-road confidence, rugged durability, and the freedom to explore. Toyota has a long history with the outdoor community, and they're committed to helping more people get out there and experience what nature has to offer.

22:28From remote trails to scenic byways, Toyota Trucks empowers you to take the detour, roam freely, and discover places that still feel wild and untouched. And they're not just making great trucks, they're working to expand access to adventure so more people can connect with the outdoors and pass that passion on to the next generation. Discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. That's toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. Look, ads are annoying. They are to be avoided if at all possible. I understand as a content creator why they need to exist.

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