Why They Do This

0:00I'm picking my kids up from school today and then doing our weekly routine, which is I take them over to Whole Foods, which is I take them over to Whole Foods, which is a whole food. things to do and then my wife loves it because she doesn't have to take care of it this holiday season whether you're a guest or hosting the big dinner whole foods market has what you need to delight everyone at your table they even have heat and eat sides from the prepared foods department you can make whole foods your one-stop shop everything follows whole foods markets strict ingredients standards so you know it'll be delicious and good for you you can also order online for pickup and even delivery in select zip codes to skip the crowds shop everything you need at Whole Foods Market to our holiday headquarters.

0:43My 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.

1:13From 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.

1:46Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic. Each weekday, we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, something to help you live up to those four Stoic virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. And then here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview Stoic philosophers. We explore at length how these Stoic ideas can be applied to our actual lives and the challenging issues of our time. Here on the weekend, when you have a little bit more space, when things have slowed down, be sure to take some time to think, to go for a walk, to sit with your journal, and most importantly, to prepare for what the week ahead may bring.

2:36Why they do this. They come from all over the world. They have little in common. And for some reason, instead of beginning the new year by making vague resolutions, they begin by taking on a set of actionable challenges. Some of the challenges are physical. Some are mentally challenging. Some spur them to practically investigate and overcome internal adversities. Others make them take on external adversity out in the real world. Some of the challenges are completed in a single day and others over the course of the year. But in each and every case, these challenges present a choice between, as we've said, doing the less difficult thing or the more difficult thing.

3:13These people choose the latter. They choose the tougher sparring partner, as Epictetus said. But why would they do this to themselves? Well, it's because they know that what Seneca said is true, that the only people to pity are those who haven't experienced difficulty because they don't know what they're capable of. What I'm talking about is the thousands of Stoics over the last five years all over the world have come together and joined us in the Daily Stoic New Year New Year Challenge, 21 actionable challenges presented one per day built around the best, most timeless wisdom in Stoic philosophy.

3:44I'll give you some testimonials. A guy named Eric said it was the best investment he'd made for himself the last year. Daniel said that the challenge was awesome and he really loved the interaction with the group. It was the overwhelming support that he said was amazing. Mark said that he loved the fact that the Daily challenges engage not only your mind, but your body and spirit. Jessica said she loved the course. She was going to be sad when it ended. She said me, Ryan was doing an amazing job. So thanks, Jessica. She glad it was worth the money, as she said. And Sean says he still has the challenge hanging on his fridge.

4:14It's a daily reminder of simple, relevant tasks to help keep this alive in his life. Shannon said she loves the challenge, makes her question every move she makes. And Mary said that she kicked off an avalanche of change through the Daily Stoic challenge. It was unique experience and just said it saved her a ton of money that would have gone to a shrink. So I love that. And look, that's the idea. Every morning for the first 21 days of the year, this email arrives in your inbox. It presents you an opportunity to prove who's in charge, to do the harder thing, to take on the challenge, to not follow the path of least resistance, and to get in the habit of choosing the more difficult option.

4:48I love that. It's why I do the Daily Stoic Challenge every year. And I'd love you to join us. There's just a couple days left to sign up. You can start 2024 with the habit of showing yourself who's in charge. You can do that by signing up right now for the Daily Stoic New Year New Year Challenge at dailystoic.com slash challenge. I'll see you in there, folks.

5:23look ads are annoying they are to be avoided if at all possible i understand as a content creator why they need to exist. That's why I don't begrudge them when they appear on the shows that I listen to. But again, as a person who has to pay a podcast producer and has to pay for equipment and for the studio and the building that the studio is in, it's a lot to keep something like The Daily Stoic going. So if you want to support a show but not listen to ads, well we have partnered with supercast to bring you a ad free version of daily stoic we're calling it daily stoic premium and with premium you can listen to every episode of the daily stoic podcast completely ad free no interruptions just the ideas just the messages just the conversations you came here for and you can also get early access to episodes before they're available to the public.

6:22And we're going to have a bunch of exclusive bonus content and extended interviews in there just for Daily Stoic Premium members as well. If you want to remove distractions, go deeper into stoicism and support the work we do here. Well, it takes less than a minute to sign up for Daily Stoic Premium, and we are offering a limited time discount of 20 % off your first year. Just go to dailystoic.com slash premium to sign up right now or click the link in the show descriptions to make those ads go away.