Our lives are unpredictable. We are at the mercy of so many forces. The weather. The economy. Your boss's mood. Your teenager's mood. Whether the contractor finishes the job in time. Whether that idiot in front of you drives right.
They can mess up our day. They can mess up our margins. They can imperil our safety.
It has always been thus. Marcus Aurelius opens Book II of Meditations with a meditation on precisely this—preparing himself in the morning for what he's likely to encounter. He didn't control other people or external events, he understood, but he did control whether he allowed them to change who he was, whether he allowed them to "implicate [him] in ugliness" as he put it. He controlled how he responded.
It's not much...but it's plenty. The paradox is that the more we control ourselves, the more we end up shaping the world around us. That's why when we focus on what's in our control, on what's up to us, we find it's more than enough. Not only does it become our hidden superpower—it's also our secret source of peace.
Former Marine turned novelist Elliot Ackerman sits down with Ryan to talk about what discipline really looks like in everyday life. From 100-degree runs to cold plunges and daily writing routines, they dig into the habits that help them stay steady, focused, and consistent even when it's hard.
Marcus Aurelius teaches us that true readiness comes from within, not from external tools. The Stoics recognized that while life's challenges are inevitable, our preparation is what truly matters. Just as I trained consistently for the Original Marathon Route (sign up here to watch the upcoming Marathon documentary!), we must all cultivate that same daily readiness for whatever life brings our way—expected or unexpected.
The whole point of philosophy, Epictetus says, is to be able to reply to adversity with one thing: This is what I've trained for. As I ran the historic marathon from Marathon to Athens, this wisdom repeatedly came to mind, even as the journey tested my physical and mental limits. This wasn't just a long run—it was Stoicism in action, philosophy made tangible with every step. Witness the journey of how daily discipline can transform into extraordinary achievement in our upcoming Marathon documentary at dailystoic.com/marathon.
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