Stoic Coffee Break

Beating yourself up doesn’t make you better person. Hating yourself doesn’t motivate you more. So what’s the difference between holding yourself high standards and punishing yourself for failure? In this episode we...

Jason Stacy is a performance coach and author of The Pressure Code. He works with high performers including world tennis champion Aryan Sabalenka. In this episode we talk about how coming from living on the streets to...

So much of our lives are governed by rules that we aren’t even really aware of. Many of them we never even really question because we just assume that’s the way things are. But what if by questioning those rules, we can...

Certainty and hubris have always been part of being human. It feels good to be certain, to believe that your opinion is the right one. We like leaders who sound certain and shun those that don’t. But sounding right...

Michael has built a career at the intersection of data, teaching, and strategy. Always circling the same question: “How do we make better decisions amid a complex reality?” Throughout his career, he has helped people...

Habits are a key part of our lives. We have helpful habits that help us accomplish what we set out to do. We also have some that we’d like to get rid of. But what if I told you that sometimes one good habit is all it...

When was the last time that you read a book. A serious book. Something stretched your mind? Something that you had to stop and go back and reread a sentence or paragraph to make sure you understood it? Maybe even...

Jon Brooks is the host of the Stoic Handbook podcast and Substack page. In this episode we talk about the dangers of over-managing your emotions and finding ways to be a good Stoic while not shutting yourself off...

Courage, one of the four cardinal virtues of Stoicism, is what I consider the fuel for virtue, and really for living a good life. But what does courage actually look like? Are we born courageous or it it something we...

Kelly McGinnis has a long and storied career working her way up the corporate ladder to CFO and later President of Thermo Fischer, a Fortune 100 company. In this episode we discuss ideas around what it takes to be good...

“What’s the worst that could happen?” We’ve all heard this before. Usually it’s tongue in cheek just before something really bad does happen. But counterintuitively, it’s actually one of the most powerful questions that...

Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man on Earth. He had every external condition for a meaningful life — wealth, status, purpose handed to him by birth. And yet, his private journals are full of reminders he had to...

Far too often we’re never really in the moment. Maybe we’re stuck ruminating in the past over what we wished would have happened, or projecting out into the future our hope of what will happen. Maybe we distract...

Can two things be true at the same time? Can you hold two opposing ideas at the same time? Today I want to talk about how learning be be comfortable with opposites can widen your thinking and help you see reality a...

Are you motivated by fear? What if that fear is actually at the root of why you’re not getting the results you’re going after? In this week’s episode I want to talk about how to stop fear from sabotaging your best work...