Hey, prime members. You can listen to the Daily Stoke Podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.

Welcome to the Daily Stoke Podcast where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom

every day life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more you can visit us at DailyStoke.com.

Advice without this is worthless. Why is stoicism worthless?

I'm not listening to because it's battle-tested. What good are theories about the world that there's just that? Theories. Philosophy from the ivory tower might be good for blowing minds, but as far as solving problems in the real world, much less so.

Even in Marcus Aurelius' day there was a suspicion of pen and ink philosophers that is to say thinkers who had never done anything but think.

We listen to epictetus when he talks about finding freedom in the worst circumstances because we know he did that. He survived the worst circumstances.

Marcus Aurelius didn't get to theorize about Plato's Republic. He was trying to apply philosophy to Rome's empire.

Seneca had no cushy tenure. He had a real job working for one of the most capricious and unstable rulers in ancient history. In short, all these thinkers had what Nassim Teleb, a great stoic writer, and doer himself, calls skin in the game.

Skin in the game is not some mythical status either. People other than emperors and slaves and senators have it. Skin in the game is about being in the arena, about actually doing stuff, testing your ideas and your virtues in the fire of real life.

This email, an episode, for instance, is not written and recorded by someone who has stared down Nero, of course, who besides Thrasia has done that. But it is, at least from someone who has run his own business, taken real risks, made it to the top of a few different fields, gotten married, started a family, worked on important projects, gotten my hands dirty, etc.

Advice without that perspective, advice from someone who just wants to give advice, philosophy from someone who sits protected from the reality of the world, cushioned from consequence in charge of nothing but pens and papers, it's worthless.

Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Stoke Podcast. Again, if you don't know this, you can get these delivered to you via email every day, so check it out at dailystoke.com slash email.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke early and add free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music App today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts.

Amazon Pickup is a convenient and secure way to collect your Amazon parcels from locations near you, help keep gifts a surprise when you choose to pick up from an Amazon Locker or counter.

Plus, there's no additional cost to use an Amazon Locker or counter. Find a convenient pickup point near your home, work or the places you already visit.

Amazon Pickup is the worry-free option for the times when home delivery isn't ideal.

To find your nearest pickup location or to learn more, go to amazon.co.uk slash wondry. That's amazon.co.uk slash won.

Thank you, your job stinks. Just wait until you hear what it was like to be a funeral clown.

Along before all of human knowledge was in your pocket, people had some pretty bizarre professions. Luckily, you don't have to see a sin eater or a barber surgeon now, but you'll find out what it's like to get surgery with a shave.

Wondery's new podcast, This Job Is History, is hosted by Chris Parnell from Saturday Night Live and Rick and Morty.

Steeped in factual history, this brilliantly funny podcast delves into quirky and absurd jobs from the past, with hilarious interviews that are infused with fascinatingly true Easter eggs.

...