Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast, where we provide one lesson every single day to help you with your most important job, being a parent.

I'm Ryan Holiday, and I draw these lessons from ancient philosophy, modern psychology, practical wisdom, and insights from

parents just like you all over the world. Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

Do your kids have this?

The French philosopher and historian Ernest Renan observed what an extraordinary challenge Marcus Aurelius' tutors and guardians faced.

How could they possibly raise and train a boy to be good when just a few years in the future lay such unlimited wealth and power?

Judging from ordinary analogies, Renan writes of the fact that so many leaders throughout history has spiraled into corruption,

the expectations should have been for the worst possible results. So how did his guardian succeed?

The simple explanation Renan gives is that above those masters summoned from all the

ends of the earth, Marcus had a unique master who he referenced above all others, Antoninus.

In short, Marcus was the exception to the rule that absolute power corrupts absolutely because

he lived every day like his stepfather, Antoninus Pius. Antininus's

self-discipline, his attention, his duty to care. They rubbed off on Marcus Aurelius,

and they shaped and they changed him, and they inspired him to be what he was capable of being.

In my new book, Discipline is Destiny, I talk about how Antoninus didn't just tell Marcus how to live and read.

He showed him.

As Marcus details in the first book of meditations, Antoninus showed him the importance of compassion, hard work, persistence, and cheerfulness.

He showed him how to keep an open mind and listen to anyone who could contribute, how not to play favorites, how to take responsibility and blame, how to put other people at ease.

He learned how to yield the Florida experts and use their advice, how to respect tradition, how to keep a

good schedule, how to be moderate with the empire's treasury and never get worked up.

He learned how to be indifferent to superficial honors and to treat people as they deserved

to be treated. Well, guess what? We can give

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