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.

You wouldn't think of meditations by Marcus Aurelius as a parenting book, but one former

Chinese prime minister

and once said that all entrepreneurs,

economists, and politicians should read it.

And several American presidents have.

General James Mattis said that

every soldier should read meditations.

Actors recommend it to others in show business.

Athletes recommend it to others in sports.

Writers recommended to other writers and founders recommend it to others starting out of business.

But every parent should read it too.

As Blan Branchard would observe in 1984, few now care about the marches and countermarches

of the Roman commanders.

What the centuries have clung to is a notebook of thoughts by a man whose real life was

largely unknown, who put down in the midnight dimness, not the events of the day or the plans

of the morrow, but something of far more permanent interest, the ideals and aspirations that a rare

spirit lived by. Isn't that what we're trying to instill in our children, that rare

spirit that the greats live by, the essences of what it means to be a good person? Isn't that what

we want our kids to take and apply throughout their lives? Yes, yes it is. Now, of course,

...