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.

Teach them the ideals of a rare spirit.

You wouldn't think of meditations by Marcus Aurelius as a parenting book.

But one former Chinese prime minister 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 recommend it to other writers and founders recommend it to others starting out of business.

But every parent should read it too.

As Bland Branchard would observe in 1984, few now care about the marches and counter-marches

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, there are no guarantees. Look at Marcus's own children as an example.

Marcus was wise and just and still something went terribly wrong with his son Comedus.

Perhaps his dedication to striving to be a good man and a good ruler was why he fell short.

Perhaps it was his dedication at work that contributed to him falling short at home.

We'll never know.

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