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.

The Compass that Guides us.

It'd be wonderful if someone could tell you exactly what to do in every situation and how to do it.

Synthesize and translate and organize all the teachings out there for parents, all the research, all the advice.

As you know, there's no Rosetta Stone for parenting.

We all quickly realize that.

And there's no one thing that unlocks at all.

But funny enough, the Stoics do provide us something equally ancient

that can serve us as parents that can guide us in pretty much every situation.

And these are the cardinal virtues which Zeno laid down in the third century BC,

courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom.

Like the cardinal points on a compass compass named in a nod to the virtues,

these ideals guide us.

They guide us through the sleepless nights.

They guide us through the arguments.

They guide us during the uncomfortable conversations.

When our temper is tested, when our values and ethics are tested,

we have to make big decisions when it doesn't all go according to plan. And we need these virtues. We need to teach them to our children. Their life in the future depends on it. So memorize the four virtues, try to act by them, live by them, parent according to them,

and keep them close to your heart always. And you know, I've been writing about this. I'm doing

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