Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions | Ryan Holiday
Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais
Dr. Michael Gervais
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 96 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What does it mean to live wisely in a loud, distracted, and often reactive world?
Ryan Holiday—bestselling author and modern Stoic philosopher—returns to explore how wisdom actually works… not as a theory or a prize of age, but as a daily practice of reflection, humility, and courage.
Ryan breaks down why wisdom takes work, how Stoic philosophy applies to modern parenting and leadership, and why the ability to think deeply and act deliberately might be the rarest skill in today’s world. This conversation goes beyond ideas — it’s about living wisely when life feels anything but quiet.
You’ll learn:
- How to treat wisdom as a practice, not an identity
- Why wisdom demands both courage and humility
- The key to raising thoughtful kids in a noisy world
- How to find calm and clarity in times of distraction and division
- Why discernment is the superpower for the age of AI and misinformation
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In a few short days, the brightest lights in American football will be on. |
| 0:04.6 | Most people will see what happens on the field. |
| 0:06.5 | But the real game, that happens in the mind. |
| 0:08.7 | I'm Dr. Michael Jervais, and I'm teaming up again with Fox Sports Analyst and NFL Pro Bowler, Greg Olson, for a special five-episode series called Game Inside the Games. |
| 0:19.2 | We're recording from Radio Road during Championship |
| 0:21.4 | Week, and these are shorter daily episodes that are dropping Wednesday, February |
| 0:26.0 | 4th, through Sunday, February 8th. Each episode pulls back the curtain on how elite performers |
| 0:31.4 | prepare, how they think, and the psychological skills that they rely on to perform at their |
| 0:36.0 | best when the world is watching. |
| 0:38.2 | And whether you're leading a team, building your craft or competing or parenting, or simply |
| 0:42.5 | trying to live with more intention, these are tools you can use right away. Game Inside the |
| 0:46.9 | Games is presented by Microsoft co-pilot, your AI assistant for work, and CDW. |
| 0:52.1 | Make Amazing Happen. Subscribe to Finding Mastery, you get your podcast and join us February 4th through |
| 0:58.5 | the 8th for Game Inside the Games. |
| 1:01.8 | Wisdom is not one thing but several things. |
| 1:04.7 | It's obviously intelligence. |
| 1:06.0 | It's insight. |
| 1:06.6 | It's experience. |
| 1:07.4 | It's understanding. |
| 1:08.6 | It's creativity. |
| 1:09.4 | It's perspective. |
| 1:10.5 | It's all these things and more, |
... |
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