Jun 22The Best Parenting Advice I’ve Ever GottenIn his letters, Seneca writes about the habit of finding one thing each day that makes you smarter, wiser, better. One nugget. One quote. One little prescription. One little piece of advice. And that’s how most of Seneca’s letters close: Here’s a lesson, he says. Here’s one thing. Obviously that’s…Parenting11 min read
Jun 1635 Lessons on the Way to 35 Years OldToday, I turn 35 years old. This feels incredibly weird to me because I vividly remember writing a version of this article on my 25th birthday, on the eve of the release of what would be my first book. But that is the nature of life, as you get older…Life10 min read
May 2520 Things You Didn’t Know About Marcus AureliusOne of the pleasures of re-reading a book, re-watching a film, re-visiting a place, is that you always discover something new. The Stoics were fond of the idea — which comes from Heraclitus — that we never step in the same river twice. I have found this to be true…9 min read
May 418 Little Stories That Will Have Massive Impact On Your LifeWhen I was 18 years old, I was a research assistant to Robert Greene. My job was to find stories he could use in his writing. Nearly seventeen years later, I still use so much of what Robert taught me about finding great stories in researching for my own writing…Self Improvement11 min read
Apr 13Here’s Your Secret To Success: Go The F*ck To SleepSome people take pride in how little they sleep. It’s proof of their hard work, their dedication, their determination. Me? I’m prouder of the exact opposite. Despite producing over a dozen books, writing my daily emails for Daily Stoic and Daily Dad, reading books to recommend to my Reading List…Life12 min read
Apr 629 Lessons From Owning A BookstoreI’ve done some crazy things in my life, but as I’ve said, the absolute craziest was deciding to open a bookstore. Running a small business is always difficult, running a small business during a pandemic is damn near impossible but a small town book store in rural Texas? But here…Self Improvement11 min read
Mar 4Life Is Up To You: 8 Choices That Will Make Your Life BetterLife is about choices. How we choose to see things. What we choose to say. What we choose to think. We choose what kind of person we are going to be. It all comes down to choices. And Stoicism, it could be said, is a philosophy about how to make…Life7 min read
Jan 20If You Only Read a Few Books in 2022, Read TheseIf You Only Read a Few Books in 2022, Read These It’d be wonderful if a new year magically marked a new beginning. But 2021, like all years, reminds us that the same things keep happening, that world events continue on in their own unpredictable way and that in the…9 min read
Published in Forge·Nov 10, 2021Work, Family, Scene: You Can Only Pick TwoLife is about tradeoffs — When I first moved to Austin in 2013, I went out to lunch — fittingly — with a writer named Austin Kleon. I was a longtime fan of his book Steal Like an Artist (his book Keep Going is a new favorite). After we ate, he drove me around the…Balance5 min read
Published in Forge·Oct 4, 2021This Little Decision Changed the Course of My CareerRight then, my next creative mountain appeared — In the summer of 2019, my wife and I took our two sons for a hike in the Lost Pines Forest in Bastrop, Texas. It was a Saturday or a Sunday. I had a bunch of articles to write, but I put them aside and decided to spend some time…Decisions4 min read
