Podcast Of The Week: Stillness, Stoicism, And A Little Economics

Ryan Holiday talked about his new book, Stillness is the Key, with Russ Roberts on EconTalk this week. Holiday talks about the moments in life where you stumble into stillness. He says that stillness ensues, it’s not something we can pursue. All we can do to have more of it is to create time and space where the normal distractions are tuned down or completely out. If his work on stoicism frames how we can’t control events but we can decide how to feel about them, this study of stillness occupies the space around deciding how to feel and just plain experiencing a moment, in and of itself.

Holiday and Roberts agree that Stillness isn’t a productivity hack, but it is a life hack. Every wise person we can think of has an ability to be still as part of their character. We can cultivate it in our own lives if we’re willing to be conscientious about it. Roberts does a great job probing the concept of how Holiday applies it in his own life (because he’s done more at 32 than most accomplish in a lifetime), and observing it in others (the Marina Abramovic performance art piece where she sat with strangers blew my mind – I didn’t know about this).

Ryan Holiday is a fascinating person and Russ Roberts’ interest and respect for him comes across beautifully in the interview. Check out both the podcast and the book. For more Holiday podcast appearance links – check out this post too.