Bursts/Ryan Holiday Stoic Morning
Ryan Holiday Stoic Morning cover image

Ryan Holiday Stoic Morning

Duration 2h 11mActivities 4Quality Fair 69.3%Difficulty Demanding 2

If you're going to do this, just pick a day.

You can do this Burst for free in the Bearmore app. It walks you through each activity, step by step. Pick a time and we'll get it ready for you.

Upcoming

Detail
Long farm walk preview

Long farm walk

Being in nature

Bearmore

Holiday opens with a long walk around his Texas farm before he sits down to anything. It clears the head for the desk work that follows. Any unhurried walk outdoors does the same job; the point is to arrive settled, not to clock distance.

Activity duration breakdown
38mins
Setup
4 mins
Activity
30 mins
Reset
4 mins

Bearmore’s thoughts on doing being in nature before journaling

This is a strong combination because nature gives journaling fresh sensory detail and reflective material that's harder to summon at a desk.

Three notebooks preview

Three notebooks

Journaling

Bearmore

Holiday keeps three: a one-line diary of the day before, a reflective page on gratitude and what he wants to improve, and the Daily Stoic Journal's morning prompt. Use one notebook or all three; the habit matters more than the format.

Activity duration breakdown
24mins
Setup
3 mins
Activity
18 mins
Reset
3 mins
Read Meditations preview

Read Meditations

Reflection

Bearmore

Holiday has read Marcus Aurelius's Meditations for twenty years, well over a hundred times, treating it as a daily touchstone rather than a book to finish. Read a passage of whatever grounds you; the aim is a steady idea to carry, not volume.

Activity duration breakdown
17mins
Setup
1 min
Activity
15 mins
Reset
1 min
Morning writing preview

Morning writing

Creative writing

Bearmore

This is the rule the whole morning protects: do the real work before checking email. Holiday writes for one to two hours; we've capped it at the menu's forty-six minutes. Pen and paper helps; the friction keeps you from drifting to the inbox.

Activity duration breakdown
52mins
Setup
3 mins
Activity
46 mins
Reset
3 mins