Ryan Holiday is an American author who has published several books about applying Stoic philosophy to modern life. Besides The Daily Stoic, he has also published books such as The Obstacle is the Way (2014), Ego is the Enemy (2016), Courage is Calling (2021), and more. In addition to his books, Holiday also takes an active interest in Stoicism in his podcast “Daily Stoic,” as well as his Instagram account @DailyPhilosopher.

Holiday began his career working in media strategy and marketing, later publishing the book Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator (2012), detailing his experience, as well as his opinions on modern media. He also wrote Growth Hacker Marketing (2013) and Perennial Seller (2017), both business marketing self-help books.

Holiday didn’t finish his university studies, and he has little formal training in philosophy. He relies instead on his own research and enthusiasm for the subject. This helps explain Holiday’s approach, which has more in common with self-help literature than with more academic studies of the subject that would put the authors he quotes in context and explain their differences and subtle shades of meaning. Instead, Holiday aims to transform Stoic philosophy into a marketable guide to readers’ lives; one of his strategies is to describe the ways that his own life has benefited from applying its principles to his thinking, decision-making, and daily rituals.