Philosopher's Notes

Donald Robertson is one of my favorite writers and humans, and this is the fourth Note I’ve created on one of his books. He is one of the world’s leading scholars and practitioners of Stoicism, but what makes his work so powerful is that he so clearly practices what he teaches. In Marcus Aurelius, Donald gives us the perfect biography of the Stoic emperor, weaving together Marcus’s inner life, private philosophy, and outward actions while showing us how Stoicism shaped his character under the immense pressures of power. This is not just a book about a Roman emperor, it is a practical look at virtue, self-mastery, mortality, and what it means to live in agreement with Nature. Big Ideas we explore include The Choice of Hercules, To Himself, Epictetus, On Loan, and The Ideal Sage.

George Raveling was known to many simply as Coach, and if you know anything about his life, you know that title barely begins to capture the man. From his extraordinary journey through basketball, leadership, mentorship, and service, to the way he impacted people like Michael Jordan, Phil Knight, and so many others, Coach lived a life that made a profound difference. Co-written with Ryan Holiday, What You’re Made For is not a memoir so much as an exploration of purpose and meaning, and a call to reflect on your own path, question the arbitrary limitations placed upon you, and ask what you were made for. It is packed with hard-won wisdom on trailblazing, studying books, winning the day, serving others, and making your life count. Big Ideas we explore include To Truly Live, To Be a Trailblazer, Study Books, Win the Day, and Make It Count.

I love Phil Stutz. If you’ve been following along, you know he’s my Yoda, my spiritual father, and one of the people who has most profoundly shaped my life and work over the last decade. This is the fourth Note I’ve created on one of his books, and like Lessons for Living, reading it felt like sitting in a coaching session with him. In True and False Magic, Phil gives us a practical workbook on how to access our infinite potential by leaving the Safety Zone, becoming a conduit for higher forces, and doing the hard thing even when every part of us wants to avoid it. The message is pure Phil: your potential exists outside your comfort zone, action drives creativity, and the only way to build a life of real power is to keep the promises you make to yourself. Big Ideas we explore include Your Infinite Potential, Higher Forces, The Safety Zone, Action Drives Creativity, and You Must… Keep promises to yourself.

Adam Grant is one of THE most respected and popular thinkers/authors/writers in the world. In Hidden Potential, he challenges the common belief that greatness is mostly born rather than made and shows how we can all rise to achieve greater things. Instead of obsessing over natural talent, Grant focuses on the often overlooked skills of character that help us get better at getting better. Along the way, he shows why imperfectionists often outperform perfectionists, how deliberate play can transform the daily grind of practice, why progress sometimes requires backing up before moving forward, and how we can redefine success around growth and character rather than status and accolades. Big Ideas we explore include Skills of Character, The Imperfectionists, Deliberate Play, Backing Up to Move Forward, and Redefine Success.

This is the fourth book in Ryan Holiday’s Stoic Virtue Series, following Courage Is Calling, Discipline Is Destiny, and Right Thing Right Now, and it delivers what the title promises: wisdom is not something you possess once and for all, it is a practice of learning, applying, and repeating over the course of a life. Ryan brings together stories of readers, writers, philosophers, athletes, generals, and statesmen to show that wisdom requires study, reflection, physical discipline, humility, and the willingness to make mistakes without being broken by them. He reminds us that we can talk to the dead through books, build a second brain by capturing what we learn, strengthen the mind through the body, and become wiser not by pretending to know everything but by staying teachable and doing the work. Big Ideas we explore include Talk to the Dead, Create a Second Brain, A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body, Make Mistakes, and Exemplary Leadership.

As I mentioned in my Note on Rise Above, I’m a very big fan of Scott Barry Kaufman, and Transcend shows exactly why. In this book, Scott answers Abraham Maslow’s late-life hope that someone would carry his work forward, and he does it with love, rigor, and a modern scientific lens that feels like Maslow 2.0. The centerpiece is a brilliant upgrade to the famous hierarchy of needs: ditch the pyramid and picture a sailboat, with a secure hull (Safety, Connection, Self-Esteem) and open sails (Exploration, Love, Purpose), dynamically integrated as you move through life’s oceans. Scott then tests Maslow’s theory, distills the most evidence-backed characteristics of self-actualization, and takes us beyond self-actualization to what he calls healthy transcendence: integrating your whole self in service of cultivating the good society. Big Ideas we explore include A New Metaphor (Pyramid to Sailboat), Self-Actualization (10 characteristics), Exploration (adversity as fuel), Purpose (live it wisely), and Transcendence (a Heroic north star).

Bronnie Ware spent years caring for people in the final weeks of their lives and had the courage to ask them what mattered most. The answer became The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. The most common regret was not living a life true to oneself, followed by working too hard, not expressing feelings, losing touch with friends, and not allowing more happiness. This memoir weaves her own Hero’s Journey with bedside wisdom that forces us to confront death, clarify our values, and choose differently while we still can. Big Ideas we explore include On Regret, On Death, The #1 Regret, Purpose, and Happiness, each inviting you to live with courage, presence, and far fewer regrets.

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and one of the very best storytellers in the world when it comes to translating science into practical tools. This is the third Note I’ve created on one of his great books, and Supercommunicators might be his most important yet because it’s all about how to unlock the secret language of connection. Charles shows us that in every moment we’re actually having one of three conversations, practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), or social (Who are we?), and the best communicators know how to match what the other person truly needs, to be helped, hugged, or heard. Big Ideas we explore include the three conversations, the four rules for meaningful connection, looping to understand as the #1 technique, how to approach tough conversations, and the ultimate rule beneath it all: LOVE.

Hal Hershfield’s Your Future Self explores the science of “future self-continuity” and shows that many of our worst decisions happen when we treat our future selves like strangers. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and behavioral research, he demonstrates that when we strengthen the connection between who we are today and who we’ll become tomorrow, we save more, procrastinate less, make healthier choices, and live with greater intention. The core idea is simple but profound: how you imagine your future changes how you behave in the present. Big Ideas we explore include Current You & Future You, Caterpillars, Conquering Procrastination, Pre-Commitments, and Time Traveling.

I can’t quite believe I made it this far without reading Will Durant. I knew the famous line about excellence being a habit was his poetic paraphrase, not Aristotle’s, but I had never actually sat with his work until that 101 books in 101 days stretch. Heroes of History made me fall in love with the man. Written in his mid-nineties after more than sixty years mastering his craft, this book is Durant the philosopher writing history, inviting us into what he calls a “Country of the Mind” where the great souls of civilization still live and teach. We meet Confucius and his call to reform the world by cultivating the self, Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens with both its brilliance and its shadows, Jesus as the greatest spiritual revolutionist, and Michelangelo as a testament to disciplined creative labor. Big Ideas we explore include Meet Your Heroic Guide, Confucius, Pericles, Jesus, and Michelangelo, each reminding us that history is philosophy teaching by example, and that leadership begins with the mastery of your own character.