Posts by Ryan Holiday
What Matters: Information vs. Knowledge vs. Experience
There’s no question that self-education has never been easier. We can consume countless blog posts, articles, books, videos, TED talks, and Reddit AMAs. We take MOOCs, and can study along with course syllabuses from Ivy League universities. It’s awesome. And best of all, no one can criticize effort spent on becoming informed. But there is a dark…
Read MoreThe Strategies That Helped Me Write 3 Books in 3 Years
Writing a book can be a long, hard slog. The “miserable” parts of the experience have been documented over and over again. Or just ask any author on a book deadline — or let the thousand-yard stare speak for itself. Not all of us can have an entire corporation behind them like James Patterson does, churning…
Read MoreThe Maxim for Every Successful Person; ‘Always Stay a Student’
The legend of Genghis Khan has echoed throughout history: A barbarian conqueror, fueled by bloodlust, terrorizing the civilized world. We have him and his Mongol horde traveling across Asia and Europe, insatiable, stopping at nothing to plunder, rape, and kill not just the people who stood in their way, but the cultures they had built.…
Read MoreA Book Marketing Trick I Discovered By Accident
With Trust Me I’m Lying, I accidentally stumbled upon a marketing technique that not only helped the book but in some ways charted a new course for my career. Early on in the book’s launch, I made the following offer: I would speak to or at any school that assigned my book to its students. My…
Read More3 Ways Ego Will Derail Your Career
Ego can derail your career success by causing you to gossip and talk instead of take action, have a passion without a purpose, and more.
Read MoreThe Quickest Way to Success
On my first day of my first job as a lowly assistant in Hollywood, someone gave me some advice that would shape the course of my entire career. They said: “Just make your boss look good.” Now in Hollywood, a world of big egos obsessed with getting credit, there is really no other way for…
Read MoreHow to Read More — A Lot More
When you read a lot of books people inevitably assume you speed read. In fact, that’s probably the most common email I get. They want to know my trick for reading so fast. They see all the books I recommend every month in my reading newsletter and assume I must have some secret. So they ask me…
Read MoreWhy the Best is Always Hard to Find
It’s totally messed up if you think about it. There are millions of people out there dying to be writers. Yet when a good writer puts together a book proposal (that is, a potential book), publishers actually bid against each other for the privilege of publishing it. And before you say “Oh, that’s only for…
Read MoreHow Dr. Drew Changed My Life
Dr. Drew Pinsky changed my life. I asked him one simple question, and his answer put me on a path that saved me from a very dark place. But more than that, it ultimately helped me achieve success, made me a published author, saved my relationships, and made me happy. I’m sure this is true for…
Read MoreWhat True Lifelong Learners Do Differently
At 19 years old, a young French nobleman and army officer arrived in America and was given a military commission. As Marquis de Lafayette reviewed the troops for the first time — hardly a pretty sight — an embarrassed George Washington made some remark of deference to this new officer he needed to impress. Lafayette’s response: “It’s…
Read MoreMastering the Art of Staying Cool Under Pressure
Lately it seems that whenever a technology startup is bought for billions, be it — Instagram, Yammer, Viber, Waze, Tumblr, or Whatsapp — financial analysts predict another bubble in the making. We’ve had the 2008 recession, the tech bubble bursting in 2000, and now Robert Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberance, is worried about the next bubble. With the threat of investment bubbles bursting more frequently, how can you keep cool under…
Read MorePractical Philosophy You Can Actually Use
When most people think of “philosophy,” their eyes glaze over. It’s the last thing they want, let alone something they need. But this, as you already know, is silly and naive. Philosophy is not just about talking or lecturing, or even reading long, dense books. In fact, it is something men and women of action…
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