What do I have to know before having my first child? What should I do before they arrive? What conversations do my partner and I need to have? How can I make sure I am ready?

We created this course, The Parent-To-Be: A Daily Dad Parenting Challenge, to answer all those questions and more. Over the next 30 days, you will receive an email a day containing the exclusive course content. This is a digital course distributed via email.

If you wanted to become a great guitar player, you couldn't do better than training under a master guitarist. If you wanted to become a great surgeon, you couldn't do better than getting direct guidance from a surgeon who has clocked their 10,000 hours in the operating room. If you wanted to become a great chef, you couldn't do better than apprenticing in the kitchen of a master chef. 

As the philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations, 

"Mastery of reading and writing requires a master. Still more so life."

Or as another translation has it,

"Where literacy is concerned, you can't be a leader until you've been a follower. This principle is even more relevant to life."

We believe this principle is even more relevant to parenting because, before guitar players or surgeons or emperors or readers and writers, there were parents.

This is the wonderful thing about parenting as a learnable discipline: its timelessness. From the ancient world to ours—parenting is parenting. And if you want to become great at it, you couldn't do better than learning from the great parents who have come before you. 

Our goal with this challenge is to bring you the wisdom of your forefathers and foremothers in a way that's eminently accessible and immediately applicable. 

Rooted in the wisdom of great parents, and woven together with lessons from history, science, and literature, we're going to equip you with real advice and useful insights that will help you prepare for having kids and set you up for becoming a great parent. At the pace of an email per day for 30 days, we will guide you along a path that will involve:

• Getting on the same page with your partner
• Addressing your childhood wounds
• Creating structure in your life
• Setting up your village
• Becoming a sleep expert
• Setting family boundaries
• Defining your parenting principles
• Automating as much of your life as possible

And much, much more. 

Do you want to feel like you are ready to take on life’s most challenging “job”?

Of course, you do. 

Take the first step today by committing the next 30 days to The Parent-To-Be: A Daily Dad Parenting Challenge.  

As the Stoic philosopher Epictetus responded to a student’s question about what it takes to be great, “we must endure a winter training, and can’t be dashing into situations for which we aren’t yet prepared.”

Are you prepared for your toughest job? Will you be a great parent? 

The training you do today will determine your answer tomorrow.

The Parent-To-Be: A Daily Dad Parenting Challenge was created to prepare you for the most important task of your life. 

A new book from bestselling author Ryan Holiday

For a signed and personalized version of The Boy Who Would Be King, click here.

It’s one of the most incredible stories in all of history.

A young boy, out of nowhere, is chosen to be the emperor of most of the known world. 

What he learned, what he did, who he was, would echo in eternity. 

In the year 138 CE, Hadrian, the emperor of Rome, chose Marcus Aurelius to succeed him. He knew no one was born ready for the job, so he arranged for the young boy’s education. 

The greatest philosophers of the day were assigned to teach him, and all threw themselves at the almost inhuman task of preparing someone for absolute power. 

It’s a parable for life, really. The gods, fate, someone chooses something for us, calls us to something. Will we answer? Will we step up? Will we achieve the greatness within us?

Marcus Aurelius did. Absolute power not only didn’t corrupt, it made him better. We marvel at him centuries later—this man who thought he would not be remembered, that posthumous fame was worthless—stands today more famous than ever. A hero to millions. 

And now, that parable has been illustrated and told for all ages in a new book: The Boy Who Would Be King. 

This 100-page book is written by bestselling author Ryan Holiday and illustrated by the illustrious Victor Juhasz. Each page tells the story of Marcus’s rise to power through Ryan’s words and Victor’s illustrations. 

The book includes:

• 82 exclusive illustrations from Victor Juhasz
• An illustrated "journey map" showing the journeys of Marcus Aurelius
• Over 100 pages of writing from Ryan Holiday

The book is produced from start to finish by Daily Stoic and printed here in the United States.

As a special bonus, you’ll get a FREE audiobook version as well. Simply check out through our website here, and you’ll automatically get the free audiobook.

The timeless tale is told for all ages and makes a great gift.

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"I don't have many rules in life, but one I never break is: If Ryan Holiday writes a book, I read it as soon as I can get my hands on it." —Brian Koppelman, screenwriter and director, Rounders, Ocean’s Thirteen and Billions

"Ryan Holiday is a national treasure and a master in the field of self-mastery." —Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of The War of Art and The Artist's Journey

“Ryan Holiday is one of the brilliant writers and minds of our time." —Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus