Dying Every Day
Dying Every Day is a podcast dedicated to the art of living. Each episode turns a passage of Stoic philosophy into a guided meditation for mortals—designed to help you (and me) remember to live.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Carrying the Fire with Shane Trotter
Dying Every Day (Day 157)
In this special episode of Dying Every Day, I speak with my friend Shane Trotter about discipline, mentorship, responsibility, and the work of character.
Much of Shane’s work centers on a simple but increasingly important idea: people need more than information. They need formation.
We talk about standards, challenges, responsibility, and ultimately character development. We also explore what happens when we remove difficulty from life—and why meaningful struggle, when properly understood, can be part of learning how to live well.
Shane Trotter’s Work
Shane writes Setting the Bar on Substack, where he explores education, parenting, character, discipline, and human development through philosophy, psychology, and practical experience.
His new course, Carry the Fire, is designed to help fathers, coaches, and mentors prepare young men to become capable, responsible adults. The program emphasizes mentorship, meaningful challenge, physical training, self-mastery, reflection, and formation.
The emphasis is not simply on teaching lessons. It is on becoming the kind of person capable of carrying something forward.
Shane is also the author of Setting the Bar: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Era of Distraction, Dependency, and Entitlement, a thoughtful examination of what young people need in order to flourish in an age of distraction, overprotection, and slipping standards.
If you are a parent, teacher, coach, or mentor—or simply someone interested in how character is formed—I highly recommend Shane’s work.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Thank you for reading/listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well.
J.W.
P.S. Catch up on recent (and past) meditations in the archive!