4 Minutes Of Life-Changing Stoic Advice

These are nine things the Stoics want you to stop doing right now. Number one, stop taking things personally. It's not about you. It doesn't affect you at all. It's not things that upset us. Epictetus says it's our opinions about things. You have decided that this is about you. You have decided that this harms you. You have decided that it was rude. You have decided that they were trying to hurt your feelings. Stop taking it personally. It's not about you. Number two, stop doing it the easy way. Look, when you have two choices in life, the Stoics say you should choose the one that challenges you the most. In Meditations, Mark Surrelius talks about practicing holding the reins of his horse in his non-dominant hand. He wanted to get used to doing it the way that was not easy or natural to him. This is a metaphor for doing the difficult thing. Take the long way. Take the way you're less comfortable with. Try it with your non-dominant hand and see and watch as you get better. Number three, stop meddling in other people's business. Mistakes, Mark Surrelius says in Meditations, should be left to their makers. They're on their own journey. They're doing their own thing. You have enough to focus on. When you're perfect, when you are flawless, then you can get up in other people's business. But for now, work on your own enlightenment and your own improvement. Number four, stop talking so much. Just shut up, right? We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, said that. We are getting in our own way when we are talking. You know what we're doing? We're not listening. Number five, stop putting on airs. Stop puffing yourself up. The number one impediment to growth and knowledge, Zeno said, was conceit. Ego is the enemy, right? You can't learn that which you think you already know. When you are puffing yourselves up, when you're proud of all that you have accomplished, you know what you're doing? You're not getting better. You're not growing. You're becoming self-satisfied and complacent instead of focusing on all the work that you have to do on all the things you still have in common with other people. Number six, you gotta stop looking for the third thing. Look, you've done something good. That's great, Mark Surrelius said. Someone has benefited from it. It's made the world better. He says, but why, like a fool, do we look for the third thing on top of that? Why do we want credit? Why do we want a favor in return? We did the right thing. We did the nice thing because it was right, because it was nice, because we are generous. We do not need acknowledgement. We do not need a thank you. And we definitely don't need to be paid back. That wasn't why we did it. If we get those things, great, but stop looking for them. Number seven, stop following the mob. You gotta think for yourself. Chrysippus, one of the early Stoics said, look, if I wanted to be part of a mob, I would not have become a philosopher. We have to think for ourselves. We have to go to first principles. Whenever you are on the side of the majority, Mark Twain said, pause and reflect. That doesn't mean it's always wrong, but you must think for yourself first. Number eight, stop thinking about legacy. Stop thinking about fame. You're not going to be able to enjoy posthumous fame. In meditations, Mark Surrealist notes that you won't be around to enjoy what people think of you after you are dead, right? The fact that we are talking about him right now, 2000 years later, you know what good it does him? Nothing. In meditations, he points out that Alexander the Great and the man's mule driver both die. They're both buried in the same ground and they are equally ignorant of what the future thinks of them now. And number nine, stop extrapolating. Mark Surrealist, who lived in dangerous times of high infant mortality, he says, my child is sick, but not that they might die of it, right? He's saying, stop there. Extrapolation is what makes us so miserable. It's what makes us so anxious. It's what makes us so scared. He says, don't let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. He says, stick with the situation at hand. That is enough. Focus on what's in front of you. Tomorrow will take care of itself. If you want to keep your Stoicism journey going, well, that's the journey that I'm on. Every single day at this computer, I write one Stoic-inspired email that I give away totally for free to people all over the world. There's no spam. You can unsubscribe at any time. You can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email.