Why Stoicism Is The Answer

I’ll be surprised if you open this.

Because philosophy is fucking boring.

I mean.

Why should you care what some 2300-year-old-people had to say?

There’s a lot of waffle.

So I’ll cut to the chase and give you the mental tools you can apply to your life.

Right now.

There’s a reason great leaders, athletes, CEOs and other high performers apply features of stoicism to their life.

So let’s find out why.

Stoicism is wisdom for helping you navigate the inevitable problems of your life.

If you want to:

• Be calm in stressful situations

• Care less what people think

• Control your emotions

You need Stoicism.

Here’s 3 Stoic mindsets for you to apply to your life:

Memento Mori- “remember you will die.”

It sounds depressing, but it’s the complete opposite.

I have this phrase as my phone background for a reason.

To remind me.

This mindset suggests thinking about your mortality.

How fragile our lives are.

How nothing is guaranteed.

Let this be the motivation you need to live the life you want.

Don’t wait.

Do what you enjoy.

Tell people you love them.

Chase your dreams.

Tomorrow is not promised, so live each day like it’s your last.

Savour each moment of life.

As all this could end tomorrow.

So live your life.

Now.

Amor fati - “love your fate.”

Amor Fati means accepting life as it is.

That we shouldn’t wish to change anything in our life.

Whatever happens, happens.

Even the bad in life.

You find the resolve to see the positives.

To have problems is a blessing as that means you are experiencing life.

What does this look like in practice?

Not: I’m okay with this.

Not: I think I feel good about this.

But: If it happened, then it was meant to happen, and I am glad that it did when it did. I am going to make the best of it.

Premeditatio Malorum - “prepare for the worse.”

Life can be cruel:

• Plans go wrong

• Setbacks occur

• Things happen to people who don’t deserve it

This attitude is all about negative visualisation.

Understanding this helps us prepare for life’s inevitable hurdles.

Remind yourself:

• People are going to annoy me.

• Things I don’t like will happen.

• Life will get in my way.

Being prepared means you will be better placed react well.

Because unfortunately,

Pain is in the post.

Struggle and challenge are guaranteed.

So don’t try to avoid bad things.

Expect them.

BONUS - zoom out:

Imagine you’ve separated from your body.

You are viewing your life from above.

Your place in the world.

In life we will meet around 80,000 people.

Just 1/100,000 of the world population.

Billions of lives have come and gone from the earth.

All with their own little problems.

Significant to them at the time.

All now forgotten.

Zoom out.

You don’t matter.

I don’t matter.

Our problems are futile.

Thinking about our place in the world really puts things into perspective.

Zoom out.

Let’s be honest.

We are big-brained monkeys on a floating rock hurtling through space and time, our lives dependent on a dying ball of burning gas 150 million miles away.

And here we are, complaining about things not going our way.

Zoom out.

Cheers for reading.

If you’re interested in learning some Stoicism:

H

MMM V1.5