Two effective lessons from Stoicism than can be applied to modern life
Philosophy is usually considered theoretical and not applicable. Founded 2000 years, Stoicism proves this wrong and its concepts are more valuable today than ever before.
The great paradox of our time: we are living in a very prosperous era. Over 10,000 years ago there were fewer than 10 million people on the planet. Today there are more than 6 billion, 99 per cent of whom are better fed, better sheltered, better entertained and better protected against disease than their Stone Age ancestors.
Yet, we are suffering from an unprecedented mental health crisis. The number of humans with obesity and depression are on the rise.
However, many things have improved from the way they were before, people still cling to the belief that the future will be disastrous.
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality
Seneca was one of the great contributors to the Stoic philosophy. He was a roman philosopher and statesman.
His famous quote “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality”, in my opinion, explains big a part of this paradox.
For some reason, the mind amplifies suffering. The mind sees reality and, when a negative event happens, the mind chooses to create an illusion that makes us see the negative event as x10 bigger.
And what strikes me the most, is that Seneca wrote about this mind behavior 2000 years ago, when the world was not very secure, not at all comfortable and the average human being had a life expectancy of 33 years.
Stoicism powerful concept 1 — The dichotomy of control
All events in life can be categorized either in “my control” or “outside of my control”:
So you want that promotion at your company. Should you worry? Well, it’s not completely up to you. What is up to you is what you can control:
- Your performance
- Your habits (personal and at work)
- Your learnings
- Your capacity to absorb feedback and act on it to improve
So you want to have a long lasting strong relationship. Should you worry about the future of the relationship? Worrying about what falls in your partner’s court won’t help and will only bring suffering. Instead focus only on what you can work for the part of the relationship that you can improve:
- Listen to your partners needs
- Identify and work on your own defects
- Work on breaking bad habits
- Improve your communication skills
So you started a company and you are obsessed thinking if it will work? The Dichotomy of Control recommends we focus only on what you can control:
- Talk to more customers
- Find the best talent to build a robust team
- Ask investors for feedback to identify blindspots, etc.
After all, nobody could have anticipated Covid 19. Yet before the pandemic we were all worrying and making future plans without realizing that there is a ton of variables that we don’t control.
Stoicism powerful concept 2 — Memento Mori
Memento Mori means “Remember that you must die.”
The origin of the phrase is in ancient Rome. Apparently, when a victorious general or a powerful man walked through the streets of Rome in parade to be acclaimed by the people, a man followed him constantly reminding him of this “Memento Mori”. Auriga was the title given to a slave charged with accompanying Roman Generals awarded a Triumph through the streets of Rome. Appointed by the Senate, each Auriga was charged with a relatively simple task: whisper into the ear of the General during the succession.
At first, this concept can be sad or a bit depressing. Nonetheless, I personally believe it’s a very useful reminder to wake up and see the wonderful world in which we live. Remember that life is super meaningful, so don’t waste it!
Memento Mori is a great trigger to value how lucky we are to be alive and to live in such an abundant era… to become Rational Optimists.
Using Stoicism to manage non-helpful emotions
Tim Ferris regularly uses the Stoic philosophy to experiment with his fear, wearing the same white T-shirt and pants for weeks in a row, have periods of living modestly (“rice and beans — it’s $2-$3 a day”) and fasting once a week.
“It’s inoculating yourself against unfounded fear because when I find myself defensive, fearful of losing whatever success or money or prestige or status I might have or whatever they’re usually nebulous,” he explains. “You worry that your quality of life will drop, you’ll be very unhappy, but if you rehearse the worst-case scenario you realize it’s not that bad and that’s empowering”.
These are just examples of how Stoicism can be applied to our modern life to manage emotions. And this is one of the reasons why I think this philosophy could help us be more resilient and change the mental health trend.
Leaders in history influenced by Stoicism
In the 2000 thousand years since this philosophy was founded, some remarkable leaders have applied it to their lives. Here are some of them.
Bill Clinton — The former president reads Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations every year. You can read more in this New York Times story.
Theodore Roosevelt — One of history’s most resilient leaders, brought Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius on his deadly “River of Doubt” expedition.
George Washington — The first President of the United States was influenced by Stoicism. Learn more in this paper and listen to this interview on NPR.
Thomas Jefferson — The Founding Father had Seneca on his nightstand when he died.
James Mattis — The current Secretary of Defense, carried with him Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations while on deployment.
Wen Jiabao — The former Prime Minister of China has read Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations over 100 times.
Arnold Schwarzenegger — The former Mr. Olympia, Conan, Terminator, and Governor of California is a fan of the Stoic philosophy.
Tom Brady — The New England Patriots superstar quarterback has also been mentioned in the same article from ESPN.
Jonathan Newhouse — The CEO of Condé Nast always takes his favorite Stoic books with him when he travels and you can learn more from this interview.
Kevin Rose — The entrepreneur and investor strongly recommended the Stoic-inspired book Ego is the Enemy on his monthly newsletter, The Journal.
Tim Ferriss — The author, podcast host and angel investor, has been one of the best known and strongest proponents of Stoicism. He recently published an audiobook of Seneca’s letters, The Tao of Seneca and you can listen to excerpts on his popular podcast.
Jack Dorsey — The co-founder of Twitter is mentioned among other Silicon Valley public figures who are fans of stoicism in this article on Quartz.
Recommended books
About Stoicism in general, I recommend the following books:
If you are interested in learning more about how good we are doing as a human species, I highly recommend this amazing book called the Rational Optimist:
