30 Short Stoic Habits For Wisdom, Wealth, Productivity & Happiness
The mind that watches itself transforms
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30 Short Stoic Habits For Wisdom, Wealth, Productivity & Happiness
Stoicism began in ancient Greece around 300 BCE. Zeno of Citium founded it in Athens. He taught philosophy on a porch called the Stoa, which gave the philosophy its name. Stoicism focuses on reason, self-control, and virtue. The idea is to live in harmony with nature and accept what you can't control. The Romans later accepted and applied the wisdom of Stoicism. Key figures like Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius spread its teachings. They believed that true happiness comes from within, not from external things. Today, people use Stoicism to help them focus on what matters, stay calm under pressure, and live with purpose..
Epictetus once said, “Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.” By practicing stoic habits, you’ll be able to increase your focus and self-control, which will help you lead a happier and healthier life. The point of Stoicism isn’t to fix yourself; it’s to learn to be more mindful of your thoughts, emotions, and actions to lead a better life overall. These simple stoic habits are behaviours you can adopt to live a happier, healthier and wealthier life.
Free yourself of distractions that steal stillness. “Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.” — Seneca
Accept that life is not linear — including the fact that things will inevitably go wrong at some point. It’s your reaction to bad events that matters most.
Don’t beat yourself up if you are not successful yet; just focus on adopting a more positive mental outlook and do more of what’s working.
Everything in your control is key to your wealth, happiness and health. “Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.”―Epictetus
Invest in needs, not wants. “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”―Epictetus
Prune the unessential: “Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realise how unnecessary many things are. — Seneca
Embrace short and long walks — they will help you clarify your thoughts, clear your head and reduce stress. “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
Allow yourself to fully experience your emotions instead of suppressing them or acting out and regretting them later. It can help you better understand your feelings and how they affect your life.
Practice gratitude by acknowledging all of the good things for you instead of dwelling on everything wrong in your life.
Become more attuned to your surroundings to respond more appropriately when you need to. Observe and listen more.
Emotion (good and bad) is contagious. Be mindful of your social connections. “The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.” — Epictetus
Build resilience: resilience is the ability to bounce back after setbacks or failures. Building resilience will make you less likely to give up when things get tough.
Practice deliberate discomfort (to handle life’s hard challenges) by stepping out of your comfort zone.
Failure is not final — it makes you wiser. Every experience is a teaching moment. Gather as much experience as possible.
Defend your time. “It’s not at all that we have too short a time to live, but that we squander a great deal of it.” — Seneca
To attain true happiness and contentment, pursue activities and experiences that make you come alive.
Use every difficult situation as an opportunity to learn and grow. Be open to the many lessons in life. Rise above the human nature to seek comfort.
Build resilience by surrounding yourself with people who support you, believe in you, and share your goals.
Don’t waste time and mental energy on what people think of you. You can’t change people’s perception of you.
Make daily reflection a habit. It stops you from over-complicating or overthinking minor events and experiences. Meditate on your daily experiences. How can you improve your proactive and reactive actions?
Be more present: being present means being fully aware of what’s happening around you at all times. It stops you from overthinking.
“Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people… It will keep you from doing anything useful. Why do you complain rather than act?” — Marcus Aurelius
Tame your insatiable ego — it’s one of the greatest obstacles to a good life.
Your interpretation of life experiences and events is key to your happiness. Epictetus explains, “never hold anyone except ourselves — that is, our judgments — accountable.”
Stop complaining. Do the work. “At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for?”―Marcus Aurelius.
Embrace challenges rather than run from them — they build you up for the next chapter of your life.
Memento mori — “remember that you will die”. Always remember you are mortal. Choose your actions wisely. “Don’t behave as if you are destined to live forever. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good. Now.” — Marcus Aurelius
Stack good habits, one at a time — don’t overwhelm yourself. “Assemble your life… action by action. And be satisfied if each one achieves its goal… No one can keep that from happening… Action by action.” — Marcus Aurelius
Don’t get too attached to the outcome of any experience. Falling in love with the results before you achieve it leads to stress.
Perfection is not the goal. There are no perfect outcomes in life. For everything you pursue, aim for progress. “We don’t abandon our pursuits because we despair of ever perfecting them.” — Epictetus
Food for thought
Maslow: In Any Given Moment, You Have 2 Options [Free read on Medium]
Hedonism is the basic theory of human nature.
We are driven by a desire for pleasure and a natural aversion to suffering and pain. We are all just after feeling good and trying anything necessary to avoid everything uncomfortable.
But life is a constant fork in the road.
And discomfort is not all bad. Stoic philosophers thought voluntary discomfort was a key element of a meaningful life. Philosopher Frederick Nietzsche said, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” A bigger goal changes our response to temporary setbacks.
Me versus myself [Aeon]
Procrastination, distraction, addiction and OCD are all forms of self-sabotage. It is a curious fact of life that we harm ourselves, even when times are hard; even when we need all the help we can get.
Self-sabotage takes many forms. If you’re anything like me, you will mess things up when you’re put on the spot, blanking when asked a question in public or blurting idiotic lines when you’re out to impress. If you’ve made space in your day to do something you really want, you too might find yourself frittering away those precious hours on life admin and social media.
Questions worth asking
I recently found myself asking: ‘Is that your gut talking or your mind?’ I value my intuition quite a bit and under the lens of trying to listen better, this question helps me figure out when past experiences are hindering me from taking risks that I may be very well equipped to handle.
‘Will this choice enlarge me or diminish me?’ We’re terrible at predicting what will make us happy: the question swiftly gets bogged down in our narrow preferences for security and control. But the enlargement question elicits a deeper, intuitive response. You tend to just know whether, say, leaving or remaining in a relationship or a job, though it might bring short-term comfort, would mean cheating yourself of growth.” — Oliver Burkeman
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Thanks for reading!
Until next week,
Thomas
Medium | All Courses | The Write Life | Philosophy For Modern Life
Postanly Weekly is now a reader-supported publication. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $7 per month or $40 for an entire year. With a modest yearly contribution you’re not only helping keep Postanly Weekly going, you also get free access to Thinking Toolbox (mental models for life) and Mental Wealth Toolbox (practical concepts for smarter decisions).