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The Stoic: 9 Principles to Help You Keep Calm in Chaos
Emotions Come From Within
Outside forces don’t make us feel things, our perceptions of them do. It’s easy to think otherwise, but doing so harms us and undermines our self-discipline.
The next time you run into an obstacle and feel resistance, don’t look at what’s around you. Instead, look within.
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Key Ideas
Time Is The Most Precious Resource
Time is the most precious resource. Death gives a sense of urgency, as any moment could be your last. It humbles you and should also deeply motivate you to not spend your time thoughtlessly.
Every moment is an opportunity to improve, and to appreciate your capabilities and responsibility to do so.
The People You Respect
Whatever you do, there are individuals that you can learn from. If you can’t talk to them, you can study their story, works, techniques, successes, and failures, and discover patterns of success you can apply to your life.
Be careful not to turn it into an exercise of comparison and expect your progress to be the same as theirs. Their teachings and principles are supposed to help you grow, learn, and create.
There Is Life After Failure
You can spend years on a project, only to watch it fail or be criticized and ignored. But recovering from that failure is a practice, a mindset, and the lesson you learn from it will help you grow and succeed in the future.
Read Purposefully
The purpose of education isn't just to internalize knowledge, but to spark action and facilitate wiser decisions.
Books give you the knowledge, but only applying it will yield its real value. Reading prepares your mind, even helps you avoid foolish mistakes, but it must result in action: a failure, maybe a success, or a lesson.
Be Honest With Yourself
It’s hard to change habits if you aren’t aware as to why you don’t do what you’re supposed to. Being mindful of the urges that obstruct us from showing up, engaging, committing, and being present is the first step in changing.
Thoroughly investigate your thoughts, actions, and emotions. When you feel resistance, use that as a cue to go forward. This practice of self-awareness gets stronger the more you use it.
Reflect On Your Priorities
The ability to prioritize is key to success. Although some level of distraction is okay, we must be mindful of how we interact with our distractions, else we waste the time we could be spending on meaningful projects.
Avoid Procrastination
We weren’t born to feel good all the time, but to do and experience things. When you are tempted to procrastinate, remember that you’re going against your nature and harming yourself by indulging in it.
Work and relaxation are necessary parts of life, and if you feel like procrastinating too much, you likely have an issue of habit or compatibility with the work you have. Meaning you have to do something in order to reestablish that balance in your life.
Be Present
Nowadays we overindulge in distractions and fail to be mindful. As a result, we end up missing moments of contemplation, connection, and enjoyment. Being present and being well alone are habits you have to make time to get good at. To do it:
- Be ruthlessly present in everything you do.
- Separate a moment of your day to just sit and be still.
- Put your phone on vibrate so there’s no interruption.
- Take a few deep breathes and reflect on your day.
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Suffering and Desire
Buddha taught that there is suffering in this world, it is inevitable, and the root cause of suffering is mainly the desires we feel.
We want something, always, and feel miserable when we don't get it.
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Live And Flourish
Only say what is important, do not try to explain to others how much you know or how much you have accomplished. Show them through your actions and work towards not been affected by their opinion.
A happy person who has something that you lack will never show it off. Humility builds character; it allows one to grow and prosper without stressing about what others think.
Understand Yourself Through Discipline
We must not forget to reflect on how we truly feel, to assess what we are aiming for and if we are capable of reaching what’s best for us.
Look towards others for guidance, but don’t forget we experience life differently and comparing yourself to others leads to a less satisfying life. It takes strength to be set on your goals, but it takes even more strength to accept that plans change and that your well-being is more important than the plan you made a few years ago.
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