{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Why Stoic?","description":"The ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, particularly among entrepreneurs, that\u2019s only increased in the wake of a global pandemic. (The Times reports that sales spiked recently for works of two of the great Stoic philosophers, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.) While \u201cinfluencers\u201d like my friend Ryan Holiday, who\u2019s written several books on the subject, have helped stoke renewed interest in these ancient teachings, they have stood the test of time because they work. Stoicism is particularly attractive because it\u2019s a practical philosophy created and taught by emperors, former slaves, and others who interacted in the \u201creal\u201d world. The best possible life The primary goal of the philosophy is to live as well as one possible can. Epictetus said the goal of a Stoic education was to create excellent people, not excellent philosophers. Stoicism teaches us that rationality and knowledge are the highest virtues and will lead to a happy life. Modern-day philosopher Nasim Taleb defines a Stoic as someone \u201cwho transforms fear into prudence, pain into information, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.\u201d To do this, we must train ourselves as observers of the world; understand the things that are in and out of our control; and act on the things we can control. Correct use of impressions It starts with understanding what things are in your control. You must constantly monitor your thoughts and responses to understand your own programming and then intentionally program them differently.  The \u201ccorrect use of impressions\u201d was the cornerstone of Epictetus\u2019s teachings. An impression is anything that pops into your perception, either from an external event or your own internal thinking. (If you\u2019re driving and have to react to someone standing in the road, your perception of that person crossing the road creates an impression in your mind. If you get an email with unwelcomed news, your mind creates an impression and labels this information as \u201cbad.\u201d) Anything outside of your control cannot be \u201cbad,\u201d because it\u2019s part of a natural order of things. Even when a pandemic happens, killing hundreds of thousands of people all around the world, Stoics view it as a natural part of an interconnected world\u2014not something to consider \u201cbad.\u201d Rather than immediately labeling things in your head and reacting, ask yourself: \u201cWhat if this weren\u2019t bad?\u201d We all do this in retrospect. We see the good in a \u201cbad\u201d situation after the fact and end up thankful it happened. The trick to Stoicism is doing that in the moment Negative visualization For a Stoic, thinking only about the positive things you hope will happen leaves you woefully unprepared to deal with negative things that could happen\u2014and, in fact, are destined to happen (more on this in a moment). The Stoic practice of negative visualization helps you prepare for external events outside of your control. Epictetus suggests that, when kissing your child goodnight, imagine they will die in their sleep. As horrible as this thought process is, this would put you in a better position to respond if it really did happen. You wouldn\u2019t be totally blindsided. And the act of thinking the scenario through will make you more appreciative of the time you have. Imagine the things that you\u2019re afraid of and what you avoid thinking about: What will happen if you lose your job, or if people discover you\u2019re not as smart as they think? Whatever your fears are, imagine them to the furthest extent, in detail. Predestination The Stoics took this thinking a step farther. They believed all events are part of a destiny that\u2019s laid out in advance. You might call it \u201cGod\u2019s plan.\u201d  Marcus Eralius would say it\u2019s nature, of which you are an appendage. Seneca taught that the world is connected. The universe is a tree, and we\u2019re all branches on it. We exist for the purpose of the tree, not for ourselves. If you believe in predestination, you believe you were put in whatever role you find yourself in for a reason. So, you must do that role well. This sets up a paradox: Stoics believe in predestination (that you can\u2019t change external events because they are meant to happen) and they feel a radical sense of responsibility to act when they are confronted by things that are in their control. Responsibility to act One of the major misconceptions about Stoics is that they are devoid of emotion or passion. While Stoicism teaches you to create emotional distance between the things you can\u2019t control, it also teaches that you are duty-bound to act on things you can control. You have responsibility to act. If you\u2019re given the ball in a game, the thing that matters is what you do with the ball. That\u2019s what\u2019s in your control. Nothing else matters, not the game itself or the outcome. Stoicism teaches that you have an obligation to strive for excellence, if nothing else. There\u2019s an idea in Stoicism that we\u2019re all bartering for something throughout our lives and that the meaning of life comes from that barter. We\u2019re bartering our life\u2019s energy, trading it for things throughout our lives without even knowing it. For example, I consciously recognize the sacrifice and discomfort that comes with parenting; I intentionally trade my life\u2019s energy so that my child can go do something in the world. Stoics recognize that the point of life is to trade their life for something meaningful. ","author_name":"Smith Sense","author_url":"http:\/\/smithsense.com","html":"