The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness

by Jonas Salzgeber

“But neither a bull nor a noble-spirited man comes to be what he is all at once; he must undertake hard winter training, and prepare himself, and not propel himself rashly into what is not appropriate to him.” – Epictetus

1. Temporary Poverty:

2. Get Yourself in Uncomfortable Situations:

“If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training.” Go for a toughness run because it’s raining.

3. Purposefully Forgo Pleasure:

Practice 9 Prepare Yourself for the Day: The Stoic Morning Routine

“When you first rise in the morning tell yourself: I will encounter busybodies, ingrates, egomaniacs, liars, the jealous and cranks. They are all stricken with these afflictions because they don’t know the difference between good and evil.” – Marcus Aurelius

Epictetus advises to rehearse the day in the morning, and then review your progress in the evening.

What do I still lack in order to achieve freedom from negative emotions? What do I need to achieve tranquility? What am I? A rational being.

Marcus Aurelius proposes to remind yourself in the morning “of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” And as seen in the opening quote, he wants us to prepare to meet challenging people later in the day. (See Negative Visualization, Stoic Practice #7).

“We live in the middle of things which have all been destined to die. Mortal have you been born, to mortals you have given birth. Reckon on everything, expect everything.” Memento mori (remember you are mortal). This mental preparation in the morning will help you focus on the important things and you be ready to meet difficulties with calmness, resilience, and patience. Expect everything and be ready for anything—only so can you be your best at all times.

Feel free, just make sure to keep a regular morning routine.

Always remember: “Mortal have you been born, to mortals you have given birth. Reckon on everything, expect everything.”

Practice 10 Review Your Day: The Stoic Evening Routine

“I make use of this opportunity, daily pleading my case at my own court. When the light has been taken away and my wife has fallen silent, aware as she is of my habit, I examine my entire day, going through what I have done and said. I conceal nothing from myself, I pass nothing by. I have nothing to fear from my errors when I can say: ‘See that you do not do this anymore. For the moment, I excuse you.’” – Seneca

Rehearse your day in the morning, review your progress in the evening. At the end of each day, sit down with your journal and review: What did you do? What did you w...

The nightly self-analysis will help you gain control over your negative emotions because you subconsciously know you’ll be judged by night. So you can lessen your anger and other emotional reactions. Seneca says you will even sleep better.

Most importantly, the reflection routine will contribute to your mindfulness throughout the day.

Attention, as the Stoics call it, is a prerequisite to ...

This is a no-brainer. Take five minutes each night to consciously recall the events of the day and review your actions. What did you do well? What not so? Did something upset you? Did you experience anger, envy, fear? How could you improve next time?

Personally, I do the good, better, best exercise. I ask myself three simple questions: Good: What did I do well today? Better: How could I improve? What could I do better? Best: What do I need to do if I want to be the best version of myself?

Attention: Always stay kind and forgiving to yourself. Show some self-compassion. You’re trying your best, that’s all you can do. And even if you don’t feel well, that’s normal, everybody struggles and experiences setbacks. Take this to heart: always be kind to yourself.

Practice 11 Keep a Role Model in Mind: Contemplate the Stoic Sage

We need to set our affections on some good man and keep him constantly before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw what we were doing.’ This . . . is Epicurus’ advice, and in giving it he has given us a guardian and a moral tutor—and not without reason, either: misdeeds are greatly diminished if a witness is always standing near intending doers.” – Seneca

“What would the Sage do?”

This simple question is helpful because it brings a pause between stimulus and response.

“Without a ruler to do it against you won’t make crooked straight” (and we’re all crooked).

Practice 12 Stoic Aphorisms: Keep Your “Weapons” Ready at Hand

“Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too.” – Marcus Aurelius

Practice 13 Play Your Given Roles Well “Remember that you are an actor in a play determined by the author: if short, then short; if long, then long. If he wants you to act as a beggar, then act even that with excellence, just as a cripple, a ruler or a citizen. Because that is your objective: to act the role that is given to you well. To select the role is up to someone else.” – Epictetus

Epictetus says that if you fulfill your duties toward others, then you’re living in agreement with nature, which is the direct path to a happy and smoothly flowing life. Focus on your side of the relations to others. It’s possible that you’re a great daughter, but your father isn’t a great father, and he doesn’t play his role well. That has nothing to do with you. You were given this role as a daughter and must play it well. You can only do your side of the relation. That’s enough.

Play your roles well, even if others don’t.

Practice 14

Eliminate the Nonessential

“Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’ But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. To eli...

“Even the smallest thing should be done with reference to an end,” says Marcus Aurelius.

Ask yourself, “What are the most important things in my life?”

Like everybody else, you have 24 hours in a day.

Practice 15

Forget Fame

“People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a ca...

What do others think of us? Not up to us.

By seeking social status, we give other people power over us.

Let’s rather focus on what we control—our voluntary behavior. Being the best we can be is what matters. Expressing our highest self in every moment.

We shouldn’t seek thanks or recognition for doing the right thing. Doing the right thing is its own reward.

“Consider the lives led once by others, long ago, the lives to be led by others after you, the lives led even now, in foreign lands. How many people don’t even know your name. How many will soon have forgotten it. How many offer you praise now—and tomorrow, perhaps, contempt. That to be remembered is worthless. Like fame. Like everything.”

Let’s be indifferent to what others think of us. Let’s be as dismissive of their approval as we are of their disapproval. And let’s focus on where our power lies—our well-intended actions. Doing the right thing is its own reward. Let’s find satisfaction in that.

Practice 16

Like a Minimalist: Live Simple

“Is it not madness and the wildest lunacy to desire so much when you can ho...