5 Valuable Lessons You Can Learn From Stoicism

Why would anyone want to bother learning a 2,000-plus-year-old philosophy?

After all, we live in a modern, technology-driven society. We love the new, the state of the art, the shiny, the latest and the greatest. Why bother learning a dusty old philosophy written by people with hard-to-pronounce names that were born before the discovery of electricity. What could we possibly learn from an ancient philosophy?

Our focus should be on learning new things, not old things, right?

Well, it turns out that the ancient Stoic had the solutions for all of our modern problems.

Here are five lessons from the ancient Stoics to help us live better modern lives.

“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly.” — Marcus Aurelius

Every day, we encounter people who behave badly.

It’s normal. It’s inevitable. It’s how human beings act.

The problem is when we allow ourselves to be surprised or get upset when someone is acting in an unpleasant way.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe how they are acting!”

Guess what; human beings get mad, they can be arrogant, they lie. We’ve all acted this way at some point in our lives too.

Marcus is reminding us that we should expect this, and not allow ourselves to be taken by surprise when people act in “not so great” ways.

Lesson: Don’t allow yourself to get upset or be taken by surprise when people act unpleasantly. It’s what humans do.

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality” — Seneca

How often have you absolutely dreaded doing something, procrastinated, put it off … only to find out, when it’s all over, it wasn’t really that bad?

Seneca is reminding us here that the vast majority of the suffering we experience in life is in our own heads, not in reality. It’s virtually never as bad as we make it out to be.

Procrastinating on a project because of how hard it will be? Delaying a tough conversation because you’re afraid of how they might react? Holding off on starting something because you’re afraid you might fail?

As the Nike slogan says “Just do it.”

It’s probably not going to be as bad as you think it will be. Of course, do your due diligence. No one is recommending jumping in unprepared.

But once you are prepared, act. Don’t let your fear of a negative outcome get in the way of action.

Lesson: Things rarely, if ever, turn out as bad as we fear they might. So once you are prepared, act.

“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 — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?’” — Marcus Aurelius

Ever get those Monday morning “blahs”? Want to stay in your nice, warm, comfy bed and not face the cold, hard world?

Of course you do, we all do. We all want to hit the snooze button and sleep for “just 5 more minutes.”

But why? What are you trying to avoid? You can’t accomplish anything great by staying in bed all day. You were born to get out there and get stuff done. This thing you are procrastinating on or trying to avoid; you are meant to do it.

Get out of bed and go get it done!

Lesson: Get up and get stuff done. It’s what you were born to do.

“Some things are in our control and others not.” — Epictetus

This very simple quote represents the heart of Stoicism.

We spend so much time and energy worrying about things that we have little to no control over. The Stoics teach us that to acquire peace and tranquility in our lives, we need to be wise and know the difference between what we can control and what we cannot control.

We should spend our time and energy on the things we can control and leave the other things be.

Mostly, what we cannot control is things external to us. But we can control our internal response to the events and circumstances of our lives.

We can influence these externals with what we DO have control over: mindset, practice, preparation, due diligence.

Don’t worrying about things you ultimately cannot control. Instead, take a proactive approach and focus on the things you do have control over.

Lesson: Don’t worry about things you cannot control. Focus on the things you can control.

“To welcome with affection what is sent by fate.” — Marcus Aurelius

Did anything “bad” happen to you today, or recently? How did you handle it? Did you get angry? Did you curse your fate? Did you waste time wishing it hadn’t happened?

Well, guess what, it did happen. And no amount of wishing it didn’t happen, or feeling sorry for yourself is going to change the situation.

There’s another approach to take when faced with adversity.

You can welcome it.

Realize that fate has sent this situation to you and presented you with an opportunity to dig deep within yourself and find the intelligence, strength, and creativity to solve it.

Marcus advised us to welcome what fate has sent to us. It is much more positive, productive, and peaceful than wishing it hadn’t happened.

Lesson: Welcome the challenges that life presents you with. Use them as opportunities to practice, grow, and build your strength.

So there you have it, five lessons from the ancient Stoics that can help you live better in today’s modern society.

Funny how much ancient wisdom can improve our modern lives.