7 Stoic Habits You Can Start Today

Welcome to The Stoa Letter, the newsletter on Stoic theory and practice.

🏛️ Theory

‘Habit’ comes from the latin word ‘habere’, which means to have or consist of. They are things we do with ease, or have incorporated into our lives.

The Stoics were aware that habits are the building blocks of self-improvement or self-destruction. They require effort to establish or change, but then become foundational to who we are.

Habits are established by doing. As Epictetus said: 

Here are 7 Stoic habits you can start today:

• Prosoche - (pronounced Pro-Soh-Khay) The habit of ‘paying attention’ to what is in your mind. Start by actively noticing your impressions or thoughts, and just flagging them, accurately but non-judgmentally. 

• Skepticism - The habit of questioning your beliefs or impressions. Start by asking, for everything you notice, ‘is it true?’

• Reflection - The habit of moving past skepticism, to an answer. For every time you ask yourself ‘is it true?’, answer that question by using Stoic theory, or what you know for certain. Remain skeptical if you can’t answer confidently. 

• Daily Reflection - The habit of reflecting at the end of the day on how well or poorly you acted. Celebrate your successes and note your failings. This can be journaling, but it can also just be a moment to yourself.

• Learning about Stoicism - The habit of engaging in philosophy, either by reading, listening, writing, or talking with others. Reading this letter is already an example of this habit. We learn about Stoicism so we can do a better job at the previous habits.

• Negative visualization - The habit of contemplating what could go wrong, and how you would handle the situation if it did. The goal is not to ‘numb’ yourself to the pain, but to be prepared to act well when things inevitably do not go according to plan. 

• Voluntary discomfort - The habit of putting ourselves in situations that challenge us, mentally or physically, like exercise, socializing, learning a new skill, or going outside your comfort zone. This is especially important in areas of your life you are particularly comfortable with. 

🎯 Action

Choose one habit above and follow through.

🔗 Links

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