Live Like A Stoic: 52 Exercises for Cultivating a Good Life

This tendency to think that other people’s actions reflect their character while our own actions depend on circumstance is called the fundamental attribution error, a term first coined by psychologist Lee Ross.

The final step is to create some “at-hand” phrases you can tell yourself when intentionally practicing discomfort. At-hand phrases are an important part of Stoic practice; we’ll encounter them more throughout this book. They’re generally used as reminders of basic Stoic principles. Here, the purpose of these phrases is to remind yourself why you’re

A basic tenet of Stoicism is that nobody wants to do wrong on purpose, and everyone thinks they have good reasons for their actions. But it is up to us whether to indulge our anger, which the Stoics refer to as a “temporary madness,” and likely make things even worse for both parties, or to be charitable and open-minded instead—ending up agreeing w

When your desires and aversions are “aligned with nature” (i.e., with what is in your complete control), you are guaranteed to not be unhappy regardless of the outcome.

When we perceive that another person has behaved wrongly toward us, the first step is to figure out what incorrect notion led them to act as they did. We can imagine ourselves in the other person’s situation, and, by thinking about what they value, can make sense of their actions—even if we don’t agree with them—immediately squashing the rising sen

the Stoic premeditatio’s goal is to loosen our attachment to external events in general, from something as simple as breaking your favorite cup (to use Epictetus’s example from Week 3) to the death of a loved one. Since you’re only doing this for a day, we do not recommend starting with a serious situation.

By performing this exercise, you’ll gain perspective on why people’s actions may seem reasonable to them, and, through that, develop sympathy.

Some modern Stoics refer to this exercise by the Latin term premeditatio malorum, the premeditation of bad stuff happening. It’s not that Stoics are pessimists; on the contrary, they are among the most realistic of people—they know that sometimes things won’t go their way, and are always mentally prepared for that occurrence.

WEEK 6 Premeditation of future adversity