In 2020, there’s just about a podcast for anything, and Stoicism is no different.

Podcasts can be a great way to digest information on the go; whether you’re driving, exercising, cooking, or even taking a shower, you can be listening to a podcast.

They can also be a perfect way to start your morning, especially if you don’t have the time to read.

So let’s take a look at the top 11 podcasts on Stoicism.

1. The Daily Stoic

Host: Ryan Holiday

Frequency: Daily

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Buzzsprout

During weekdays, The Daily Stoic uploads a 2 to 5 minute episode every day.

In each episode, Ryan Holiday gives a short lesson on a particular aspect of Stoicism; sometimes it’s also related to current events.

Because of its length, The Daily Stoic is a great podcast to incorporate into your daily routine.

On weekends, they post long-form episodes with special guests, readings, and discussion from Ryan Holiday. Those episodes are anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.

If you are an avid listener of podcasts and like to listen on 2x speed, you might find the daily episodes too short. Especially since the intro is 30 seconds long, and they also end with a 30-second ad at the end. So on some days, you might only get one minute of content.

2. The Practical Stoic Podcast

Host: Simon Drew

Frequency: Multiple episodes a week

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PodBean, Youtube

Although The Practical Stoic Podcast doesn’t upload as often as The Daily Stoic, they more than make up for it in length. A regular episode is well over an hour long.

In each episode, Simon Drew interviews a “prominent Stoic voice in the world today as they extract the essence of Stoicism.”

Most episodes of The Practical Stoic interviews are hyper-focused on Stoicism instead of the general topic of self-improvement, which is perfect for students of Stoicism looking to go more in-depth into the philosophy.

3. Good Fortune: a Stoic Podcast

Host: Matt Van Natta

Frequency: Less than one episode a month

Listen On: Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Player FM

For a podcast with most of its episodes from 2017, they have a surprising amount of recent reviews. They are also rated a 4.9 out of 5 with 151 ratings on apple podcasts, which is really good, considering they only have 19 episodes.

Each episode is about 15 minutes, focusing on one topic from the lens of Stoicism.

Good Fortune has some great insights in each episode. And since there are only 19 of them, it’s perfect for a binge-listen when you have some long activity to do, such as a long-distance drive or cleaning the house.

4. Stoic Meditations

Host: Massimo Pigliucci

Frequency: Daily

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Player FM, Stitcher, Google Podcasts

Similar to The Daily Stoic podcast, Stoic Meditations uploads a short episode daily that are around 3 minutes long.

In each episode, the host reads a passage from one of the ancient Stoic texts; then he gives a quick interpretation of the text and ideas of how you can use it to improve your own life.

This is also a great podcast to include in your daily routine because of its length.

However, Stoic Meditations also has 30-second intros and outros, which is way too long for a podcast of its length.

5. The Sunday Stoic

Host: Steve Karafiat

Frequency: Weekly (every Sunday)

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Player Fm

“The Sunday Stoic podcast explores the benefits of the application of Stoicism to modern life.”

Episodes of The Sunday Stoic are anywhere from 5 to 50 minutes long, with most of them around the 15 minutes mark.

If the one episode a day is too much for you, and you don’t have the patience to sit through hour-long interviews every week, then The Sunday Stoic is a great option for you. As they upload relatively short episodes weekly.

The content ranges from the host interviewing modern Stoics, to readings of ancient texts, and advice for implementing Stoicism in your daily life.

6. Stoic Solutions Podcast

Host: Justin Vacula

Frequency: Less than one episode a month

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Tune In

Although the Stoic Solutions Podcast doesn’t seem to be as active as it used to be, there are certainly enough episodes to satisfy anyone’s needs.

There are over 90 episodes of the show, each of which ranges from 10 minutes to over an hour.

Similar to some of the other podcasts on this list, Stoic Solutions Podcast has a range of interview episodes as well as shorter ones with just the host, talking about practical applications of Stoicism.

This podcast is well-produced and has some great content.

7. Stoic Coffee Break

Host: Erick Cloward

Frequency: N/A

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify

Stoic Coffee Break is no longer active, but it has over 160 episodes for you to enjoy. Most of them range from 5 to 10 minutes.

One way you can enjoy this podcast is to take a look at the list of episodes and only download the ones you’re interested in. Chances are, out of the 168 episodes, you will find some that perfectly suits your current needs.

There are episodes on emotional management, motivation and willpower, opinions and perspective, imposter syndrome, loneliness, anger, fear, and just about anything you can think of.

8. The Stoic Psychology Podcast

Host: Alex MacLellan

Frequency: Weekly

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Tune In

Episodes of The Stoic Psychology Podcast are generally longer than 30 minutes.

As the name suggests, this podcast approaches Stoicism from a psychology perspective. The host shares his own thoughts on modern issues, psychology, and how to live well.

The show also features interview episodes.

9. Stoicism for a Better Life

Host: Anderson Silver

Frequency: Weekly

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify

Stoicism for a Better Life is a “podcast series dedicated to practical applications of Stoic philosophy in our daily lives.”

The frequency of uploads doesn’t seem to be very constant, but with more than 20 episodes and each episode ranging from 5 to 10 minutes, this podcast has enough content for you to get started.

11. Time Flies Philosophy Podcast

Host: Santi Younger

Frequency: 3 Episodes a month

Listen On: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, PodBean, RadioPublic, iHeartRadio

Time Flies Philosophy Podcast is not just about Stoicism, but also creativity, specifically a combination of the two.

With over 50 episodes and each episode ranging from 10 minutes to an hour, is this is the perfect podcast for you if you like to be creative and have an interest in Stoicism.

To learn more about Stoicism and how to become a better person by applying Stoic practices in your life, check out our free 7 Stoic Exercises Guide:

Related Posts:

6 Must-Read Stoicism Books for Beginners and Pros

How to Succeed In Everything You Do – A Stoic Guide

How to Be Invincible in Life – A Stoic Guide on Indifference

Life is a constant struggle. Sometimes things are easy, sometimes not so much.

But one thing is for sure, whether you make the most out of life is mostly dependent on how you react to tough situations.

You can get upset, panic, let it break you down, or you can be indifferent and unfazed.

The more you are able to be unfazed by life’s challenges, the more you will get out of it. So let’s dive into how you can use Stoic indifference to become invincible to life’s adversities.

What Is Stoic Indifference?

The Stoics had a value judgment system with three categories:

Virtue and vice are pretty self-explanatory; they are based on your own thoughts and actions.

Everything outside of your control, on the other hand, is indifferent.

Everything that happens is neither objectively good or objectively bad, it is your judgment of the event that paints it good or bad.

One example that’s used a lot to argue against Stoic indifference is cancer. Surely cancer is bad, right?

Not objectively.

Let’s say that two different people got cancer, and both survived after a couple of months of treatment.

After they both recovered, one of them says, “Getting cancer was the worst thing that happened to me! The chemo was painful, and I’m so unlucky to have had cancer!”

The other person says, “Cancer was the best thing that happened to me! It was a reminder for me to stop focusing on the pointless things in life and focus on the things that truly matter. The chemo was painful, but it has made me a more resilient person and given me a new-found appreciation for my health. I’m so lucky to have had cancer!”

Are either of the two examples above unrealistic? Not at all.

So how come the same event can be viewed by one person as bad, and the other as good? The only explanation is that the event itself is indifferent, neutral. Whether they are good or bad is completely subjective.

Let’s say that one or both of them passed away from cancer instead. Then the question becomes: is death bad?

Once again, not objectively.

The general opinion is that death is bad because you don’t get to exist anymore. But anyone who’s really thought about death will realize that it is what gives meaning to life. Without death, there is no reason to do anything because there is always a tomorrow.

Therefore, is cancer bad? Only if you decide it is. The same applies to all things in life.

Indifferent vs. Not Caring

Being indifferent doesn’t mean you have to not care about anything; it just means you should accept whatever happens and see it as a good thing as much as you can.

We are not in control of the outcome of any event, we can try our best to influence it, but it’s ultimately not something that can be controlled.

This is why the Stoics also had the concept of preferred indifferent; things such as health, wealth, beauty are preferred. Things such as death, disease, suffering, poverty, are not preferred. But when anything happens that is not preferred, it does not bother the ideal Stoic.

“To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortue of its strength and burden.” – Seneca

A great example of this would be the story of how Stoicism came to be. The founder of Stoicism, Zeno of Citium, was once a wealthy dye merchant. Zeno was transporting an expensive shipment of royal purple dye when he suffered shipwreck. All the dye was lost, and Zeno lost all his wealth.

As a homeless man with not a dime to his name in a foreign city, Zeno wandered into a book store. In there, he discovered Xenophon’s Memorabilia, a book on Socratic philosophy. This led him down the path of philosophy and eventually creating Stoicism.

“I made a prosperous voyage when I suffered shipwreck” – Zeno

Do you think Zeno wanted a shipwreck to happen and lose all of his fortunes? Certainly not, but Zeno made the most out of what happened.

This is precisely what preferred and dispreferred indifferent is; you can prefer to hit the target, but once you let go of the arrow, it is out of your control. If it hits, great, if it doesn’t, that’s ok too. The only thing that matters is what you do before letting go of the arrow and what you do after it lands.

*Here’s a post on how the Stoics define success based on indifference

How to Use Stoic Indifference

Understanding the concept of Stoic Indifference doesn’t make it easy to apply it to your life, so here are some tactics to help you use Stoic indifference.

Step 1 – Erasing the Canvas

As humans, we have a natural tendency to complain. However, complaining actually changes the way you think.

Most of us have a habit of complaining about anything we don’t like. And the result of that is we automatically see things in a negative light before we can even think about being indifferent.

This might not sound like a big deal because everybody does it, but any linguist or neuroscientist would tell you that using negative language makes you think negatively, which makes you a more negative person.

So if you wish to use Stoic indifference, the first thing you must do is to stop complaining.

On top of that, the language you use in general also influences the way you think. So another way to become indifferent to external events is to use objective language.

For example, instead of, “That son of a bitch gave me the wrong coffee!”

You can say, “This is not the coffee I ordered, It is probably an honest mistake. Getting upset by it benefits no one.”

Once you use objective language to describe a situation, it will become easy to be indifferent to it. This applies to anything big or small. Even if you are facing a crisis.

Step 2 – Painting the Blank Canvas

Once you are able to become indifferent to something, the next step is to be able to see it as a good thing.

For most events, it’s possible to see it in a positive light. For example, if you planned to go out and it started raining, you can see it as an opportunity to catch up on your reading list or spend more time working on a new skill.

But sometimes it’s hard to put a positive spin on things. For example, you’re already outside, and it starts pouring.

At the very least, you can be grateful for it as it allows you to practice being indifferent, which in doing so, you have made the fact that you are cold and soaking wet a good thing.

On top of that, to use rain as a metaphor for adversities in life, the more you stand in the rain, the more you get used to it. The next time it rains, you will be unfazed by it. Voluntary discomfort can also help in this regard.

Therefore, anything that is traditionally considered ‘bad’ is an opportunity for gratitude and virtue. You simply have to have the right perspective.

So next time something ‘bad’ happens to you, don’t see it as a bad thing. Use the power of Stoic indifference to make it a good thing. You will be unfazed by events that make most people panic, and you could even be grateful for it.

Remember, it’s not the event that upsets you, but rather your judgment of the event.

If you wish to become truly invincible to life’s adversities, check out our free 7 Stoic Exercises Guide:

Related posts:

A Stoic Guide on How to Embrace a Crisis

How Voluntary Discomfort Can Change Your Life

How Negative Visualization Can Change Your Life (Premeditatio Malorum)

5 Lessons From Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations

Would you accept a life without any difficulties and problems whatsoever? Probably not, because that life would be incredibly boring.

“Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.” – Viktor Frankl

What makes life wonderful and worth living is all the ups and downs, but without the downs, there wouldn’t be any ups. Without the rainy days, no one would be grateful for the sunny ones.

Therefore, the pain and suffering in life allow us to experience joy and happiness. Which brings us to the topic of crisis, is a crisis something to be dreaded, or embraced?

Based on the title of this article, I’m sure you would have guessed the answer is the latter.

So let’s take a look at how we can change our mindsets to see a crisis in a different light.

*Although a crisis should be embraced and not dreaded, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to seek it unless you’re doing voluntary discomfort.

Let Go of Control

To see the crisis in a different light, the first thing you must do is to give up control. More precisely, give up control of the things you cannot control.

In order to do so, you must be able to differentiate between what is within your control and what is not. Thankfully, this is very simple because there are only two things in life you can control: your thoughts and actions.

That’s it. You don’t have control over what others think of you, you don’t have control over whether you get fired or promoted, and you certainly don’t have control over a virus triggering a global pandemic.

But you do have control over your reaction to all those events. You can become bitter by other’s opinion of you and let it affect your mood, or simply let it go.

This Stoic concept is also called the dichotomy of control.

“Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can’t control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible.” – Epictetus

Thinking Makes It So

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” – Seneca

To completely give up trying to control the things you cannot, is easier said than done. So here’s another way of looking at it:

Everything that happens is neither good or bad. It’s your judgment of the event that makes it good or bad.

“No way! Clearly some things are bad, and some are good, right?”

Not exactly. The same event could happen at different times in your life, and cause vastly different reactions, why is that?

Let’s used the good old example of getting cut off in traffic.

You are rushing to a job interview that you’re almost late to. All of a sudden someone cuts you off in traffic, and it pissed you off, you honk at them aggressively, and now you’re in a bad mood.

A week later, you are driving a loved one to the airport, where they are going away, and you won’t see them for another year. You get cut off in traffic again, but this time you’re grateful for it because you get to spend just a little bit of extra time with your loved one.

Has the nature of the event changed? No, the only thing that changed is your judgment of the event.

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Shakespeare (Hamlet)

So instead of jumping to conclusions and allowing small things to bother you, think about whether such a thing is even worth getting bothered by (most things are not).

To go a step beyond that, think about how it is, in fact, a good thing.

What Doesn’t Kill You

Now that we’ve established Stoic indifference, let’s see how you can turn a ‘bad’ situation into a ‘good’ one in your mind.

If you can master control over your thoughts and actions, you would have mastered life itself.

“Man conquers the world by conquering himself.” – Zeno

In this regard, you can think of any ‘bad’ thing that happens as an opportunity for control; an opportunity for you to exercise mastery over yourself.

Moreover, what happens when you go through something difficult? You come out the other end stronger and more ready to face the next difficulty. Aka, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

On top of an opportunity to master yourself, adversities are also opportunities for gratitude. Gratitude in the sense that you can be grateful that you are given another challenge to face, which will make you a more resilient person.

As a Matter of Fact…

Another technique you can use to get better at Stoic indifference is cognitive distancing. Cognitive distancing is a technique used in cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a type of therapy heavily inspired by Stoicism.

“How does it help…to make troubles heavier by bemoaning them?” – Seneca

The simplest way to practice cognitive distancing in the context of a crisis is to write down the facts as objectively as possible.

So instead of, “I got fired because of some virus, and now I can bearly afford to pay the rent! This is terrible and ruining my life!”

Try “I lost my job because of a pandemic, so did many others, I am not unique in this situation and will get through it one way or another. Worst case scenario, I can move back in with my parents or crash at a friend’s place until I get another job.”

By describing the situation objectively and with no emotions, it becomes clear that what you thought was a catastrophe was, in fact, more of a temporary setback. If you respond the right way, you will minimize the effect of the setback, if you flail and panic, you will maximize it.

“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.” – Marcus Aurelius

Be the Fire

“A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.” Marcus Aurelius

When a crisis arises, you are faced with two decisions: make the most out of it, or let it consume you.

As mentioned above, you can always make the most out of a so-called crisis by using it as an opportunity to exercise control and gratitude.

Beyond that, there are often unique ways to make the most out of any situation. Being locked in your house due to the pandemic can be a perfect time for you to catch up on the books on your reading list, or to start that side hustle you’ve wanted to start.

These examples are advantages unique to being in lockdown. However, most crises can be taken advantage of when you look at it from a different angle.

For example, if you missed your morning bus to work, that could be a perfect opportunity for you to meditate for a couple of minutes, or catch up on the emails you haven’t had time to read.

“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” – Seneca

With all of that in mind, the next time you are faced with a crisis, or you’re currently in the middle of one, embrace it. Make flame and brightness out of it, for it will make you stronger. Be the fire.

If you wish to become more resilient to life’s adversities, check out our free 7 Stoic Exercises Guide:

Related Posts:

How Voluntary Discomfort Can Change Your Life

How Negative Visualization Can Change Your Life (Premeditatio Malorum)

How to Be Invincible in Life – A Stoic Guide on Indifference

Dec 29, 2019

One of the best ways to get into Stoicism (or anything) is through reading. Anyone can make a YouTube Video; anyone can write a blog post. But Books, Books are the result of a tremendous amount of work. To get a non-fiction book published usually requires a high level…

Dec 28, 2019

One of the biggest and most important ideas from the Stoicism is to make the most out of life, no matter the circumstances. So today, let’s take a look at this core concept of Stoicism through the lens of Marcus Aurelius and Seneca with these 6 quotes. Part I – The…

Since most of us are having to stay at home due to the pandemic, we’re all left with a lot of extra time on our hands.

It is up to ourselves how we want to use that time.

According to google trends, the search term “what movies to watch” has hit an all-time high.

We could spend more time binging TV shows and watching Netflix, or we could make good use of the extra time working on ourselves and come out of this ‘crisis’ a better person.

In this article, we’ll start with how you can change your mindset to see this event in a more positive light. Then we’ll dive into all the different ways to make the most out of having to stay at home.

*if you are looking for an article on how to maximize productivity while working from home, read it here.

Change Your Mindset

The same event could happen to two people and get two different reactions. It could be a blessing to one and a curse to the other.

So what makes anything that happens a good or a bad thing?

Well, you.

Everything that happens in the world is objectively neutral, and it is our subjective judgment of things that makes it good or bad.

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” – Shakespeare (Hamlet)

In a nutshell, it is up to you to decide whether you want to see the quarantine as a good thing or not. Here’s an example or how you could see it in a positive light:

Let’s say that you are a naturally introverted person who prefers to stay at home most of the time, well then this is a perfect time to do just that. You can cozy up in your home for as long as this lasts without having any obligation to go out.

But what if your lifestyle consists of going out and socializing all the time? Well, you could see the quarantine as a challenge for yourself to not do what you prefer in life; and by doing so, you become a more resilient person who can handle a drastic change in lifestyle with calm.

“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Whatever kind of person you are in whatever situation, you don’t have to see the quarantine as a disastrous event that’s out to ruin your life.

Now let’s take a look at all the ways you can make the most out of staying at home.

Exercise

Having to stay at home means most of us are not getting as much exercise as our usual selves. But it also means we have more time to exercise.

It might sound paradoxical, but this is a perfect opportunity to start exercising if you don’t do it regularly.

Most people are stuck with the mindset that the gym is the only place to work out and become fit, but that is the furthest thing from the truth.

Much like how cereal companies have made people believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, gyms have made many of us believe it is the only solution to exercise.

The truth is, human beings have been exercising for the sake of our health since at least ancient Greece, and they certainly did not have dumbells and treadmills back then. What they did have is their body weight, and gravity.

So they did bodyweight exercises, and if you’ve seen any statues from their time, you know it works.

There are many forms of bodyweight exercises, but first, let’s take a look at the benefits of regular exercise.

Physical Benefits:

• Weight loss
• Muscle gain
• Reduce the risks of cancer
• Improve sleep
• Boosts energy

More importantly, there are the mental benefits that make exercising worth it:

• Increases memory and focus
• Enhances overall mood & mental health
• Increases neuroplasticity
• Increases confidence
• Increases appetite for healthy food

To be frank, it’s not that exercise has so many health benefits; it’s not exercising has so many health risks and downsides.

After all, we have the same bodies as our hunter-gatherer ancestors; And their lives revolved around running around all day, hunting, and scavenging food (which is a whole lot of exercise). Therefore to put it simply, exercising unlocks our potentials as Homo Sapiens.

That being said, here’s one of the many ways you can exercise despite a world-wide quarantine.

Bodyweight and calisthenics: most bodyweight exercises can be done in a 2-meter (6.6 feet) by 2-meter space, that means even if you live a tiny apartment in New York, you probably still have enough space to exercise. Here’s are some basic moves in bodyweight training to get you started:

• Burpees
• Push-ups
• Squats
• Sit-Ups
• Jumping Jacks
• High-knees

The beauty of this form of exercise is that, just like using gym equipment, there are easy and hard versions of each move.

For example, if you can’t do many push-ups, you can start with knee push-ups. Or if regular burpees are too easy for you, you can do a burpee that involves a push-up and a high jump.

Here are some apps that focus on bodyweight workouts at home (not sponsored):

• Freeletics
• Seven
• 30 Day Fitness
• Nike Training Club

All of these apps offer daily workouts less than 30 minutes as a part of their free options. Some of them also have virtue coaches that provide you with workouts that suit your level of fitness.

Personally, I’ve been using Freeletics for months, and it’s great, the paid option works out to a couple of dollars a week (much cheaper than a gym membership.)

Meditation

Much like exercising, meditation also has many widely proven benefits for your brain and mental health.

Just to name a few:

• Reduce Stress
• Increase attention span and focus
• Increase mood
• Helps battle anxiety and depression
• Better Sleep
• Enhances empathy

Similar to exercise, some of these benefits can start to show up within days.

Just imagine how much meditation and exercise combined can improve your life!

If you are not familiar with modern mindfulness meditation, here’s a short breakdown:

Usually, a session is 10 to 15 minutes long. You can meditate anywhere as long as you can sit down, although beginners should start with meditating somewhere quite.

Once you close your eyes, just take a couple of slow, deep breaths and let your breath go back to normal. Then start to either focus on the sensation of your breath, or count your breaths in your head up to 10 and repeat.

If you find your mind drifting away, simply notice it and come back to focusing on your breath without judgment. Do this for 10 minutes or more, and you’ve just meditated!

For beginners, it’s best to start with guided meditation and try out one of these apps (not sponsored):

All of these apps have a couple of days of free guided sessions, which is enough to help you get started.

The Waking Up app will give you a free year of their premiere plan if you want to meditate but couldn’t afford the app. All you have to do is send them an email; please do pay for it if you can spare a couple of dollars a month.

Because meditating has so many health benefits and only takes ten minutes a day, there really isn’t a reason not to do it… except for laziness.

Read More

If you’re like most adults, you don’t read often, or at all; Except for skimming a couple of articles a day online.

Now that you have all this extra time, why not read more?

Bill Gates, the richest person in the world, was asked what superpower he would want, and he answered, “the ability to read more.”

Most successful entrepreneurs and billionaires read dozens of books each year.

I can once again list out the many health benefits of reading, but let’s face it, nobody reads for the health benefits.

We read for the incredible wealth of knowledge contained in each book, as well as some knowledge only found in books.

If you are interested in reading as a form of self-improvement, here’s a list to get you started.

Learn a skill

You’ve undoubtedly heard that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. But how long does it take to get started in one?

20 hours.

That’s right. It only takes 20 hours to go from a complete beginner to being able to say that you can do a particular skill.

That’s only two weeks if you spend one and a half hours a day learning the skill! Or less than a month if you spend 45 minutes a day.

Here’re some ideas of skills you can learn during this time:

• Playing an instrument
• Coding
• Making cocktails
• Cooking
• Painting/Any creative arts
• Magic
• Learn a science

There are many sources that provide online courses on just about any topic you can imagine. Some of the more popular ones include Udemy, Skillshare, Lynda, and Masterclass.

I’ve personally tried all of the services above except Lynda.

If you want to learn anything creative, Skillshare and Masterclass is the way to go.

Skillshare has many classes on anything creative you can think of. Although because anyone can teach a course on Skillshare, not all of them are of high quality and worth your time.

Masterclass, on the other hand, is the opposite of Skillshare in terms of teachers. By that, I mean Masterclass only has the best in the world to teach their classes.

For example, some of their classes are: Gordan Ramsy teaches Cooking, Martin Sorsasse teaches Filmmaking, Penn & Teller teaches magic, Natalie Portman teaches acting, etc.

Because of the different nature of both platforms, Masterclass only has 80 or so classes while Skillshare has tens of thousands, but you do get to learn from the best in the world in Masterclass.

If you want to learn anything technical or complicated, Udemy is best for that.

Anything from programming to chemistry to different types of therapy, Undemy has a course for it. Unlike the other platforms, Udemy is not subscription-based. You buy individual courses, and all of their course seems to be on a permanent discount of less than 15 dollars.

Most of their course also have a 30-day guarantee, meaning if you go through a course in 30 days and didn’t like it, you can request a refund.

There are definitely no lack of skills you can learn and no lack of platforms & courses to learn it on. But you mustn’t try to learn too many things at once and overshoot yourself.

It’s ok to realize you’re not that interested in a particular skill after trying to learn it for a couple of days, but you shouldn’t commit to learning too many things at once.

Create a Side-hustle

Creating a side-hustle can be a great way to make some extra income for a skill you already have.

Here are some ways you can start a side-hustle:

You shouldn’t expect to generate income with any of these businesses straight away, especially the last three; So your primary motivation can’t be to make money, but you must also love doing it.

Otherwise, it’s easy to give up before a dime shows up in your bank account.

If you do decide to dip your toes in any of these businesses, there’s probably a course for it in the platforms mentioned above.

So…

What are you waiting for?

With all this extra time on your hands, are you going to spend it all binge-watching TV shows, or are you going to improve yourself by doing one of the things mentioned above?

Related Posts:

How To Maximize Productivity While Working From Home

The Definitive Music List For Focus and Productivity

7 Proven Methods To Help You Beat Procrastination

Journaling has become quite a popular practice in the general field of self-help. But don’t be surprised to find that journaling is also very useful for aspiring Stoics.

From becoming more disciplined to increasing general happiness in life, keeping a Stoic journal is a great idea for anyone striving to become a better person.

In this article, let’s take a look at how you can journal like a Stoic, as well as some benefits of keeping a Stoic journal.

How to Journal Like a Stoic

If you find it surprising that journaling could be a useful part of Stoicism, then look no further than Meditations.

A copy of Meditations from the 1800s

Meditations was Marcus Aurelius’s Stoic journal, which was never meant to be published. And yet this journal comprised of a series of ‘note to selves’ has become one of the most influential texts in Stoicism.

Marcus Aurelius kept a journal to remind himself of how to live a virtuous life. But it is more than that, keeping a Stoic journal could also help you handle setbacks, take risks, or even make you happier.

So here are four methods of Stoic journaling that can help you become a better Stoic and person.

All of the following methods of keeping a Stoic journal could be done in your mind. But it is far more effective to write them down.

Morning Preparation Journaling

“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own – not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him.” – Marcus Aurelius

It is inevitable that something will go wrong in any given day. It could be anything from a minor inconvenience to a major setback.

If you are familiar with the Stoic concept of the Dichotomy of Control, then you know the only thing we can do when things go wrong is to react in the most appropriate manner, without frustration or anger.

But it can be difficult to act like a Stoic when misfortune catches you off guard. This is where morning preparation journaling can become useful.

To practice morning journaling like a Stoic, all you have to do is spend a couple of minutes each morning writing down all the things that could go wrong in your day.

Just like the quote above from Meditations, Marcus Aurelius did this by writing down all the negative qualities people could exhibit, and reminding himself that none of them could hurt him or make him feel angry.

As long as you have a rough idea of what your day looks like, then it shouldn’t be difficult to think of all the parts of your day that could go wrong.

If you have an important meeting, a presentation, an exam, or a date, those are all the things you can write down as possible encounters with misfortune.

You could be late, forget a part of your presentation, mess up your exam, or get diarrhea in the middle of a date.

Any of these things would take less than a minute to write about. Once you have written the things that could go wrong, remind yourself that it won’t be a big deal.

By writing down all the potential adversities and obstacles you may encounter in your day, you are preparing your mind to handle such events.

And when the inevitable mishap happens, it will be easier to go into problem-solving mode or accept it with equanimity, instead of sulking about it.

Don’t worry. This won’t make you a negative person. But it will keep the fact that anything could happen in the back of your mind.

The more you make this a part of your Stoic journaling routine, the more effective it will be. You will be able to react to anything that befalls you with calm when everyone else might start to panic.

Nightly Reflections Journaling

“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

If you wish to become a better person, first, you need to be aware of your faults; that is what nightly reflections are for.

At the end of each day, ask yourself these three questions:

1. What did I do well today?
2. What did I do not so well today?
3. What could be improved?

To answer each question, go through your day in your mind and consider all of your actions throughout the day.

Think about when you’ve continued a good habit, or reacted to something rationally instead of acting out. Also, consider the times when you continued a bad habit or let your emotions get the better of you.

Then think about what aspect of your actions/character you could improve. It could be anything from not snoozing in the morning, to being more honest and having the courage to say no.

You can write as many answers to each of the three questions as you like. But to prevent making this into too much of a chore, one or two answers for each question is enough.

Five to ten minutes is all you need for nightly reflections. If you have extra time, you can also write down strategies you can use to help improve the particular aspect of your character.

By doing this exercise, you will become more mindful throughout your day to not repeat the bad habits and to continue the good ones. And before you know it, you would have fixed many flaws that you once thought was an irreparable part of you. 

If you continue this habit for months or even years, you will also be able to read through old entries and see how far you have come since then.

“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.” – Jordan Peterson

It is also crucial that you don’t judge yourself too harshly when doing nightly reflections in your Stoic journal.

It’s okay to hold yourself to a high standard, but you must also be unbothered by your flaws. Understand that in order to improve and become better, there must be something to improve upon.

Fear Setting

“If you would not have a man flinch when the crises comes, train him before it comes.” – Seneca

Negative visualization is a tried and true Stoic exercise that builds resilience and perspective.

There are many forms of negative visualization; this journaling variation of the exercise is also called fear setting.

Fear setting is a method of conquering your fears by defining them. Unlike the previous two Stoic journaling methods, fear setting is not a daily exercise. It is only done once in a while or when there is something you’re unsure about pursuing.

Here’re the four steps of fear setting:

Step 1 – Write down the thing you’re unsure about doing. It could be anything from asking someone out, to quitting college to work on a startup.

Step 2 –  Write down what’s the worst that could happen. You could get rejected, or your startup could fail after spending a ton of time and money on it.

Step 3 – Write down what you could do if the worst-case scenario happens. If you get rejected, you could simply move on with your life. If your startup fails, you could go back to school or take what you’ve learned and work on a new startup. It might set you back a couple of years, but you will be okay.

Step 4 – Write down what’s the best-case scenario. The person you ask out says yes. Your startup succeeds.

Fear setting can be tremendously helpful when you’re unsure about taking a risk in life.

By following the four steps, you will often realize that the worst-case scenario is not that bad, and the best-case scenario is worth the risk.

Fear setting takes a lot longer to do than the previous two methods of Stoic journaling, but it can give you the courage to take necessary leaps of faith in life.

Moreover, it can also prepare you for the worst-case scenario. And when it happens, you will know what to do instead of panicking.

Because of its benefits, you should be as specific as possible when following the four steps of fear setting. Especially for step 3, the more specific your plan is when things don’t go your way, the more prepared you will be to handle such adversities.

Gratitude Journaling

“Do not dream of possession of what you do not have: rather reflect on the greatest blessings in what you do have, and on their account remind yourself how much they would have been missed if they were not there.” – Marcus Aurelius

The Stoics understood that gratitude is an essential part of happiness.

In today’s society, people often believe that happiness is something to be pursued, something you get once you’ve achieved a certain goal or bought a particular product.

For anyone who believes in the “pursuit of happiness”, they will eventually achieve their milestone in life only to find that happiness doesn’t reside there.

Then they will look for happiness in the next one. But they will find none.

“Happiness cannot be puresued; it must ensure.” – Viktor Frankl

Instead, you should look within yourself for happiness, because it is not determined by any external factor.

One of the most effective ways of “obtaining” happiness is through gratitude.

Unless you are the unluckiest person on the planet, you will have something that someone doesn’t, something perhaps someone believes to be their key to happiness. It could be anything from a clean source of water to a family.

By being grateful for these things in life, you will realize that you have much more than you thought, and there is no reason to be unhappy.

Here’re two ways you can incorporate gratitude into your Stoic journal.

1. When you’re writing down all the potential mishaps that could happen in your day, also write down some things you are grateful for in your life.

2. Once a month, block out some time to think about what you are grateful for in your life and write it down.

You could be grateful for anything and everything.

It could be a past relationship you’ve had, your job, your friends, etc. It could even be the weather, the bed you sleep in, or your access to hot showers.

You could also be grateful for past adversities because they made you the person you are today. Or current ones because they are opportunities for virtue.

There are also tools such as the 5-minute journal app that can help you with gratitude journaling.

To learn more about Stoics exercises that are just as useful as Stoic journaling, check out our free 7 Stoic Exercises guide:

Ever gone to the kitchen only to forget what you were there for? Or at the grocery store trying your hardest to remember what’s on your list but just can’t remember? Or study really hard for an exam only to forget a big chunk of information right when you needed it?

Let’s face it, we’ve all been there, possibly multiple times a week. This is where the Memory Palace technique can help.

Using a memory palace to store information, you will find it more difficult to forget something than to remember. This is the one skill we all need…

So keep reading if you want the ability to remember any list, or string of numbers, or any piece of dense information.

A Quick History of the Memory Palace

The memory palace, also known as ‘mind palace’ or ‘the method of loci,’ is a tried and true memory method dating back to ancient Greece.

According to the legend, the memory palace technique was invented by the poet Simonides of Ceos about 2,500 years ago.

As the story goes, Simonides was performing at a banquet when he was called upon by two messengers outside. As soon as Simonides stepped out, the dining hall collapsed behind him. He was later summoned to identify the unrecognizable guests killed by the collapsed structure.

To help himself recollect, Simonides closed his eyes and reimagined the banquet hall before it collapsed. In his mind, Simonides walked around the tables, remembering where each guest was seated.

He then opened his eyes and was able to identify all the bodies. The memory palace technique was born.

The memory palace was widely used throughout Europe before the printing press was invented in the 15th-century.

Some believe that Homer’s Odyssey was passed down via word of mouth for many generations before Homer wrote it down. Before that, generations of people had to commit it to memory using similar techniques to the memory palace.

The memory palace was so often used that the act of reading in ancient Greece was more of an act of memorizing, due to how rare scrolls were. In fact, the ancient Greek word most commonly used to signify “to read” was “anaginosko,” which means to ‘know again,’ or to ‘remember.’

How To Prepare your first Memory Palace

To use the memory palace technique, you would first need to have a location in mind; this can be any location you are familiar with, a house, a street, a location from a sitcom or video game, anything goes.

The only thing not suggested would be somewhere too empty like a gym or sports field.

Once you have a location in mind, let’s say your childhood home, the next step is to choose a route.

*do this in your mind only…

First, choose a starting point, anything like the front door, the mailbox or the elevator works. After you have selected your starting point, the next step is to walk into the house and choose a route inside the house.

In general, you should start with the first room to the left or right of the front door, then walk through the house and visit each room in an order that makes sense.

Have you walked through your childhood home in your mind yet? Do this a couple of times and make sure you are sticking with the same order each time.

Once you have a route chosen, you are one step away from having your first mind palace ready.

Now you have to choose several loci for each room. A locus (singular of loci) is a location anchor which you will later use to place the things you wish to remember. (Don’t worry if this is confusing right now, it will all make sense later.)

In general, you should have about four or five loci for each room. For example, for the bathroom, you could choose the toilet, windowsill, bathtub, and sink.

Or you can choose the four corners of each room as the loci.

Just like the route, it’s crucial that you use the same order each time, I suggest going from left to right for each room.

Now go through the house again and count your loci in the correct order. You should have at least 25 loci.

Do this a couple of times again to make sure you have the right order of loci memorized. Going through your memory palace once should take less than 30 seconds.

Now your memory palace is ready for use!

How to use Your Memory Palace in Everyday Life

To commit anything to memory, all you have to do is to convert each piece of information into an image and place that image at a locus in your memory palace. The more bizarre and weird the image the better.

For example, you want to remember your todo list. Let’s say this is what your todo list looks like:

• meditate
• run for 30 minutes
• finish reading a book
• check your email
• practice guitar

This is what you can convert your list to:

• birdman floating in mid-air meditating
• Usain Bolt running and wearing a shirt with “30” on it
• a giant floating book closing
• a mailbox painted bright red
• a guitar playing itself

So now, perhaps your memory palace looks something like this:

Birdman floats on top of your mailbox in front of the driveway, then Usain Bolt is running in slow-motion by the front door.

After you go inside the house and the first room, in the left corner of the first room, is a giant floating book closing; In the further left corner, is a bright red mailbox, and the further right corner has a guitar playing itself.

Whenever you need to recall a piece of information, it would take seconds to retrieve it from your memory palace.

This might seem like a lot of work, but with a little bit of practice, it only takes a moment to turn a piece of information into an image. And because you already have 25+ loci in your memory palace, remembering 25 things is going to be just as easy as remembering 3.

Here are some other things you can store in your memory palace:

• trivia facts
• study material
• names of people
• historical dates

To give an example of how you can use the memory palace to remember facts or study for an exam. Let’s say you want to remember that the human brain has approximately 100 billion neurons.

I would turn that into an image of Bill Gates holding a 100 dollar bill in his left hand and making a ‘meh’ gesture with his right hand. The next time I’m asked how many neurons are in a human brain, I can think:

“OK, 100 dollar bill, Bill Gates is a billionaire, ‘meh’ hand gesture means ‘maybe’… approximately 100 billion neurons!”

Since you are the one to come up with these strange imageries to represent information, things will have uniquely different meanings to you, which makes information even easier to recall.

An important note here is don’t worry about being PC, having offensive things or sexual imagery in your memory palace also makes it easier to recall. (This is recommended by world memory champions)

*Note: don’t use the same memory palace for different things at the same time. Either use a different memory palace or make sure to metally clear out the current one.

How To Remember Long Strings of Numbers Using a Memory Palace

There are two main ways to memorize numbers using the memory palace, the major system and the PAO system; both of them include converting numbers to images.

The Major System:

The Major System is the less complicated of the two.

The system works by converting numbers into consonant sounds, then into words by adding vowels, then turning the words into images to place in a memory palace.

Here’s what each number converts to:

With that in mind, it’s quite easy to convert numbers into words as long as you are doing two numbers at a time.

For example, let’s say you are trying to learn the first ten digits of pi: 3.1415926535

The first two digits are 14.

1 can be T, D, or Th, I’m going to go with D.

4 is R.

So 14 can be DeeR. Now just put a deer in the first locus of your memory palace.

Following the major system, I could turn the rest of the numbers into:

DeeR (14), DeLl (15), PeN (92), JaiL (65), MaiL(35)

Here are some other tips for the major system:

• When you turn two numbers into something mundane like PEN, it helps to turn it into a giant pen or a lot of pens when you put it into your memory palace.
• You must stick with only two numbers at a time; otherwise, a word like “DELL” can be turned into 155 instead of 15.
• You should only take the first 2 letters from the word that has a corresponding number. So a word like TROLL would become 14 (TR) and not 15 (TL).
• It’s also fine to add any letter to make a word as long as the letter isn’t a part of the major system. E.g, the letter Y isn’t a part of the system, so you can add it to any word you want.

The hardest part about learning to use the major system is memorizing what letters each number has.

After you have that learned, it will take some time before you can instantly convert an image in your memory palace back into a two-digit number, and vice versa.

If you are interested in getting good at using the major system, try and spend an hour learning it and memorizing as many digits of Pi as possible (doing everything in your head). You should be able to do more than 50 by the end of the session.

The PAO System:

The PAO System stands for person-action-object, it’s much more powerful than the major system but takes a lot more work to set up.

Instead of turning a two-digit number into an image, PAO has six digits per image. This means if you have a memory palace of 40 Loci, you can memorize 80 numbers with the major system, vs 240 numbers with the PAO system.

You probably won’t need to use something this powerful in everyday life unless if you want to compete in memory championships, but if you’re dead set on learning it, here’s how it works.

The PAO system turns every double-digit number into a unique person-action-object combination. 

That means you have to come up with 100 different unique combinations of a unique person doing a unique action with a unique object; From 00 to 99.

You can use the major system letters for turning each two-digit number into an initial of a person. For example, 67 can be Julius Caesar.

Once you have the person, the action and object should be related to the person. So 67 can be Julius Caesar (person) Fighting(action) with a Sword (object).

Or you can turn the two-digit numbers into anyone without following the major system, as long as you can remember it. For example, 69 can be Cleopatra (person) Seducing (action) a Throne (object).

42 can be Snoop Dogg (person) Smoking (action) Weed (object).

Once you have a person-action-object for 00 to 99, you can start to turn six-digit numbers into a unique image based on three different PAOs.

For example, 426967 would be Snoop Dogg (42) seducing (69) a sword (67).

696742 would be Cleopatra (69) fighting (67) weed (42).

Images generated by the PAO system are generally more memorable than the major system, and thus easier to remember. So once you have all 100 different person-action-object learned, the PAO system would be superior in every way.

Here’s an Excel spreadsheet to help you create your own PAO.

How to Memorize a Deck of Cards using the PAO system

Using the PAO system to Memorize a Deck of Cards is easier than numbers because instead of 100 different person-action-objects, there are only 52.

You would have to come up with a unique person-action-object for each of the 52 cards in a deck.

Instead of 6 numbers per image, it will be three cards per image. Which means memorizing a deck of cards would only take 18 loci.

I personally tried to learn how to memorize a deck of cards using this method. Starting from scratch, and practicing here and there for 3 days; I was able to memorize a deck of cards in 8 minutes by the end of the three days.

Related Posts:

The Definitive Music List For Focus and Productivity

How To Maximize Productivity While Working From Home

All material provided at www.Thestoicsage.com is for informational purposes only and is not to be taken as financial advice, health advice, legal advice, or recommendation.  The information and opinions found on this website and in related products and courses are written based on the best data available at the time of writing and are believed to be accurate according to the best discernment of the authors.

Affiliate Disclaimer

Links on this website may lead you to a product or service that provides an affiliate commission to the owners of this site should you make a purchase. In no way does any affiliate relationship ever factor into a recommendation, or alter the integrity of the information we provide. Please note that we have not been given any free products, services, or anything else by these companies in exchange for mentioning them on the site.  The only consideration is in the form of affiliate commissions.

—-

OVERVIEW

This website is operated by The Stoic Sage. Throughout the site, the terms “we”, “us” and “our” refer to The Stoic Sage. The Stoic Sage offers this website, including all information, tools and services available from this site to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all terms, conditions, policies and notices stated here.

By visiting our site and/ or purchasing something from us, you engage in our “Service” and agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions (“Terms of Service”, “Terms”), including those additional terms and conditions and policies referenced herein and/or available by hyperlink. These Terms of Service apply to all users of the site, including without limitation users who are browsers, vendors, customers, merchants, and/ or contributors of content.

Please read these Terms of Service carefully before accessing or using our website. By accessing or using any part of the site, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access the website or use any services. If these Terms of Service are considered an offer, acceptance is expressly limited to these Terms of Service.

Any new features or tools which are added to the current store shall also be subject to the Terms of Service. You can review the most current version of the Terms of Service at any time on this page. We reserve the right to update, change or replace any part of these Terms of Service by posting updates and/or changes to our website. It is your responsibility to check this page periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to the website following the posting of any changes constitutes acceptance of those changes.

Our store is hosted on Shopify Inc. They provide us with the online e-commerce platform that allows us to sell our products and services to you.

SECTION 1 – ONLINE STORE TERMS

By agreeing to these Terms of Service, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your state or province of residence, or that you are the age of majority in your state or province of residence and you have given us your consent to allow any of your minor dependents to use this site.

You may not use our products for any illegal or unauthorized purpose nor may you, in the use of the Service, violate any laws in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to copyright laws).

You must not transmit any worms or viruses or any code of a destructive nature.

A breach or violation of any of the Terms will result in an immediate termination of your Services.

SECTION 2 – GENERAL CONDITIONS

We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time.

You understand that your content (not including credit card information), may be transferred unencrypted and involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. Credit card information is always encrypted during transfer over networks.

You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit any portion of the Service, use of the Service, or access to the Service or any contact on the website through which the service is provided, without express written permission by us.

The headings used in this agreement are included for convenience only and will not limit or otherwise affect these Terms.

SECTION 3 – ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS AND TIMELINESS OF INFORMATION

We are not responsible if information made available on this site is not accurate, complete or current. The material on this site is provided for general information only and should not be relied upon or used as the sole basis for making decisions without consulting primary, more accurate, more complete or more timely sources of information. Any reliance on the material on this site is at your own risk.

This site may contain certain historical information. Historical information, necessarily, is not current and is provided for your reference only. We reserve the right to modify the contents of this site at any time, but we have no obligation to update any information on our site. You agree that it is your responsibility to monitor changes to our site.

SECTION 4 – MODIFICATIONS TO THE SERVICE AND PRICES

Prices for our products are subject to change without notice.

We reserve the right at any time to modify or discontinue the Service (or any part or content thereof) without notice at any time.

We shall not be liable to you or to any third-party for any modification, price change, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

SECTION 5 – PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Certain products or services may be available exclusively online through the website. These products or services may have limited quantities and are subject to return or exchange only according to our Return Policy.

We have made every effort to display as accurately as possible the colors and images of our products that appear at the store. We cannot guarantee that your computer monitor’s display of any color will be accurate.

We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to limit the sales of our products or Services to any person, geographic region or jurisdiction. We may exercise this right on a case-by-case basis. We reserve the right to limit the quantities of any products or services that we offer. All descriptions of products or product pricing are subject to change at anytime without notice, at the sole discretion of us. We reserve the right to discontinue any product at any time. Any offer for any product or service made on this site is void where prohibited.

We do not warrant that the quality of any products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained by you will meet your expectations, or that any errors in the Service will be corrected.

SECTION 6 – ACCURACY OF BILLING AND ACCOUNT INFORMATION

We reserve the right to refuse any order you place with us. We may, in our sole discretion, limit or cancel quantities purchased per person, per household or per order. These restrictions may include orders placed by or under the same customer account, the same credit card, and/or orders that use the same billing and/or shipping address. In the event that we make a change to or cancel an order, we may attempt to notify you by contacting the e-mail and/or billing address/phone number provided at the time the order was made. We reserve the right to limit or prohibit orders that, in our sole judgment, appear to be placed by dealers, resellers or distributors.

You agree to provide current, complete and accurate purchase and account information for all purchases made at our store. You agree to promptly update your account and other information, including your email address and credit card numbers and expiration dates, so that we can complete your transactions and contact you as needed.

For more detail, please review our Returns Policy.

SECTION 7 – OPTIONAL TOOLS

We may provide you with access to third-party tools over which we neither monitor nor have any control nor input.

You acknowledge and agree that we provide access to such tools ”as is” and “as available” without any warranties, representations or conditions of any kind and without any endorsement. We shall have no liability whatsoever arising from or relating to your use of optional third-party tools.

Any use by you of optional tools offered through the site is entirely at your own risk and discretion and you should ensure that you are familiar with and approve of the terms on which tools are provided by the relevant third-party provider(s).

We may also, in the future, offer new services and/or features through the website (including, the release of new tools and resources). Such new features and/or services shall also be subject to these Terms of Service.

SECTION 8 – THIRD-PARTY LINKS

Certain content, products and services available via our Service may include materials from third-parties.

Third-party links on this site may direct you to third-party websites that are not affiliated with us. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating the content or accuracy and we do not warrant and will not have any liability or responsibility for any third-party materials or websites, or for any other materials, products, or services of third-parties.

We are not liable for any harm or damages related to the purchase or use of goods, services, resources, content, or any other transactions made in connection with any third-party websites. Please review carefully the third-party’s policies and practices and make sure you understand them before you engage in any transaction. Complaints, claims, concerns, or questions regarding third-party products should be directed to the third-party.

SECTION 9 – USER COMMENTS, FEEDBACK AND OTHER SUBMISSIONS

If, at our request, you send certain specific submissions (for example contest entries) or without a request from us you send creative ideas, suggestions, proposals, plans, or other materials, whether online, by email, by postal mail, or otherwise (collectively, ‘comments’), you agree that we may, at any time, without restriction, edit, copy, publish, distribute, translate and otherwise use in any medium any comments that you forward to us. We are and shall be under no obligation (1) to maintain any comments in confidence; (2) to pay compensation for any comments; or (3) to respond to any comments.

We may, but have no obligation to, monitor, edit or remove content that we determine in our sole discretion are unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene or otherwise objectionable or violates any party’s intellectual property or these Terms of Service.

You agree that your comments will not violate any right of any third-party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, personality or other personal or proprietary right. You further agree that your comments will not contain libelous or otherwise unlawful, abusive or obscene material, or contain any computer virus or other malware that could in any way affect the operation of the Service or any related website. You may not use a false e-mail address, pretend to be someone other than yourself, or otherwise mislead us or third-parties as to the origin of any comments. You are solely responsible for any comments you make and their accuracy. We take no responsibility and assume no liability for any comments posted by you or any third-party.

SECTION 10 – PERSONAL INFORMATION

Your submission of personal information through the store is governed by our Privacy Policy. To view our Privacy Policy.

SECTION 11 – ERRORS, INACCURACIES AND OMISSIONS

Occasionally there may be information on our site or in the Service that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies or omissions that may relate to product descriptions, pricing, promotions, offers, product shipping charges, transit times and availability. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions, and to change or update information or cancel orders if any information in the Service or on any related website is inaccurate at any time without prior notice (including after you have submitted your order).

We undertake no obligation to update, amend or clarify information in the Service or on any related website, including without limitation, pricing information, except as required by law. No specified update or refresh date applied in the Service or on any related website, should be taken to indicate that all information in the Service or on any related website has been modified or updated.

SECTION 12 – PROHIBITED USES

In addition to other prohibitions as set forth in the Terms of Service, you are prohibited from using the site or its content: (a) for any unlawful purpose; (b) to solicit others to perform or participate in any unlawful acts; (c) to violate any international, federal, provincial or state regulations, rules, laws, or local ordinances; (d) to infringe upon or violate our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others; (e) to harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, race, age, national origin, or disability; (f) to submit false or misleading information; (g) to upload or transmit viruses or any other type of malicious code that will or may be used in any way that will affect the functionality or operation of the Service or of any related website, other websites, or the Internet; (h) to collect or track the personal information of others; (i) to spam, phish, pharm, pretext, spider, crawl, or scrape; (j) for any obscene or immoral purpose; or (k) to interfere with or circumvent the security features of the Service or any related website, other websites, or the Internet. We reserve the right to terminate your use of the Service or any related website for violating any of the prohibited uses.

SECTION 13 – DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES; LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

We do not guarantee, represent or warrant that your use of our service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free.

We do not warrant that the results that may be obtained from the use of the service will be accurate or reliable.

You agree that from time to time we may remove the service for indefinite periods of time or cancel the service at any time, without notice to you.

You expressly agree that your use of, or inability to use, the service is at your sole risk. The service and all products and services delivered to you through the service are (except as expressly stated by us) provided ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ for your use, without any representation, warranties or conditions of any kind, either express or implied, including all implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, merchantable quality, fitness for a particular purpose, durability, title, and non-infringement.

In no case shall The Stoic Sage, our directors, officers, employees, affiliates, agents, contractors, interns, suppliers, service providers or licensors be liable for any injury, loss, claim, or any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, special, or consequential damages of any kind, including, without limitation lost profits, lost revenue, lost savings, loss of data, replacement costs, or any similar damages, whether based in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability or otherwise, arising from your use of any of the service or any products procured using the service, or for any other claim related in any way to your use of the service or any product, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of the service or any content (or product) posted, transmitted, or otherwise made available via the service, even if advised of their possibility. Because some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or the limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, in such states or jurisdictions, our liability shall be limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

SECTION 14 – INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless The Stoic Sage and our parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, officers, directors, agents, contractors, licensors, service providers, subcontractors, suppliers, interns and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third-party due to or arising out of your breach of these Terms of Service or the documents they incorporate by reference, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third-party.

SECTION 15 – SEVERABILITY

In the event that any provision of these Terms of Service is determined to be unlawful, void or unenforceable, such provision shall nonetheless be enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, and the unenforceable portion shall be deemed to be severed from these Terms of Service, such determination shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any other remaining provisions.

SECTION 16 – TERMINATION

The obligations and liabilities of the parties incurred prior to the termination date shall survive the termination of this agreement for all purposes.

These Terms of Service are effective unless and until terminated by either you or us. You may terminate these Terms of Service at any time by notifying us that you no longer wish to use our Services, or when you cease using our site.

If in our sole judgment you fail, or we suspect that you have failed, to comply with any term or provision of these Terms of Service, we also may terminate this agreement at any time without notice and you will remain liable for all amounts due up to and including the date of termination; and/or accordingly may deny you access to our Services (or any part thereof).

SECTION 17 – ENTIRE AGREEMENT

The failure of us to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Service shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

These Terms of Service and any policies or operating rules posted by us on this site or in respect to The Service constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between you and us and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications and proposals, whether oral or written, between you and us (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of the Terms of Service).

Any ambiguities in the interpretation of these Terms of Service shall not be construed against the drafting party.

SECTION 18 – GOVERNING LAW

These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of.

SECTION 19 – CHANGES TO TERMS OF SERVICE

You can review the most current version of the Terms of Service at any time at this page.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to update, change or replace any part of these Terms of Service by posting updates and changes to our website. It is your responsibility to check our website periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to our website or the Service following the posting of any changes to these Terms of Service constitutes acceptance of those changes.

SECTION 20 – CONTACT INFORMATION

Questions about the Terms of Service should be sent to us at [email protected]

For a collection of the best quotes from Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, read it here.

Man’s Search For Meaning

The author of this book, Viktor Frankl, was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Before he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, the US embassy gave him a Visa; instead of fleeing, he chose to stay in soon-to-be Nazi-occupied Austria, knowing that he would end up in a concentration camp.

Frankl felt obligated to stay so he can take care of his aging parents, as he was the only one given a US visa. But of course, Frankl and his family were eventually arrested and sent to separate concentration camps.

During his three years of imprisonment in various concentration camps and death camps, Victor Frankl was subject to the most extremes of human suffering.

Frankl, along with some six million Jews, was starved, froze, and worked to exhaustion every day for years. Not to mention the fact that almost every single one of them was separated from their loved ones.

And yet somehow, amidst all the suffering, Frankl and many others who were in his position, was able to find meaning in such misery and endure the cruel conditions for long enough to survive the Holocaust.

Viktor Frankl would later go on to write one of the most important and influential books of all time: “Man’s Search for Meaning.”

The book chronicles Frankl’s experiences in the concentration camps and his observations of the mental states of other prisoners from the perspective of a neurologist and psychiatrist.

In this book summary, let’s take a look at some of the most important ideas to come from this masterpiece of a book.

Nevertheless, say Yes to life.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl

No matter how bad the situation you are in, there is always a choice…

You can choose to be subject to basic human instincts, anger, hatred, despair, etc. Or you can choose to change your attitude and see it as an opportunity for meaning.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness.” 

After he was liberated from the death camps, Frankl started practicing Logotherapy as a psychiatrist.  One day, an elderly doctor came to Frankl with severe depression. The doctor could not overcome the loss of his wife, who had died two years ago.

Frankl asked the doctor, “What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have to survive you?”

“Oh, for her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!” The doctor replied.

Frankl then explained, “You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared her, and it was you who have spared her this suffering – to be sure, at the price that now you have to survive and mourn her.”

The doctor said nothing, shook Frankl’s hand, and calmly left his office.

Frankl had simply helped the doctor to see that he had a choice in how he could have reacted to the death of his beloved wife. Frankl himself most likely went through the same process when he learned of the death of his wife after his liberation.

The point is, it is not up to you what happens to you in life, but you do have control over how you react to events, and that is what matters.

Sometimes, merely seeing things from a different perspective is the difference between suffering and gratitude.

This can apply to anything in life, let’s imagine you were mistakenly giving a hot chocolate instead of coffee, your instinctive reaction might be to blame the person who took your order and allow this to put you in a bad mood.

But instead, you can be grateful that you got the wrong order because you have built up a tolerance and became desensitized to caffeine. You can see this as an opportunity to not have coffee for a day and regain some sensitivity.

Maybe you’re on a fast and can’t drink hot chocolate at all, well, you could see this as an opportunity for a random act of kindness and give it to a homeless person.

For another demonstration of this point, look no further than the original title of this book: “trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager.” Which translates to, “Nevertheless saying ‘Yes’ to Life: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp.”

Nevertheless, say Yes to life.

Find Meaning in Suffering

“Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.” – Viktor Frankl

To elaborate upon the last point, one can always find meaning in suffering. You see, suffering is an inevitable part of life; without it, there would be no pleasure or happiness.

Happiness without sadness has no meaning.

When a psychiatrist survives the Holocaust to tell us that all suffering has a meaning, only a fool would not listen.

“In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.” – Viktor Frankl

But how does one find meaning in the inevitable suffering in life?

When Frankl was a prisoner in a concentration camp, there was a specific case of two other prisoners who were contemplating suicide.

There was a rule in the camps that if one were committing suicide, the others could not stop him, as he has chosen to end his suffering and be liberated. And stopping him from doing so would be cruel.

Therefore the only option was to convince the two men not to commit suicide.

Imagine how astronomically difficult the task would be to convince someone not to commit suicide and continue to spend an indefinite amount of time enduring some of the worse living conditions known to men.

And yet, the two men were eventually convinced, as they were reminded of their meaning in life.

For one of them, it was his son waiting for him in a foreign country, for the other one, it was his unfinished scientific paper that convinced him to keep going.

“There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life.” – Viktor Frankl

As demonstrated by the two inmates who decided to keep on keeping on instead of ending their own lives, one’s meaning in life and suffering can come from love.

This “love” can be in the form of the love of one’s work, such as the scientist who had unfinished work. Or it could be one’s love for another human being.

Frankl himself had a combination of the two forms of love that kept him going, as he also had a manuscript that was waiting to be published, and he had hope that he could one day be reunited with his wife.

“He who as a why to live can bear almost any how” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Furthermore, most of the time, one’s suffering in life can seem unfair and meaningless. But Frankl suggests that there is always a meaning to one’s suffering, even if it doesn’t seem apparent.

Consider this thought experiment proposed by Frankl to a group of people grieving the death of their loved ones.

Imagine that an ape is being tested for a new vaccine. During the process, the ape is regularly being punctured by a syringe. And this goes on for months. Do you think the ape understands the meaning behind its suffering?

Much like the doctor who couldn’t get over the death of his wife after two years, the meaning behind one’s suffering is seldom obvious, but it is there; and it is up to the individual to decide what they make of it.

“Fundamentally, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him – mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.” – Viktor Frankl

*important note here, Frankl emphasizes the point that meaning is possible in spite of suffering, only when it is unavoidable. One should not seek out suffering for the sake of it.

Happiness cannot be pursued

“A human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation.” – Viktor Frankl

Despite what the Will Smith movie tells us, the pursuit of happiness is one of the biggest lies ever told.

How many times in your life have you thought to yourself, “once I achieve this, I will be happy.” Or “when I get into a relationship, I’ll be happy.” Or “when I get that job/promotion, I’ll be happy.”

But when you finally achieve these things, the moment of so-called “happiness” is ever fleeting. And before you know it, you’re already looking to the next thing in order to obtain “happiness.”

The truth is, happiness is a state of mind, not subject to any external forces.

According to Frankl and Logotherapy, happiness itself cannot be pursued; it can only be a by-product of one’s pursuit of meaning.

“What is called self-acualization is not an attainble aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would stive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-acualization is possible only as a side-effect of self transcendence.” – Viktor Frankl

*Here’s an article that goes more in-depth into this concept of happiness.

The Meaning of life

So here comes the big question, what is the meaning of life?

Well… the short answer is that there is no universal meaning of life.

“For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day, and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. To put the question in general terms would be comparable to the question posed to a chess champion : Tell me Master what is the best move in the world?” – Viktor Frankl

Jean-Pual Sartre, a french philosopher who was also alive during the second world war, told this story to demonstrate Viktor Frankl’s point:

Sartre had a student who was facing a difficult decision in life. The young man could join the military and fight for his country, or he could stay at home and take care of his elderly mother, who would otherwise be all alone. The young man felt obligated to do both, but he could only choose one.

Sarte told the young man, “There is no answer until you choose one for yourself.”

We are all born into a meaningless world, and we must define our own meaning. That, in essence, is one’s search for meaning.

Frankl stresses the point that even when meaning ought to be determined by the individual, it is constantly changing from day to day and even hour to hour.

Is the young man’s ultimate meaning in life to fight in the war or take care of his mother? No, that is only the meaning of his life at that moment.

Imagine if this young man was still a 9-year-old child, and he learns that his meaning in life is to one day join the military and fight for what he believes in; wouldn’t that render his 9-year-old life pointless? What’s the point of getting good grades and behaving well if the meaning of his life is to fight in the war ten years from now.

Consider a movie, which consists of many frames that make up many scenes.

Each of these frames makes sense and carries meaning, so does each of the scenes. No frame or scene from a movie is pointless. But the meaning of the whole film is not complete until its very last moments, at which point everything comes together to form an ultimate meaning.

However, the film cannot be understood unless you understand each of the scenes. Isn’t that life?

“Doesn’t the final meaning of life, too, reveals itself, if at all, only at its end, on the verge of death? And doesn’t this final meaning, too, depend on whether or not the potential meaning of each single situation has been acualized to the best of the respective individual’s knowledge and belief?” – Viktor Frankl

A helpful guideline to discovering meaning in one’s life at any moment, as Frankl suggests, is responsibility.

Whether it’s a responsibility to society, your conscience, your health, your faith, or your loved ones; Responsibility is often the key that opens the door to reveal the answer of one’s life at any given moment.

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life.” – Viktor Frankl

Man’s Search For Meaning

This book summary only touches on the surface of this incredible book. There are many more points that were planned for this article but had to be cut due to length.

If you are interested in diving deeper, I suggest reading the book for yourself.

If you don’t usually read books, let this book be the one that you read.

Related Posts:

Best Quotes From Man’s Search For Meaning By Viktor Frankl

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor Book Summary

Best Quotes From How to Think Like a Roman Emperor