I recently saw this tweet from Ryan Holiday:
He mentions 8 Stoic habits that we need to do every day.
I love the idea of Stoic habits, because Stoicism is a philosophy of life, and it has not been developed for us to only study it. It is there for us to honor it in our lives, not just in thought, but also with our daily actions.
That’s why in this week’s self-improvement letter, I will take Ryan’s tweet as my starting point, go over each habit in detail, and explain how you can practically implement them in your day to day life.
Let’s get started with the first habit:
1. Journaling
There’s no habit as underestimated as journaling.
Most people think of it as something only teenage girls do, but to me, it is nothing less than a powerful weapon of mental clarity.
You get so much out of writing on a page for yourself:
First of all, by writing what’s on your mind in an unfiltered way, you feel lighter. At times you feel as if you had taken kilograms of thoughts out of your head and placed them on a piece of paper.
And the second benefit of it is that now, you can organize your thoughts. It’s really astounding how powerful that can be. I can think all day about what’s wrong with my life, why I can’t do X and why doing Y is not working, but from experience I can tell that it isn’t more helpful than banging my head against a wall.
But instead, if I journal about it for 30 minutes - 1 hour, there’s a good chance the answer will be right in front of my eyes.
Make it a habit to journal every day; either in the morning, in the afternoon, or in the evening. It’s not that hard; just open a page on Notion (or another note taking app) and pour down what’s on your mind.
Writing on my phone or laptop works well for me, but for reasons I can’t comprehend, some people prefer writing on real paper.
Try it if you’d like, but in the end it doesn’t matter much where you journal, so don’t overthink it.
2. Go for a walk
Healthy mind goes together with a healthy body.
If you feel overwhelmed, stressed, confused, tired, annoyed, lethargic, apathic… — take a break, go for a walk.
In order to remove the overwhelm, stress and other negative emotions, you need to detach your mind from what caused them. Instead, walk, look at the trees, look at the sky, feel your breath and body in motion.
When you come back from a walk you will be thinking much more clearly.
Make it a habit to walk for some time every day.
You can walk during your work breaks, when you finish your work, or when you have some free time.
3. Do some deep work
There’s no feeling as good as the feeling of making progress.
And conversely, there’s no feeling as bad as the feeling of not making any progress.
That’s why you need to do some deep work.
It is not any kind of work. It is focused work that moves you closer to your goals.
If you have an ordinary 9-5 job, your work may not count as deep work if you are working without much focus on something that is not aligned with your goals. Perhaps you can’t change your work right now, but you can still make time for deep work.
Make it a habit to spend 30 minutes a day working on a goal that matters to you with full focus. It doesn’t have to ‘feel like work’. You can spend that time learning a language, or on another hobby.
But whatever it is you are doing, make time for it.
4. Do a kindness
Kindness is important, but it is easy to neglect it in our busy lives.
I thought a lot about how I could turn it into a daily habit. After all, you don’t see old ladies need help carrying groceries every day…
But I found a way after reading the greatest book on social skills every written — “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie.
He recommends that we build the habit of giving a genuine compliment to someone every single day.
I think that’s one of the kindest things we can do, because a genuine compliment touches people’s heart and puts a smile on their face.
So, make it a habit to give a genuine compliment to someone every day.
5. Read. Read. Read.
You see, Ryan wrote Read 3 times to stress its importance, and I absolutely agree with him.
I could talk about all the bazillion benefits of reading fiction, but in essence, reading a good book can f*cking change your life.
So, build the habit of reading every day. I am not talking about skimming through self-help books, although that is also useful in its own way. I am talking about reading novels, stories. If you are interested in reading fiction well, check out last week’s self-improvement letter:
6. Get some strenuous exercise
In Stoic philosophy, we need to go through hardship in order to prepare ourselves for the hardship that will eventually fall upon us.
We know there will be difficulties and challenges in the future, and our goal must be to prepare for them.
I don’t know any better way how than hitting a tough workout.
You go to the gym, workout hard, push yourself to your limits, and when you are done, you can proudly look at the mirror, and say to yourself: ‘Nothing I do today will be harder than what I just did.’
Make it a habit to go through some hard workout every day. On some days it can be the gym, on others it can be wrestling, on some days it can be a hundred burpees.
7. Connect with friends and family
Work is important. But relationships are even more important.
The next habit is all about this but really, no one on their death bed regrets not working more. They regret not spending enough enough time with their loved ones.
We are social creatures, and neglecting your relationships will be a hard blow to your mental health.
So, make sure to spend some time with your family and friends every day.
8. Meditate on your mortality
This quote from Marcus Aurelius sums it up perfectly:
“Think of yourself as dead, you have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.”
Live as you are going to die one day, because you are.
No one has escaped death so far, and you probably won’t either, so make it a habit to think about it every evening.
Thank you for reading this week’s self-improvement letter!
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Nihad, thanks a lot for this brief and sound summary. The last one was unexpected but sounds like something I might try!
Stoicism has become my go to philosophy! If you haven't read Seneca's Letters then you absolutely should, they're my favourite piece of writing ever. This was a good expansion on Ryan Holiday's post. Nice to hear your take and share Stoicism with your audience :) Keep it up!