AN

INTRODUCTION
TO STOICISM
Day 7: H e re’s How To H ave
Yo ur Bes t We e k Ever: 7
P rac t i ces Fro m T h e S toics

D A I L Y S T O I C . C O M
 he below is a week of some of the best
T Stoic passages and exercises from The
Daily Stoic book with the idea of creating the perfect
week — seven days of stoic thinking to help you live
better, more resiliently, and more peacefully.

***

Monday: Rise and shine

“On those mornings you struggle with getting up, keep this
thought in mind — I am awakening to the work of a human

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being. Why then am I annoyed that I am going to do what I’m
made for, the very things for which I was put into this world?
Or was I made for this, to snuggle under the covers and keep
warm? It’s so pleasurable. Were you then made for pleasure? In
short, to be coddled or to exert yourself?” — Marcus Aurelius,
“Meditations,” 5.1
Nobody likes Mondays. So it’s comforting to think
that even 2,000 years ago, the emperor of Rome (who
was reportedly an insomniac) was giving himself a pep
talk in order to summon the willpower to throw off the
blankets and get out of bed.
From the time we’re first sent off to school until
the day we retire, we’re faced with that same struggle. It
always seems nicer to shut our eyes and hit the snooze
button a few times.
But we can’t — because we have a job to do. Not
only do we have the calling we’re dedicated to, but we
have the larger cause that the Stoics speak about: the
greater good. We cannot be of service to ourselves, to
other people, or to the world unless we get up and get
working — the earlier the better. So c’mon. Get in the
shower, have your coffee, and get going.
Tuesday: Prepare yourself for negativity
“When you first rise in the morning tell yourself:
I will encounter busybodies, ingrates, egomaniacs,
liars, the jealous, and cranks. They are all stricken with

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these afflictions because they don’t know the difference
between good and evil. Because I have understood the
beauty of good and the ugliness of evil, I know that
these wrong-doers are still akin to me … and that none
can do me harm, or implicate me in ugliness — nor can
I be angry at my relatives or hate them. For we are made
for cooperation.” — Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations,” 2.1
You can be certain as clockwork that at some
point today you’re going to interact with someone who
seems like a jerk (as we all do). The question is: Are you
going to be ready for it?
This exercise calls to mind a joke from the 18th-
century writer and witticist Nicolas Chamfort, who
remarked that if you “swallow a toad every morning,”
you’ll be fortified against any other disgusting thing
that might happen that day.
But there is a second part to this, just as there is a
second half of Marcus’ quote: “No one can implicate me
in ugliness — nor can I be angry at my relative or hate
him.” The point of this preparation is not to write off
everyone in advance. It’s that, maybe, because you’ve
prepared for it, you’ll be able to act with patience,
forgiveness, and understanding.
Wednesday: Clarify your intentions
“Let all your efforts be directed to something, let
it keep that end in view. It’s not activity that disturbs

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people, but false conceptions of things that drive them
mad.” — Seneca, “On Tranquility of Mind,” 12.5
Law 29 of The 48 Laws of Power is: Plan all the way
to the end. Robert Greene writes, “By planning to the
end, you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances,
and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune
and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.”
The second habit in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People is: Begin with an end in mind.
Having an end in mind is no guarantee that you’ll
reach it — no Stoic would pretend otherwise — but not
having an end in mind is a guarantee that you won’t.
To the Stoics, oiêsis (false conceptions) are responsible
not just for disturbances in the soul, but for chaotic and
dysfunctional lives and operations.
When your efforts are not directed at a cause or a
purpose, how will you know what to do day in and day
out? How will you know what to say no to and what to
say yes to? How will you know when you’ve had enough,
when you’ve reached your goal, or when you’ve gotten
off track if you’ve never defined what those things are?
You cannot. And so you are driven into
failure—or worse, into madness—by the oblivion of
directionlessness.

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 Thursday: Be ruthless to the things
that don’t matter
“How many have laid waste to your life when you
weren’t aware of what you were losing, how much was
wasted in pointless grief, foolish joy, greedy desire, and
social amusements — how little of your own was left to
you. You will realize you are dying before your time!” —
Seneca, “On the Brevity of Life,” 3.3b
One of the hardest things to do in life is say “no.”
To invitations, to requests, to obligations, to the stuff
that everyone else is doing. Even harder is saying no to
certain time-consuming emotions: anger, excitement,
distraction, obsession, lust. None of these impulses
feels like a big deal by itself, but run amok, they become
commitments like anything else.
If you’re not careful, these are precisely the
impositions that will overwhelm and consume your life.
Do you ever wonder how you can get some of your time
back or how you can feel less busy? Start today off by
utilizing the power of “no” — as in “No, thank you,” and
“No, I’m not going to get caught up in that,” and “No, I
just can’t right now.”
It may hurt some feelings. It may turn people off.
It may take hard work. But the more you say no to the
things that don’t matter, the more you can say yes to the
things that do. This will let you live and enjoy the life
that you want.

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 Friday: Turn ‘have to’ into ‘get to’
“The task of a philosopher: We should bring
our will into harmony with whatever happens, so that
nothing happens against our will and nothing that we
wish for fails to happen.” — Epictetus, “Discourses,”
2.14.7
A long to-do list seems intimidating and
burdensome — all these things we have to do in the
course of a day or a week. But a get-to-do list sounds
like a privilege — all the things we’re excited about the
opportunity to experience. This isn’t just semantic play.
It is a central facet of the philosopher’s worldview.
Today, don’t try to impose your will on the world.
Instead, see yourself as fortunate to receive and respond
to the will of the world.
Stuck in traffic? A few wonderful minutes to get to
sit there and relax. Your car broke down after idling for
so long? Ah, what a nice nudge to take a long walk the
rest of the way. A swerving car driven by a distracted,
cell-phone-wielding idiot nearly hit you as you were
walking and soaked you head to toe with muddy water?
What a reminder about how precarious our existence is
and how silly it is to get upset about something as trivial
as being late or having trouble with your commute.
Kidding aside, it might not seem like there’s a big
difference between seeing life as something you have

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to do versus seeing life as something you get to do, but
there is. A huge, magnificent difference.
Saturday: Take a walk
“We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that
the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open
air and deep breathing.” — Seneca, “On Tranquility of
Mind,” 17.8
In a notoriously loud city like Rome, it was
impossible to get much peace and quiet. The noise of
wagons, the shouting of vendors, and the hammering of
blacksmiths all filled the streets with piercing auditory
violence. So philosophers went on a lot of walks — to
get where they needed to go, to clear their heads, and
to get fresh air.
Throughout the ages, philosophers, writers,
poets, and thinkers have found that walking offers the
additional benefit of time and space for better work. As
Nietzsche would later say: “It is only ideas gained from
walking that have any worth.”
Today, make sure you take a walk. And in the
future, when you get stressed or overwhelmed, take
a walk. When you have a tough problem to solve or a
decision to make, take a walk. When you want to be
creative, take a walk. When you need to get some air,
take a walk. When you have a phone call to make, take
a walk. When you need some exercise, take a long walk.

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When you have a meeting or a friend over, take a walk
together.
Nourish yourself and your mind and solve problems
along the way.
Sunday: A week in review
“I will keep constant watch over myself and —
most usefully — will put each day up for review. For this
is what makes us evil — that none of us looks back upon
our own lives. We reflect upon only that which we are
about to do. And yet our plans for the future descend
from the past.” — Seneca, “Moral Letters,” 83.2
In a letter to his older brother Novatus, Seneca
describes a beneficial exercise he borrowed from
another prominent philosopher. At the end of each
day, he would ask himself variations of the following
questions: What bad habit did I curb today? How am I
better? Were my actions just? How can I improve?
At the beginning or end of each day — and in this
case, at the end of the week — the Stoic sits down with
his journal and reviews what he did, what he thought,
and what could be improved.
It’s for this reason that Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations
is a somewhat inscrutable book — it was for personal
clarity, not public benefit. Writing down Stoic exercises
was and is a form of practicing them, just as repeating a
prayer or hymn might be.

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 Keep your own journal, whether it’s saved on a
computer or on paper. Take time to consciously recall
the events of the previous day.
Be unflinching in your assessments. Notice what
contributed to your happiness and what detracted from
it. Write down what you’d like to work on or quotes that
you like. By making the effort to record such thoughts,
you’re less likely to forget them. An added bonus: You’ll
have a running tally to track your progress.

DA I LYSTO I C .C O M 9
 The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom,
Perseverance, and the Art of Living offers 366 days of Stoic
insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations
from the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the playwright
Seneca, or slave-turned-philosopher Epictetus, as well
as lesser-known luminaries like Zeno, Cleanthes, and
Musonius Rufus. Every day of the year you’ll find one
of their pithy, powerful quotations, as well as historical
anecdotes, provocative commentary, and a helpful
glossary of Greek terms.
The book is available on Amazon, Audible, iTunes,
B&N, Kobo and everywhere else books are sold.
You can also get a signed and personalized copy at
BookPeople! Order your copy now!

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