7 Vital Stoic Principles That’ll Make You a Stronger Man

It’s no secret that we live in a turbulent time that calls more than ever for Stoic principles.

In his book, Man’s Search for Himself, psychologist Rollo May described the modern era an “age of anxiety” (and this was back in the 50s).

This rapid anxiety is even more exacerbated by the cascading nature of change, brought to us by the Information Age.

The Information Age and the convention of modern society have done the following things:

  • Allowed for an easier access to information (no longer a “walled garden”)
  • Given opportunities to previously excluded or oppressed groups
  • Made it incredibly easy to access previously scarce resources

These are all good things. But the Information Age has emphasized reliance on the external rather than the internal.

Drugs, Internet, food, gambling, sex – these are ways to cope with the outside world and numb the mind into a state of submission, pushing problems out of consciousness.

Obviously, using these to cope has a 100% failure rate and will eventually lead to addiction.

Instead of relying on external things to make you “happy”, you need to cultivate a rich inner world you can rely on at will.

One way to do this is through adopting a Stoic worldview.

What is Stoicism? Who were the Stoics?

The Stoics were a group of Roman philosophers who emphasized self-discipline as a way to overcome and mitigate the inevitable change that is a part of life.

Stoics say: “The world is changing. How can I adopt myself to these changes?

As such, the modern Stoic asks themselves how they can be the calm in the eye of the storm.

To help you, I’ve distilled seven key Stoic principles that will make you a stronger man.

After reading and applying these to your life, you’ll be like a solid oak standing defiantly in the wind as the storms and pressures of life come bearing down on you.

Let’s get into it.

Stoic Principle # 1: Be aware.

“The beginning of philosophy – at least for those who take hold of it in the right way, and through the front door – is an awareness of one’s own weakness and incapacity when it comes to the most important things.” – Epictetus, Discourses

Self-awareness is the key to surviving and thriving in this world.

You should not only be aware of the world around you… but of yourself as well.

How to put this Stoic principle into practice: What I believe the great Roman emperor is saying is… “know thyself” (thanks, Emerson).

To “know thyself”, you have to know who you are in relationship to things in your immediate (and not so immediate) environment.

What knacks do you have? What are you strong in? What are you weak at?

How’s your work ethic? Your willpower? Are you socially intelligent?

Most importantly: what the fuck do you want out of life?

All of these things are just a few parts of life and knowing who you are as an individual.

This will help you progress instead of taking 1 step forward and 3 steps back.

Stoic Principle # 2. Every day is a dying day.

“You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, though all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last.” – Seneca

In this sobering passage from On The Shortness of Life, Seneca tells us the sand is slipping through the hourglass.

From the moment we were born, we’re dying. Pretty grim…but also pretty liberating at the same time.

You could die tomorrow and the world would keep spinning. You know what this means?

Get off your high horse.

Stop with the bullshit. Stop trying to look “pretty. Stop trying not to “offend” people. Start living the way you want to. The way you have to.

You don’t want to step on eggshells, so you don’t take chances on anything. You don’t endure the pain of discipline.

So what happens? Nothing.

How to put this Stoic principle into practice: Nothing moves unless you move. No one will save you. You need to use the seconds, minutes, and hours like a man in search of an oasis in a desert. You need to be on the hot pursuit for whatever it is you’re in search of.

After all, you can die at any time. After a few close calls, I’ve found that to be too true.

And one day, we’ll all be dead so you might as well get going.

“Once you've lost everything, you're free to do anything. - Tyler Durden, Fight Club” Click To Tweet

Stoic Principle # 3. You own nothing.

“There are things up to us and things not up to us. Things up to us are our opinions, desires, aversions, and in short, whatever is our own doing. Things not up to us are our bodies, possessions, reputations, offices, or, in short, whatever is not our own doing.” – Epictetus, Enchiridion

Your car…it isn’t yours.

Your house… it isn’t yours.

Your girlfriend/wife/significant other…she isn’t yours.

Everything you have belongs to Fortune. Fortune bestowed it on you and Fortune can easily take it away.

How to put this Stoic principle into practice: Practice non-attachment, especially in regards to material things.

Enjoy the things while you have them, but realize that it is foolish to have a deep-rooted personal investment in materials.

I had a car get destroyed by a flood. Was I sad? Initially. But then I realized that it was useless to be sad because the car belonged to “Fortune”. I had the good “fortune” to have a method of transportation.

I then got something better.

It was something that I couldn’t have until I made space for the old car to “drift” out of my life (so punny).

And it’s a better car too.

What comes from “the all” will return to “the all”.

You can’t make room for new liquid to come into your cup if you don’t get rid of what’s in there first.

You can't make room for new liquid to come into your cup if you don't get rid of what's in there first. Click To Tweet

Stoic Principle # 4. Stop overindulging.

“First we have to reject the life of pleasures; they make us soft and womanish; they are insistent in their demands, and what is more, require us to make insistent demands on Fortune.” – Seneca

Part of the reason why humanity is where it is today is that we’ve been through a lot of bullshit. We came up in conditions you can’t even imagine. As such, we had to evolve to meet those demands.

Now, everything you want is at your fingertips.

Click a mouse and you can order virtually anything online. Why wait?

Type in a site and you have access to thousands of hot babes. Why talk to women?

Why step out of your car? Just go through the drive-thru. Everything’s so easy.

Too damn easy.

You would think there would be no consequence to this.. but there is.

All of this ease is slowly leading to a modern “malaise” of sorts.

When you rely too much on the comforts of life and what they can give you, you lose your work ethic, your drive, and your ability to make a better life for yourself. No bueno.

How to put this Stoic principle into practice: Stop trying to take “the path of least resistance”. This weakens your ability to do anything constructive. Take the challenge to improve.

Usually what’s easy has few rewards…but the path is so seductive. What’s hard looks tough at the beginning…but has the rewards as you progress down the path.

Once you give in a little here, a little there, and a little everywhere – it’s only a matter of time until you become impotent and can do nothing.

Stoic Principle # 5. Stay present.

“But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future. When they come to the end of it, the poor wretches realize too late that for all this time they have been preoccupied in doing nothing” – Seneca

This goes along with the first point, but is a wider expansion of it.

This quote is really sad when you think about it. If you meet that description, you aren’t really “living”, you’re just rehashing past events and being anxious about future activities (which may not even happen).

How insane is that?!?!?

You can only experience life in the present. Past and future do not exist. You cannot alter your past, so why bother feeling remorse about it? Start to realize that the only way you’ll be able to influence the future is through the present.

How to put this Stoic principle into practice: While your past will inform your present which will inform your future, you can prevent mindless patterns from repeating themselves.

If you respond in the present moment to things that are happening now instead of using a batch of pre-conditioned responses, you have a chance at the future not being a continuation of the past.

If you react instead of respond, no such chance.

Responders take whatever life gives them and do everything with it. Reactors take whatever life gives them and do nothing with it. Click To Tweet

Stoic Principle # 6. Get disciplined.

If there’s one trait that everyone you look up to and admire has – it’s that of self-mastery and self-discipline.

The Stoics were VERY disciplined people. Except for Seneca…because he didn’t always practice what he preached.

Discipline to me means this: following through on what you say you will do, even if you don’t feel like it.

Why oh why is self-discipline important? Well…

It takes discipline to be able to link to follow a personal improvement plan.

It takes discipline to read books and apply them to your life circumstances.

It takes discipline to think long term.

Whatever you want to do, discipline is the key.

How to put this Stoic principle into practice: How will your life turn out 5 years from now if you continue your current path?

The only way to ensure that your life gets better is to implement discipline into your life.

Don’t just work out for one day…work out for 5 days. Don’t just read one page of a book…read all of the pages.

You need to make it a point of duty to do hard things.

Stoic Principle # 7. You can count on…yourself.

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

You can find dozens of quotes that relate to self-reliance in the writings of the Stoics.

Because to be honest… no one is coming to save you.

You can have all the friends in the world…your parents may love you to death…but are they going to go to work for you?

Are they going to do the deliberate practice in your quest for learning more and doing more?

Are they going to help you ask out your crush?

You’re the only one who can get you from point A to point B. People can help you to the fountain…but they can’t make you drink.

How to put this Stoic principle into practice: Start to see yourself as responsible for every action.

You may not have caused it, but you are responsible for your reaction to it.

Stop wishing for someone to come to the rescue. Start to use the tools you have right now at your disposal to make the most out of where you are.

Seven principles. Seven ways to make your life better. Only you can decide if you’re going to take action on them.

Implement one of these principles TODAY and write in the comments which one you’re going to take action on. Which one of these will make the biggest difference in your life if you started it today?

3 Responses to “7 Vital Stoic Principles That’ll Make You a Stronger Man

  • All. Heaven knows I really need to apply all these principle. Living will be much smoother.

    • You bet! The cool thing is – once you start to make it a habit, it will get EASIER to do over time. Just focus on tackling one at a time. Baby steps. 🙂

  • Love Live bother. Thanks a lot for spreading messages like this to the world! I hope you have the courage to produce more!

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