Transform Your Life With Stoicism | 11 Rules For Success and Supreme Happiness

it would be wonderful if life never tempted you if you could go from day to day improvising and always doing the right thing that the world is not like that in the end we end up making mistakes or taking actions that we regret later stoicism in theory is a philosophy in practice it is a set of rules for living the stoics believe that life was complicated and full of situations that will test us so they created rules to help keep us on the right path in this video I'm going to talk about 11 historical rules

that I set for myself to become the best version of myself these 11 rules were created by the stoic philosophers over 2000 years ago and have been helpful to many people throughout history so I invite you to stay to the end to learn all the rules so you can apply them to your life before we begin I would appreciate if you liked the video so that you can help me to continue spreading this philosophy if you are not subscribed I recommend you to subscribe and activate the Bell so you don't miss any video rule one

conquer your mornings one of the best moments of Marcus Aurelius meditations is discussion he has with himself at the beginning of book five he knows he has to get out of bed but he desperately wants to stay under the warm sheets it's easy to understand but it's also impressive Marcus Aurelius didn't have to get out of bed he wasn't actually obliged to do anything many Emperors before him had delegated the tasks of government to focus solely on living life surrounded by luxury however Marcus Aurelius forced himself not to fall into these Temptations and to take

care of his tasks very early in the morning because Marcus Aurelius knew that winning the morning was the key to winning the day and winning in life he would not have heard the expression that the early bird catches the worm but he was well aware that a day well started was a productive day I personally take these three actions to have a productive morning one write in a journal as soon as I wake up I write down the things I have to do during the day and I write a small text of reflection on the

previous day where I write down the things I did well and the things I did badly to make me aware of what I have to improve journaling allows me to create a habit every morning and reflect on my life it reminds myself of what I need to do and how I need to act 2. play sports you don't have to do sports with a lot of intensity by playing sports I mean getting moving go for a walk go to the gym go for a run whatever you want as long as it activates you physically it

will wake you up and put your mind at ease and ready for the third action three focus on work once I have done the previous two actions I am ready to focus on the task in front of me rule 2 focus on what is under your control the stoics put a lot of emphasis on focusing on the things we can control and forgetting about the things we can't control understanding this will make you much more practical and you will waste less time worrying about things that don't deserve it once you understand this you will avoid

many frustrations and suffering situations and you will know what is worth focusing on to achieve the goals you set for yourself a clear example is in sports you control how you play however you do not control if you win if the opponent is respectful if the public cheers you on or not when you realize this and start focusing on your game instead of the others you will probably achieve a better performance apply the same to all situations in your life rule three don't suffer for Imaginary problems in life situations of uncertainty will generate thoughts that

will make us suffer this is something totally normal but if we think carefully about it most of the negative situations that we imagine may occur never happen in seneca's words we are more frightened than hurt and we suffer more from imagination than from reality try to focus on the present and stay calm chances are that the bad thing that you imagine might happen to you will not end up happening in the end rule 4 treat success and failure the same Marcus Aurelius had an interesting metaphor he said that all men are like a rock he

would throw the rock up in the air and and say he neither gains anything by going up nor loses anything going down it Remains the Same Rock whether the day starts with a promotion or ends with a layoff you're still the same person in fact negative situations in life usually teach us many things so they are even more useful than positive situations feel grateful for everything that happens to you no matter if it is good or bad because no matter what happens you are still the same and you will be able to learn from any

situation rule five do only one thing every day this rule should not be applied literally by doing one thing every day I mean two situations the first is for people who live without goals it is important to focus on one goal to achieve each day no matter how small living without goals turns a potentially extraordinary life into a mediocre life the second is for people with many goals having big Ambitions is not bad but focus on taking one step at a time focusing on too many things at once can make you lose focus on what

is really important with this rule I invite you to try to achieve at least one goal you set for yourself every day it doesn't matter if it is something basic or something very complex strive to achieve it rule six don't look for the easy way whenever you want to achieve something remember that there is no easy way to achieve it in life things that are worthwhile are achieved with effort think of anyone you consider successful and read their biography you will see that everything that person has achieved has been accomplished through hard work and discipline

in fact that is the key to his or her becoming successful difficult paths build your character they make you learn from your mistakes and encourage you to persevere the difference between those who achieve great goals and those who don't is your tolerance for effort and sacrifice anyone can choose the easy path that is why there are very few who always achieve what they set out to do rule seven ask yourself if it is necessary take a moment to reflect on the things you do in life ask yourself is what I am doing necessary you will

realize how many things we do and want in our lives that are totally dispensable how much time we waste on these things that don't really bring us anything how do we know if what we do is necessary ask yourself why do you do the things you do find a valuable reason something worthwhile if you don't find that valuable reason what you do is unnecessary in your life rule eight love your destiny things don't always turn out the way we want them to it is a fact of life as Seneca said Fortune behaves as it pleases

his own life was proof of that health problems interrupted his political career and Emperor exiled him he managed to return only to have the same thing happen to him again almost everything was out of seneca's control the only part that was up to him was how he decided to view those events what he decided to do with them he chose to see them as a good thing you chose to use them life will make you live through good and bad situations it is up to you to decide how to deal with them whether to look

for the positive side of things that happen or to live in constant regret rule nine talk to death the founder of stoicism Xeno of cydium visited the Oracle after losing all his wealth to find inspiration on what to do in the future the Oracle told him to live a good life you must talk to the Dead the Oracle was referring to reading he invited Zeno to read the books of the philosophers who had lived before him reading is an incredible tool it gives you the ability to read the thoughts and opinions of people who live

thousands of years ago we live in a world where every day we look for the newest things and this makes us forget about the old there is nothing wrong with the new things that are appearing but we must not forget the amount of vital knowledge that is written in books we have the power to converse with the greatest minds of the past who with their experience can guide us and help us in our lives the worst thing is that millions of people in the world choose to reject this superpower take advantage of this it has

never been easier to have as much ancient knowledge as it is now thanks to the internet rule 10 be hard on yourself and sympathetic to others it is important to remember that the stoic has strict rules we have strong opinions about what is right and what is wrong but and this is a big but we have to be understanding and forgiving of those who have been as Marcus Aurelius writes turned away from the truth is the key your standards are for you this is not to say that we allow people to act unjustly or wickedly

but we don't have to be judging everyone who doesn't behave exactly the way we want them to in this case the best thing we can do is to lead by example if you want to show someone that they are acting in the wrong way strive to act you in the right way and show them this is the best way to make an impact on someone and change their mindset it may take some time but sooner or later they will start to imitate you rule 11. remember that you die every day in the words of Seneca

this is our great mistake to think that we look ahead to death most of death has already passed all the time that has passed is the property of death it is easy to see death as something distant we think of death as an event that happens to us at some point in life it is something stationary whatever the date on which it will occur every day we approach it slowly or quickly depending on our age and health Seneca considered that this was a wrong way of thinking about death that it was an erroneous view that

led to many bad habits and a bad life on the contrary he said that death was a process that was happening to us right now we die every day even as you watch this video time is passing that you will never get back that time he said belongs to death death is not in the distance it is with us right now it is the second hand of the clock it is the sunset when the arrow of time moves death keeps claiming at every moment that has passed what are we to do about it the answer

is live live while you can procrastinate nothing leave nothing unfinished and make the most of the time while it still belongs to you what did you think of these stoic rules would you add any more I look forward to hearing from you in the comments personally I try to apply these rules in my life it's not easy though and many times one forgets I try to write it down somewhere and remind myself stoicism is not an easy path just like life requires a lot of effort and discipline but it is worth it see you next

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