3245: [Part 1] What is Stoicism and How Can it Turn your Life to Solid Gold? by Mr. Money Mustache

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 3245. What is Stoicism and How Can it Turn your Life to Solid Gold Part 1 by Mr. Money Mustache of MrMoneyMustache.com and I'm Justin Malik. Happy Middle of the Week Wednesday!

[00:00:41] Welcome to one of the only podcasts in the world where articles are narrated to you for free. A little bit of positivity every day, which adds up after time. Sometimes I read longer posts that I split up into two, and that's the case today.

[00:00:55] I'll read the first half today and then finish the rest tomorrow. So with that, let's get right to Part 1 and start optimizing your life. What is Stoicism and How Can it Turn your Life to Solid Gold Part 1 by Mr. Money Mustache of MrMoneyMustache.com.

[00:01:14] A few weeks ago I got a really interesting email from a guy in Norway that said something like, Hey Mr. MM, what you're preaching is pure Stoicism with a great twist and perception on today's world. I love it.

[00:01:33] You mean like the Stoics in Shakespearean plays that show no emotion of any sort? That doesn't sound quite right to me. But it turns out I had fallen into a common misconception. The clever Norwegian pointed me to a book on the topic, which I immediately checked

[00:01:49] out of the library and read completely. It's called A Guide to the Good Life, The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy. From reading the book I learned that Stoicism was actually a shockingly advanced old philosophy that found many followers in ancient Rome.

[00:02:07] Although it has fallen widely out of favor in modern life, people in today's society would probably identify the central ideas as hardcore mustachianism. Stoicism in short is a series of mental techniques and ways of life that allow you to decrease

[00:02:24] and then virtually eliminate all negative emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety, and dissatisfaction while simultaneously building up a tide of pure joy inside you that eventually starts to make you jump around and boogie at unexpected moments and occasionally shout

[00:02:44] out ah yeah as discreetly as possible to yourself when the joy overflows. Sounds pretty good doesn't it? But over the past few years this is exactly the transformation that has been happening to me.

[00:02:57] As I learned from the book, every good stoic is a work in progress and I still have much to learn and I'm not free from all negative emotions. But compared to a normal person, things are getting pretty unusually joyful up in here.

[00:03:13] So let's see what it's all about. The core of the philosophy seems to be this. To have a good and meaningful life, you need to overcome your insatiability. Most people at best spend their lives in a long pursuit of happiness.

[00:03:30] So today's successful person writes out a list of desires then starts chasing them down and satisfying the desires. The problem is that each desire when satisfied tends to be replaced by a new desire. So the person continues to chase.

[00:03:48] Yet after a lifetime of pursuit, the person ends up no more satisfied than they were at the beginning. Thus they may end up wasting their life. The solution the stoics realized is to learn to want the things you already have rather than wanting other things.

[00:04:05] The most interesting technique that will help you achieve this is negative visualization. For example, suppose that you currently have a good working set of eyes. Imagine carefully what it would be like to live your life as a blind person.

[00:04:23] You'd have to work very hard to rearrange your life to remain functional. Learn braille, take special precautions when walking around town and when cooking eggs at home etc. But in the end, you could surely survive and even become happy again if you were blind.

[00:04:42] But now, open your eyes. Surprise! You have this bonus of sight! Wow, you were already doing just fine in your blind life but now you have working eyes too? What an incredible life! You're truly blessed with more than you even need.

[00:05:00] It turns out that if you practice negative visualization on a regular basis, you learn to both appreciate your current life much more and to be mentally prepared in the event of any changes in your life as well, like loss of health, fortune, a loved one etc.

[00:05:18] You've replaced negative emotions with satisfaction and even joy. The next great trick is the one that allows you to eliminate anxiety about the present and the future. That can be done by separating your worries into things you can control and things you can't.

[00:05:36] Some people worry endlessly about politics and world events, so much that it affects their ability to lead a happy life even when in reality, world politics barely even affect their lives here in the cushioned and prosperous rich world.

[00:05:51] The stoic solution to this is to realize that politics and the actions of other countries are completely outside of your circle of influence, so you can breathe easily and completely drop all worry about them.

[00:06:06] There's a smaller subset of these events that you can influence, who you vote for and possibly where you donate your money or time. To eliminate the rest of your worry, make the votes and take the local actions, and then you can be 100% worry free.

[00:06:23] Similarly, instead of worrying about your health as many people do, you simply work to do the best of your ability to optimize the body you've been given and the matter is completely closed. You can confidently move on.

[00:06:37] As an unexpected bonus, we now know that it is the act of worrying itself that causes many of a modern person's mental and physical problems, so by eliminating worry and taking action you're providing yourself with a double boost. To be continued.

[00:07:00] You just listened to part 1 of the post titled, What is Stoicism and How Can It Turn Your Life to Solid Gold? by Mr. Money Mustache of MrMoneyMustache.com and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:07:12] Thank you to Mr. Money Mustache, who not surprisingly mostly talks about money, so he's frequently narrated over on Optimal Finance Daily. You can check out that show for a lot more from him. Visualizations are something that I've started doing recently.

[00:07:29] I didn't have a lot of experience before but now feel pretty well versed in them, and they've definitely proven to be powerful for me. That said, I haven't tried that kind of negative visualization but I can see how that could be powerful.

[00:07:45] My favorite type of visualization is seeing a situation, and it could be past, present or future, where you feel like you're struggling and then run through it again as the best version of yourself. So what would that version of yourself do in this specific situation where you're struggling?

[00:08:05] If you actually feel it and really visualize it to the best of your ability, the next time you find yourself in that situation, there's a decent chance you'll act differently in a more positive way.

[00:08:18] The more we go through these, the more ingrained it becomes, leading us to act in the best way possible. So I really like visualizations, and if you're interested in walkthroughs of visualizations like these, do let me know. I could possibly turn that into a podcast.

[00:08:34] You can always get in touch with me through oldpodcast.com or by replying to my weekly newsletter. But that should do it for now. We're just halfway through this article. I'll finish the rest for you tomorrow.

[00:08:45] So with that, thank you for being here and listening every day, and I'll be back tomorrow to finish up this post where your optimal life awaits.