If you’ve landed here you’re most likely looking to learn a little bit about stoicism.
Stoicism is an ancient Greek school of philosophy that, when followed and studied, can help you live a good, honest and virtuous life.
As with anything you study, practice and application are key.
If you’re looking to get started with Stoicism, here are a couple of books I recommend:
The Daily Stoic
This book has daily entries for each day of the year. Each entry is about 1 page long and only takes about 1 minute to review. Everyday, as part of my daily routine, I read the passage in the morning to review and remind myself of some of the principles. The book is broken into three parts, with each part comprised of 4 months. Each month contains its own sub topic. They are as follows …
- Part 1: The Discipline of Perception
- January: Clarity
- February: Passions and Emotions
- March: Awareness
- April: Unbiased Thought
- Part 2: The Discipline of Action
- May: Right Action
- June: Problem Solving
- July: Duty
- August: Pragmatism
- Part 3: The Discipline of Will
- September: Fortitude and Resilience
- October: Virtue and Kindness
- November: Acceptance / Amor Fati
- December: Meditation on Mortality
I have both the hardcover edition as well as the Kindle Edition. When I’m at my home office I’ll read the hard cover and when I’m away I’ll read it on my Kindle app on my phone. This is a great introduction to Stoicism that only takes a minute a day.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
This is the classic book(s) written by Marcus Aurelius (multiple “books” are compiled into what is known as the “Meditations”). As we understand it, he wrote notes in notebooks for himself. These were eventually compiled and turned into what is known as the “Meditations” book here. Please note, there are many free or cheap(er) versions of this book. I’ve tried the other versions but they were too hard to understand. This translation was far easier (and enjoyable) to consume than the others. I recommend going with this one.
The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday
This is a great book, which I listened to via the Audible version. Narrated by the author, its great piece that illustrates many of the ancient stoic philosophies and is centered around this quote from Marcus Aurelius:
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. -Marcus Aurelius, AD 170
In other words .. “the obstacle is the way” … meaning that whatever is the problem is the new path forward. I highly recommend the audio version of this book. It ends with some extra supplemental material not found in the physical book – a nice in depth interview between Tim Ferriss and Ryan Holiday.
The Daily Stoic Podcast
If you’re into podcasts, I also highly recommend the Daily Stoic podcast which is also hosted by Ryan Holiday. Everyday there is a new bit of wisdom from the stoic philosophy. Clocking in at around 3 minutes per episode, you can listen to this one while you get ready in the morning or first thing as you start your daily commute.