Crina and Kirsten Get to Work

Philosophy Can Change Your Work...Seriously!


Listen Later

Stoicism teaches us how to keep a calm and rational mind no matter what. This ancient philosophy lends insight into understanding and focusing on what you can control while letting go and accepting what you can't. 

 

SHOW NOTES

 

Today on Crina and Kirsten Get to Work our hosts do an archaeological dig into an ancient philosophy - Stoicism - to find the golden nuggets to create more ease, meaning and joy at work.  The idea for this episode comes from Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic podcast - 2-3 minute Stoic inspired daily meditations to help you live your best life.  Ryan is a New Your Times best selling author and his style and content are really relatable.  Okay - so now you know it, Kirsten got a little obsessed - and highly recommends the podcast.

 

Stoicism was created by a dude named Zeno in Athens in the third century BC.  Stoicism is a school of philosophy for people who want to get stuff done in the world - then and now.  As a side note, it was the philosophical inspiration for cognitive behavioral therapy - cool.  It has been a relatively male-dominated school of thought.  Crina and Kirsten make it the working woman’s philosophy.  

 

In addition to Zeno, three people took Zenp’s work and ran with it.  Marcus Aurelius, reputed to be the last good emperor of the Roman Empire and the most powerful man on earth, journalled his thoughts each day. This journal has been published as the book Meditations.  Epictetus was born a slave and went on to found his own school and taught many of Rome’s greatest minds, one of which was Marcus Aurelius. Epictetus’ teachings were memorialized by another of his students, Arrian on Discourses and Enchiridion.   Senec was a tutor and adviser to Nero and Rome’s best playwright and super hero power broker – sometimes said to be what we think of as the modern modern day entrepreneur. His personal letters are another source of Stoic philosophy.

Stoicism teaches how to keep a calm and rational mind no matter what happens to you and it helps you understand and focus on what you can control and not worry about and accept what you can't control.  The goal of Stoicism is eudaimonia or supreme happiness or fulfilment attainable by human beings  - core purpose or the good life – a flourishing, lofty, and smoothly flowing life. The idea is that we can control our own behavior, but not the outcome of our behavior or others’ behaviors; and a calm and rational mind allows us to accept those outcomes.

 

There are five main elements according to our ametuer Stoics, Kirsten and Crina:

  • Nature: Nature is rational.  Live in agreement with nature
  • Law of Reason: The universe is governed by the law of reason. 
  • Virtue: Courage, justice and discipline  - and virtue is its own reward
  • Control: Focus on what you can control and accept what you cannot
  • Wisdom: Wisdom is the root virtue (see above).
  • Crina and Kirsten turn to modern female Stoics to explore the importance of emotion in Stoicism, and some core principles applied to women and work, such as The Way is Through, Don’t Make Things Harder than they Need to Be, Impossible Without Your Consent, Keep it Simple, Protect Your Peace of Mind and A Career is Not a Life Sentence.  

     

    This episode is a great introduction to Stoicism and how it can bring more ease, meaning and joy to work and life.  And of course - the obvious - that men do not have the corner on Stoicism - or anything else.

    Stoicism and Emotion: An Interview with Professor Margaret Graver (dailystoic.com)

    Nutshell: Stoicism: a practical philosophy for life and work

    A Universal Philosophy: Great Insights From Female Stoics (dailystoic.com)

    Stoicism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)



    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Crina and Kirsten Get to WorkBy Crina Hoyer and Kirsten Barron

    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5

    5

    67 ratings


    More shows like Crina and Kirsten Get to Work

    View all
    Fresh Air by NPR

    Fresh Air

    38,173 Listeners

    The Moth by The Moth

    The Moth

    27,275 Listeners

    Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

    Hidden Brain

    43,409 Listeners

    Pod Save America by Crooked Media

    Pod Save America

    86,615 Listeners

    The Daily by The New York Times

    The Daily

    111,562 Listeners

    Up First from NPR by NPR

    Up First from NPR

    56,176 Listeners

    Stay Tuned with Preet by Preet Bharara

    Stay Tuned with Preet

    32,384 Listeners

    Lessons from a Quitter by Goli Kalkhoran

    Lessons from a Quitter

    324 Listeners

    Dateline NBC by NBC News

    Dateline NBC

    47,696 Listeners

    The Last Archive by Pushkin Industries

    The Last Archive

    1,831 Listeners

    SmartLess by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett

    SmartLess

    57,908 Listeners

    Main Justice by MSNBC

    Main Justice

    7,089 Listeners

    HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review

    HBR On Leadership

    151 Listeners

    Culture Study Podcast by Anne Helen Petersen

    Culture Study Podcast

    649 Listeners