Stoic leadership

As I've grown older I've gotten more content, indeed more tranquil.

I would like to say that this is a result of greater wisdom, but to some extent it's been forced upon me through COVID-19 restrictions.

"those who, as Sallust puts it, "hearken to their bellies," should be numbered among the animals, and not among men; and certain men, indeed, should be numbered, not even among the animals, but among the dead." Seneca Letter 60

Why should we do the right thing, just because it's right? Or because we want to?

Doing the right thing for the right reasons requires no balloons, pats on the back or acknowledgment from a loved one. Seneca says I must be just; without reward. The deed itself offers a greater return. It makes no difference how many people are aquatinted with your uprightness. Strive for virtue, not renown. Seneca Letter 113. On the vitality of the soul and its attributes

Bad habits and accidental habits are easy. They require no work, they just into our lives and remain, seemingly forever. The problem with habits (intentional habits) is that they initially require a lot of work, but the payback is enormous and they can be stacked indefinitely on top of each other.

Personal development is a lifelong work. Stoicism is no different.

Despite trying my best to be stoic, I found a hidden corner of failure.

The COVID-19 virus exposed me to a litany of blind spots I didn't know I had. I was still in the vice grip of uncontrollable events lurking deep in my sub-conscious.

Photo by Kaique Rocha from Pexels

We all know the feeling of laying in bed with thoughts endlessly swirling around.

How do we get those thoughts out of our head?

You need to put them there.

The answer is in the simplicity

Cover photo Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

Stoicism teaches us to look inward, and to do more with less. Prior to COVID-19 it was difficult to imagine how much I could trim.

I delayed buying a new car, cut back going to dinner, had less exotic holidays.

Braver people then I may have even abstained. But I couldn’t cut things back all the way because of social pressure and the lack of imagination.

From my blog series here

Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

We are wary of counterfeit money in certain circumstances but are less wary of counterfeit ideas from others or even ourselves.

From my blog series here

A fisherman who cannot go to sea prepares his nets.

I grew up with kids who’s fathers were fisherman.  I remember how on windy days they’d have fishing nets strewn along the length of their huge concrete driveway. The father and grandfather would stand over the nets with big needles and plastic twine repairing tears. Then they’d deal with the ropes, plastic bubbles and bits of chain.

They wouldn’t do this every time they couldn’t fish, only when they knew they would have an extended period out of the sea. It took a lot of effort to unload the nets, take them home, and go through the whole process.

I’m no longer busy. I have nothing I ‘have’ to do. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen to that.

I’m in my 50s and, for the first time since high school, I have nowhere to be, nothing to do. It feels a little like the first few days of summer break from school.

Now what?

From my blog series here

Image attribution

As we battle through this 2020 pandemic, it's easy to feel that things can't get much worse. They can get much worse but they probably won't.

From my blog series here

I've had an extremely stressful time running my business through the 2020 Covid pandemic.

Stoic practice has lots of ways of dealing with stress but in this podcast I've gone for a conscious stream of thought which focuses on two things gratitude and journaling.

I know too many people it might sound fuzzy and impractical, but let me leave you with this thought about journaling. The only way to get something out of your head is to put it somewhere. Journaling is a great way to put those thoughts somewhere that is not inside your head.

From my blog series here