Do These 7 Things Every Day

[0:00]Seven things you should do every day according to the ancient stoics. Number one, you got to wake up early. The most famous passage in meditations is Marcus Aurelius struggling to get out of bed at dawn. He says, I have to go to work as a human being. He says, I'm not meant to huddle under the covers and stay warm. No, I'm put here to do things, to be of service to people to make the world a better place. Number two, you got to exercise. You have to be active. Seneca said, we treat the body rigorously so that it's not disobedient to the mind. Number three, if you're not journaling, you are not practicing stoicism. Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, all the ancient stoics praised the benefits of journaling. Putting it down on the page, working it out on the page, that is to say, instead of on other people. Number four, you have to be reading, not a little bit, but all the time. We must linger on the works of the master thinkers, Seneca said. Over and over again, we have to return to them. Number five, go for a walk. I'm not saying walking will solve all your problems. I'm saying very few of your problems will be made worse for walking. Seneca said, we need to take these wandering outdoor walks so that the mind can be nourished and refreshed by open air and deep breathing. Number six, make time for some deep work and focus and reflection. In Marcus Aurelius's meditations, he says, you have to concentrate on this task before you like a Roman. He says, do it like it's the last thing you're doing in your life. Seven, finally, you have to think about death, Memento Mori. You are mortal, you don't have forever. It's not that life is short, Seneca says, it's that we waste a lot of it. And we waste a lot of it because we think we have more of it than we actually do.