How Stoicism Made Me Happier.

The video talks about five quotes on Stoicism. This is a summary of it (without mentioning the quotes themselves):

  1. Dichotomy of Control. Some things are within our control, others are not.
    1. Serenity Prayer: "God, grant me the serenity to accept that which I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
    2. As a YouTuber, you have control over how many videos you put out every week. You are out of control when it comes to the response on those videos. So don' t worry about the latter.
  2. The story we tell ourselves about an event dictates how we feel.
    1. If we tell a sad story, we feel sad. If we tell a happy story, we feel happy. In both cases, the event itself is unchanged.
    2. We choose the way we respond to something.
    3. Good Fortune Podcast (about Stoicism).
    4. The only things in our control are our thoughts and our actions.
  3. We are often afraid of what other people think about us. In reality, we often find that 9 out of 10 times there was no reason to be afraid.
    1. Try not to care too much about what other people think about you. Chances are they are not thinking about you or noticing you at all. And if they do, that's their problem.
    2. Seek Discomfort. Cool things happen outside your comfort zone.
    3. We suffer more in imagination than in reality.
  4. Train yourself for crisis situations, before they happen.
    1. Premeditation of Adversity: psychologicly preparing ourselves.
    2. Does this relate to Just In Time versus Just In Case learning? Where this point relates to Just in Case?
    3. It's more geared towards preparing yourself for situation to come. Like having a difficult conversation with someone. In that sense, you're preparing only when you know such a conversation will happen, not if. Meaning it's Just in Time.
  5. Accept events that have happened (or will happen).
    1. Acceptance leads to happiness.
    2. If you're in a crowd, chances are you will bump into someone. Accept it.
    3. If you're alone, make sure you see it as a time for reflection. Accept it.

Author: Ali Abdaal
Links: How Stoicism Made Me Happier