Stoicism is to endure pain and suffering without showing feelings and any complaints towards it. It’s made to make you more resilient, happier, and virtuous and as a result become a happier, better person and a professional.
A Stoic is a person who is considered to be calm and almost without any emotions. May it be hardships or intense happy emotions, a stoic never displays many emotions.
Stoics arent some renowned and certified philosophers, there are Doers.
Stoic philosophy can be used in business to convert every obstacle into an opportunity. So every bad becomes an opportunity, every loss becomes less of a loss just by changing the perspective.
Here are my favorite 5 mottos of a stoic philosophy:
I Can Always Improve
Even after being really good at it and giving a lot of years to a skill set or habit, you can always get better at it. There is always room for improvement, be a better boss, employee, friend, wife, son, salesperson, etc. There is always room to better yourself, you just have to develop a perspective.
Example: You are the best salesperson in a company who is driving the majority of the sales. You might think that there isn’t any scope for improvement, but you might become a better employee when you train other salespeople too. That would increase the company’s revenue even more.
I can Learn Anything I Want to
We are raised with a belief that some people are good at something and others are good at other things. We are not taught that we can learn any skill we want and get good at it with time. So having a mindset that you can learn anything will always come in useful.
Having the mentality to learn anything is the most valuable skill set.
I Can Persevere the Hardships
Hardships are a part of everyone’s life. But having a mindset that you can persevere through those hardships is a very hard thing to do. Perseverance is one of the most important virtues of stoicism. It will make you keep going even when things get hard and tough to keep going.
I Learn from my Mistakes
Accepting your mistakes and learning from them is crucial for growth in any domain in your life, may it be as a brother, teacher, employee, etc. Make your mistakes an opportunity to learn and grow.
Example: You might miss your son’s play at school as you were busy, which might upset him. But to make up for that mistake you take him for a treat and make sure that you don’t miss his play again. This way the bond between you and your son will improve significantly.
I am NOT Entitled
Entitlement is a poison, it destroys humility and boosts ego. A stoic mentality is to work hard for it, as hard as you can, and at the same time accept the fact that you are not entitled to success. You must just keep working hard towards your goal.
Example:
You might do everything to train for an athletics competition, but there is still a chance that you lose the competition as someone else is more prepared than you are.
Stoic philosophy is hard to implement in life, it doesn’t mean being emotionless and living with a poker face, it means to live life in tranquility and peace rather than anger and frustration.
So next time your flight gets delayed don’t yell at the airline’s representative or keep cursing god that you aren’t tall enough for the military.
Be grateful, be at peace, but never stop working hard and pushing yourself.