I am blogging everyday (or nearly everyday) on The Daily Stoic.

Yesterday - Think Before You Act

So many stories for this one. It’s an obvious stoic that points out we all have the intelligence to think before we act. That’s great in an ideal world. In a world filled with emotions and impulses it can be quite difficult to think before we act. For me I often tend to think too much, so when I can I shut off my brain and just be or do. There are those moments where I fail, but I try to learn from them. I also think this one is easier said than done. We’re not going to live the perfect life, so I feel forgiveness is a much better practice than trying to think before you act. We learn more from our failures than our successes.

Today - Only Bad Dreams

This is about taking a step back from our initial emotional reactions and impulses. I recently sat with our CISO for a skip level and he imparted on me the wisdom of taking a breath or walking away when you feel an emotional reaction to some form of communication. I’ve started to work on this myself. I tend to get fired up about the smallest things. I try to pull back and take a breath. It doesn’t always work. It is getting better though.