Focus On What Is Yours Alone

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

Focus on the self in times of struggle. Focus on what I can control. This has been a key takeaway from this pandemic for me. Very early on I was angry, frustrated, and upset. I’ve since learned doing the daily stoics and reading other books that I can’t control the pandemic. What I can control is my choices and thoughts. I started to prepare myself for the long haul. Expecting us to be home through the end of 2020. A nice middle ground would be the fall and summer the best case scenario. I am now expecting it to be 2021 before we go back as there are still a lot of unknowns about the pandemic.

That means I must prepare for the winter. Currently, I spend as much time outside during my work day. I start my day with a run. I take meetings on my back porch and walk during lunch. It’s my way of coping with this thing because I know it can wear me down if I’m in the house all day at the same place I like to relax. It’s worked well. With winter coming I won’t have that luxury with 30 degree weather. I’m starting to plan for that scenario and think about how I’m going to get through this without going crazy. That’s probably the biggest benefit I’ve had from this pandemic. Learning to deal with struggle in a more effective way.

Daily Stoic(s)

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

Yesterday - First, A Hard Winter Training

Training is essential for being able to deal with things when they arise. For me it’s working on how I think about things. I used to get very frustrated and annoyed at work. Practicing and training stoicism has helped me to deal with those frustrations in a more productive way. There is no end game here. This is something I will have to train and practice my whole life.

Today - How Can You Know Whether You’ve Never Been Tested?

Struggle helped shaped my life. I had six shitty months that have helped form a very productive and happy life. In IT you have to learn to troubleshoot things. You bang your head against a problem for three hours only to discover it was a simple solution the whole time. I now can look at a problem and intuitively point to something and that ends up being the solution most of the time (still a few times where I’m wrong and learning). Currently, I am coming out of an interesting period in my life. Being promoted to manager has brought on all sorts of new problems and solutions. I’m learning to navigate those struggles and become a better manager. Part of that is knowing that the struggle will benefit me as I continue down my career path.

The Philosopher's School Is A Hospital

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

Physical therapy requires putting pressure and making things feel uncomfortable so that I can get some injury back to full function. I’ve had this experience within the last year. I learned a lot from it on a personal level. I had never applied the practice of rehab to the things I’m working on in life. When we try to change bad habits, they’re is going to be frustration and pressure. It takes time and patience to get to those points.

A Strong Soul Is Better Than Good Luck

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

A come what may attitude is what the stoic discusses today. It also talks about simplicity in life. Not over indulging in the finest foods or clothing. Seeking what’s practical and adds value. To me it’s a lot like minimalism. Keep things simple allows for more room to take on whatever comes my way.

The Daily Stoic(s)

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

Tuesday - The Opulent Stoic

Humans can be very happy with little. This is something I am currently figuring out. I’ve tried minimalism and liked it. Keeping things simple is something I try to do. Moving to Nashville we picked a house 600 square feet smaller because we realized the house we left had way too much stuff. We ended getting rid of half our stuff when we moved. It wasn’t really needed and didn’t add a lot of value to our life style.

Yesterday - Want Nothing = Have Everything

I’m often asked what I want for Christmas or my birthday. There’s not really a lot. Usually I buy what I want or need and leave those holidays to more thoughtful gifts from people. Usually, with my wife, I’m buying stuff early on and telling her that this is my own gift for those events. To me this makes the holidays less stressful and makes the gifts I do get more meaningful because they’re thought out a little more.

Today - When You Feel Lazy

I’m supposed to ask myself if this really matters. The task I’ve started does it make me start to feel lazy. I’ve recently had this feeling where I worked on something. Put a lot of effort into it and eventually felt a sense of despair. “Oh, no. It’s this again.” I’ve stopped doing that and I’ve felt much more engaged at work. Trying to power through something only drains energy quicker. So I try to focus on things that I feel are valuable and give less attention to things that I feel like I “should” be doing.