Alright I’m probably not even semi-stoic but never the less, I’ve finished reading Letters from a Stoic for a second time now. It’s has become one of my favourite books. I will most likely read it every year to keep it fresh in my mind.

When I first read the book I resonated with some of the Stoic principles as I felt that I already followed some of them innately to some extent. I don’t plan on becoming a full on Stoic, but I appreciate the philosophy behind it and in many cases agree with their way of life. However, I subscribe to always taking what works for me from whatever discipline I have learnt about and applying it in my own way.

I looked at Stoicism from two points of view. The first being in my personal life where many principles could be applied to make me a better person overall and secondly as entrepreneur where getting to understand Stoicism has really helped me, even in such a short period of time.

I’ve decided to share a few quotes from Seneca (and other Stoics) and explain how I apply them in both my personal life and entrepreneurial endeavours.

If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.
- Ernest Hemingway

I have so much to say. So many things that I would like to weigh in on. Whenever I get the urge to blog, I map out the post in my head. I start writing the blog post and then after writing for quite a while, I save the post as a draft and never get around to publishing it.

The problem I have is one of “insecurity”, for lack of a better word. In most of my posts I strive to get a point of view across. However once I near the end, I start to attack my own post from the point of view of someone with a differing opinion. I then try and close all the gaps in the post in order to prevent someone from counter arguing or arguing with semantics. It becomes too tiring and eventually I give up on the post.

I’ve made a few simple yet beneficial changes to my life lately that I thought I would share. I am more productive which affords me more time. Now that I have more time, I am ultimately happier as I can spend more time on living life, instead of constantly working.