Stoicism is the philosophical doctrine that practised the domination of passions that disturb life using virtue and reason; reaching happiness and wisdom through a moral attitude that comes out of strength and equanimity of character.
The school founded by Zeno of Citium in the year 301 B.C. in Athens, where it was proposed that the only good is virtue and the only evil is vice. Stoicism teaches that passions, material goods, pain or pleasure may disturb reason. The stoic remains indifferent to these and hence attains strength of character.
In the modern world where doing more means achieving more, we always find ourselves looking for ways to raise our productivity. How to use the 24hrs of our day in the most efficient way; where we can achieve our daily goals without missing a single second a day because of all the media that screams for our attention with various alerts and messages throughout the day.
Anyone who has wanted to work and use their time in the most effective way has asked themselves, which different methods will achieve the highest productivity? The Stoics came up with four keys to be more productive.
PROTECT YOUR TIME LIKE IT IS MONEY
If someone asked you for money right now, you would probably send them to beg somewhere else, yet you offer your time to whoever asks you, via an email you answer, a call you take or even the messages you get.
“Time is money” but we never act that way, forgetting that in this life, money will come and go while time in a finite resource you will not be able to recover.
Use your time the right way, do not go giving it away.
MANAGE YOUR EMOTIONS TO BETTER MANAGE YOUR TIME
“Man is disturbed, not by objects, but by the notions and principles he has about things.”
-Epictetus
It has been shown that a negative attitude to the tasks we have to do reduces our productivity. Because when we find ourselves in a bad mood we tend to seek to improve our mood through procrastination. Don’t handle your emotions procrastinating, better ask yourself what’s making you feel bad.
Is the work you have to do the difference between life or death? I doubt it very much, but you may be afraid of doing a bad job. It is better to do it than not to even try. Ask yourself why you are in a bad mood and seek to solve intelligently instead of trying to calm your emotions through procrastination.
IMPORTANT BEFORE URGENT
We usually know what is important but more often than not we chose to dedicate or energy and time to task of less importance because of various alarms and messages preaching urgency.
It is essential to remember that the attention you give to any action must be proportional to its value; only then you will not tire and give up. Since the vast majority of our words and actions are inequitable, cornering them will create an abundance of leisure and tranquility. As a result, we should not forget to take a moment to ask, is this one of those unnecessary things?
-Marcos Aurelio
FOCUS ON EFFORT, NOT OUTCOME
A crucial idea of the teachings of the stoics is: to understand what things you can control. They teach us that the only thing you have control over will be your choices and if you don’t have control over something, you shouldn’t worry about it.
Some things can be controlled and some things cannot. Things in our control are opinions, pursuit, desire, aversion and simply put, any of our actions. Things that are beyond our control are our body, property, reputation, the law and simply put, anything other than our actions.
-Epictetus
We tend to spend our hours worrying about things we cannot control, wasting time and energy. Life is not short, each of us has 24 hours a day to do and undo as we please. Don’t focus on lost time or all those things you can never control, focus on what you’ve done and how you’ve done it.
