Thousands of years ago, the Stoics had bad habits just like we do today. It might not have been habits like using their phone too much or getting fast food every night, but habits like spending too much money, drinking excessively, or just being lazy.

One of the core principles of Stoicism was Justice. The idea of living up to your potential. To do the work placed in front of you and live productively not just for yourself, but for those around you.

And so, they acknowledged the fact that a lot of their students came to them with the intent to rid of these bad habits. To become men and women with purpose and clarity. There are lots of different strategies floating around on how to do this, but this four-step process is my personal favorite:

Step One: The Stoics liked to break decisions down into simple dichotomies. In “The Choice of Hercules,” there are two paths forward: The path of vice, or following excessive desires and irrational emotions. And the path of virtue, or exercising self-discipline and following reason and your true values in life.

• Picture the positive consequences of refraining from the desire, mastering it, or doing the opposite of it. Visualize two paths ahead of you.

Step Two: Spot early warning signs so that you can nip problematic desires in the bud.

• This form of self-monitoring is known as Stoic mindfulness. Keep a written daily record of the situations in which you notice the desire emerging. Identify the trigger situation where the problem tends to arise.

Step Three: Gain cognitive distance by separating your impressions from external reality.

• Observe your thoughts as if they were someone else’s thoughts. This will help you gain cognitive distance and will weaken the urge to act on them. Speak to it as if it is another person.

  • We are the ones who choose to assign value to things that look appealing.

Step Four: Do something else instead of engaging in the habit.

• Engage in healthy “substitute behaviors” instead. What you do will depend on the type of habit that you want to overcome. Ultimately, you want to find an activity that you find more intrinsically rewarding.

They might be old, but that doesn’t make them irrelevant. Whatever habit you may be looking to drop, maybe it’s not a new app or a guided journal you need, but some ancient wisdom that makes you ask the right questions.

Don’t let a bad habit dictate how you live your life. Even if it’s something you’ve been doing for years, it’s never too late to start.

Until next time,
Isaiah Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I’m Currently Reading - I’m still in the middle of reading It’s OK That You’re Not OK by Megan Devine. A book on managing grief, overcoming sorrow, and finding a healthy path when one experiences loss.

Quote Of The Week - “Counter temptation by remembering how much better will be the knowledge that you resisted.” — Epictetus