1. 1-Sentence-Summary:
1.1. A Guide To The Good Life is a roadmap for Stoicism, showing you how you can cultivate this ancient philosophy in your own life, why it’s useful and what Stoics are really about.
2. Favorite quote from the author:
2.1. "The easiest way for us to gain happiness is to learn how to want the things we already have." - William B. Irvine
3. 3 lessons:
3.1. Virtue and tranquility are the highest values of a Stoic.
3.1.1. Virtue might be defined as “having high moral standards” and therefore make you think only monks, priests and Mother Theresa are good examples of virtuous people.
3.1.2. But virtue in a Stoic sense is more about living a life that’s aligned with your own set of values.
3.1.3. Synonyms of the word are goodness, honesty, righteousness, dignity, integrity, trustworthiness, decency and merit, for example, which all rely on you doing what you say and saying what you do.
3.1.4. Tranquility is not about napping a lot or being lazy.
3.1.5. Tranquility is the art of ridding yourself of negative emotions.
3.1.5.1. A tranquil person shows great self-control and won’t let her emotions dominate her intellect, for example by staying calm in a traffic jam, because she knows getting angry at traffic is useless.
3.2. Learn to want what you already have to be more grateful by using negative visualization.
3.2.1. One of the worst, yet most common vicious cycle we get stuck in, especially in the Western world, is the hedonic treadmill.
3.2.1.1. Scientifically known as hedonic adaptation, this is a system in which we chase material possessions, only to attain them, quickly get used to and bored by them, to reset and chase the next item.
3.2.2. A tranquil and virtuous person knows she must break out of this cycle and Stoics have one major way of doing so: learning to want the things we already have and appreciating the things in our life.
3.2.3. The more you want what you have, as compared to having what you want, the happier you’ll be.
3.2.4. A very simple exercise you can use to achieve this is negative visualization: Imagine the things and people you take for granted and interact with the most would suddenly vanish and be gone forever.
3.2.4.1. This’ll make you feel bad for a second, because the thought of loss is painful, but at the same time it’ll give you an instant surge of appreciation and show you how lucky you are to still have them in your life.
3.2.5. Here's a quote that perfectly sums this up:
3.2.5.1. Imagine you only woke up this morning with only the things you said ‘thank you’ for yesterday – would you have everything you need?
3.3. Be okay with the things that are outside of your control and internalize your goals for the things that aren’t.
3.3.1. The biggest step towards becoming more tranquil you can take is changing your attitude towards the things you can’t control. This takes two steps:
3.3.1.1. Realizing when something is outside of your control right when it happens.
3.3.1.2. Not distracting yourself with worrying about it for even a second.
3.3.2. This takes a lot of practice, but once you have it down, it changes everything. It not only makes you happier, it also stops you from wasting time with waiting.
3.3.3. And for those things that are somewhat in your control, but not entirely, you can internalize the goal.
3.3.3.1. For example, of course you want to get good grades or win when you enter a competition, but other people have a say in this too. So instead of focusing on getting an A or winning, focus on delivering your best performance.
3.3.4. This will not only actually make you perform better, but you also won’t feel crushed if you don’t achieve your goal – because it wasn’t entirely up to you to reach it.