📚 2 Reading events, Stoic Guide To Life, and UFC.

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👋 Hey everyone,

Two quick updates on events:

1) NYC Reading Event

This week I hosted a reading event in NYC. Thank you to everyone who attended. I’ll probably do the next one in Manhattan so if you have or know someone with a space that can fit 20-30ish people in Manhattan please reply to this email!

2) Jim Kwik’s Virtual Event

My friend Jim Kwik (bestselling author of “Limitless”) is hosting a free virtual learning summit tomorrow. If you want to learn how to improve your memory and read more, consider checking out it out.

You can sign up for Jim’s free event here.

📚 Book Summary:

This week’s book is “A Guide To The Good Life” by William B. Irvine.

The first part of this book dives into the history of Stoicism and how the philosophy came to be while the second part of the book explains the practical aspects of Stoicism and how to apply the lessons in everyday life.

Here are a few key lessons from it:

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1)To Appreciate Life More, Add Discomfort

A common practice by the Stoics was adding minor discomforts into their lives.

They did not inflict discomfort to punish themselves, but rather they did it to increase their enjoyment of life.

By voluntarily adding acts of discomfort, such as choosing to be cold and hungry when they could be warm and fed, the Stoics hardened themselves against future misfortunes.

A person who periodically experiences minor discomforts will grow confident in their ability to overcome hard times in the future.

Additionally, undertaking acts of voluntary discomfort helps you appreciate what you already have.

• Taking a cold shower makes you appreciate having warm water.

• Going for hours without eating makes you appreciate your next meal.

• Spending hours in the woods makes you appreciate the safety of your home.

The Stoics weren’t masochists, they did not love pain. But they knew it was better to add some discomfort to their lives to strengthen their will than to avoid all discomfort and be crushed by it when hard times happened.

So instead of trying to live a perfect life of comfort, add a little discomfort every now and then into your life to paradoxically, enjoy life more.

📖

2) How To Become Immune To Insults

Another important Stoic practice is learning how to deal with insults.

Seneca says that when you consider the sources of insults, you will often find that those who insult you can best be described as overgrown children.

And in the same way that a father would be foolish to let the insults of his child upset him, we would be foolish to let the insults of these childish adults upset us.

So what’s the best way to respond to an insult?

The Stoics offered two suggestions:

1) Respond with humor.

By laughing off the insult, we are implying that we don’t take the insulter or his insults seriously. To imply this is to insult the insulter without directly doing so. It is therefore a response that is likely to deeply frustrate the insulter.

One of the best ways to use humor is to use self-deprecating humor. When we make fun of ourselves first, we rob people of the chance to make fun of us.

For this reason, a humorous reply to an insult can be far more effective than a counterinsult would be.

2) Ignore the insult.

If you cannot think of a witty response quickly, the second best response is to ignore the insult.

When you ignore what the person said, you rob them of the pleasure of having upset you and they are likely to become upset themselves.

Chances are the insulter will feel humiliated by the lack of response since no one wants to be ignored or feel as if their words aren’t being heard.

If you apply these two strategies well, any insults should sound the same as a dog barking, it will make noise but it won’t affect your mood.

Just as it would be foolish to say your mood or day was ruined because a dog barked at you, it would be foolish to say your mood or day was ruined because someone insulted you.

📖

3) Why You Should Avoid Seeking Fame

The Stoics believed that most people were unhappy because they spent their time chasing the wrong things–like fame.

Some people are convinced that gaining global fame will make them happy, but they fail to realize that fame has a price. And the price of fame almost always outweighs the benefits.

For example, being Tim Ferriss sounds awesome.

Who wouldn’t want to be a world-famous podcaster, bestselling author, and be worth millions of dollars?

But his fame came with a ton of problems, Tim even wrote a whole article about the danger of being famous.

In it, he talks about crazy stalkers, serious death threats, becoming a target for hackers, almost getting kidnapped in Asia, and many more downsides.

And he’s not even movie star-level famous. Imagine how crazy life gets when you’re Hollywood star-level famous.

Another problem with seeking fame is that in order to get it, we have to do things that will make people like us. And when we make it our goal to please others, we are no longer free to be ourselves–this is why most regular people view celebrities and actors as being “fake.”

A similar lesson happened to the famous Instagram playboy Dan Bilzerian.

Dan sought internet fame and eventually achieved it, but it made him miserable because he couldn’t go out in public or do regular activities without being mobbed by people.

His close friend Bill Perkins described it best, “Fame gets you a metric ton of the opposite sex…but it robs you of everything else, completely robs you of everything else.”

So perhaps it’s worth taking a minute and asking yourself, “Is fame really the thing I should be seeking?”

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Sprinkle in a bit of discomfort into your life to appreciate it more:

• Take a cold shower.

• Go for a run without socks.

• Try going a full day without coffee or sugar.

2) Become immune to insults by:

• Responding with humor or wit.

• Flat-out ignoring them.

3) Practice Stealth Stoicism:

• Instead of telling everyone you’re going to practice Stoicism, keep quiet about it. That way you won’t have to deal with any negative comments or doubters.

💎 Weekly Gem:

Documentary: Fight, Inc.

I’m not a huge fan of combat sports, but this documentary is still an awesome watch for anyone interested in business or leadership.

The documentary takes you behind the scenes of the UFC, how Dana White runs the company, and what it took to make it the massive success it is today.

Dana might look like a meathead, but the fact that he bought the UFC in 2001 for $2 million and sold it in 2016 for $4 billion shows you that he’s a savvy businessman and someone worth learning from.

Thank you for your support, read on everyone!

-Alex W.