A book on Stoicism

Stoicism.

I am sure that this word must have incite a few people whereas some might be scratching their heads and pondering about its meaning. I also used to fall under the latter category a few months back. But then I read a great book titled “Ego is the Enemy” by Ryan Holiday and started my little search about stoicism.

And now I fall somewhere in the middle of two categories. I am not yet perfect in this concept and yet not totally unaware also. For the benefit of people who are unaware of this, this article could be a great start.

This article is the result of reading a book titled "The Stoic Path to Wealth" by Darius Foroux.

So, what is Stoicism?

It is a branch of dominant philosophical systems founded around 300 BC by Zeno of Citium.

Let me share Zeno’s story.

He was a sea merchant. On one voyage, his ship got wrecked in which he lost everything. He was frustrated when he met the Cynic philosopher Crates and the Megarian philosopher Stilpo who later changed his life. His perspective changed after listening to their preachings. He started thinking of shipwreck as good luck only.

When he came back, he started discussing philosophy with fellow people sitting on the painted porch (or stoa poikilê). This porch is where Zeno and his disciples formed the foundation of Stoic principles. After this porch, the philosophical arm got the name STOICS.

This philosophy has then emerged as a tool for attaining self-mastery, perseverance and wisdom.

You might be thinking about how stoicism is related to our life. For that, you need to understand its broader principles.

What are the key principles of Stoicism?

There are multiple principles under it but as a novice, I can cite only two as per my capability.

Principle#1 – Control what you can.

Even though the principle is applicable in all walks of life, I would like to focus on the investment perspective only. We often speculate about the market and target very high returns, but all these are beyond our control. The only thing in our control is our investment habits. We can invest regularly. But we cannot expect returns on it. So, as per the Stoic principle, focus on controllable parameters which is to invest regularly.

If we take the example of our life, we wish to live a long life. We take stress in the current moment to plan for a brighter future. But the question is can we control our life span? I guess not. So, why worry? It is better to live NOW. Because as per Stoic, living in the moment is in our control.

Principle#2 – Aim for calmness and happiness in life.

Stoicism focuses on acting with a purpose to attain calmness and happiness in life. I realized after a job switch that the real luxuries and value of money are in freedom.

Freedom of waking up a bit late in the morning. Freedom to choose working hours. Freedom to write. Freedom of selecting the work project. Freedom to spend on your family.

In my opinion, if one wants to gauge the level of freedom, just ask one question.

The question is – Are you feeling excited on Monday morning?

Gladly, the answer in my case was YES (99% of the time). If the answer is mostly no, then something needs to be changed.  

“Success is having the best life. But you get to define your best life.”

I can go on with more principles but less is more. So, I will leave you with the expectation that you will read the book. If you are not yet convinced to read this book, let me give some more reasons.

Why read this book?

I really felt “another level” good after reading this book. I can share a few rationales behind my fondness for it.

Rational#1 – Awesome aesthetic

This book has one of the most simple-looking and eye-catching covers. With the slightly yellowish-coloured pages and the smell of pure paper, this book is a perfect companion to provide a sense of calmness and comfort.

It was a Jerry Maguire moment of “You Had Me at Hello” for me when I looked at the cover of this book and thought “You Had Me at The Cover”.

The aesthetic is not limited to external looks only. It goes beyond the cover and extends to the inner pages. Every chapter has a few simple graphs (x-y plotted graphs or 2-D matrix) to explain the philosophical concept. You will be amazed by such graphs.

See below for some examples.

Check one more graph.

Rational#2 – Simple yet effective writing

I believe that the most powerful lessons are always simple (or subtle) yet effective. This book is written in a very simplistic style. Even a college student can easily comprehend it fully. I can bet that a dictionary would be a non-utilized asset while reading it.

This simplicity is accompanied by a smooth writing structure.

The author has fully harnessed the “power of three” (my favourite too). There are three broad principles with three sub-principles under each. In most of the chapters, implementable actions are also summarized in three ways.

At the end, there is a box of “meditate on this” which includes Stoic thought exercises meant to be practised and adopted in our regular life. Then, every chapter ends with a summary at the end capturing the gist.

Rational#3 – This book is needed NOW more than ever

This rationale is my personal opinion.

I see a lot of people around making money-related errors. It can be in terms of adopting short-term trading, putting money into Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), or taking loans for greed (and not need) related purchases.  

For all such dilemmas, there is a great graph in the book explaining the market euphoria.   

This graph talks about why people are making a mistake in getting influenced to buy popular assets. People get to know about such stocks at lunch break or at work or parties from their colleagues and friends. But the need is to understand that such popular assets follow a cycle of four phases as below –

1. Obscurity – When very few know about the stock
2. Awareness – More people get to know and start buying heavily.
3. Euphoria – Stock gets spread everywhere in the social media platforms. This is the most critical phase when serious investors start selling and non-informed investors (most people) start buying.
4. Collapse – It comes when serious investors have left leaving the demand for the stock to dwindle. But non-informed investors are stuck with low-valued stocks.

In a nutshell, it can be inferred that most of the people are late to catch the bus. Thus, it is better to avoid the market frenzy.

Caution – I am not saying any one approach is right. I am definitely not recommending my investment style either. The intent is to have a regret-free life. Being a novice myself and non-certified in financial stuff, I have no intention of providing any money-related advice.

As this book shares a lot of insights on how investment markets can fool common investors, this book is needed NOW more than ever.

Conclusion

Studying philosophy is the best when applied in real life. I have touched only 1% (maybe) of this philosophy but I can see various positive changes in my perspective towards life.

It is in terms of –

• Adopting a long-term investment approach in life     
• Define your success parameters.
• Do what I like whenever possible. I try to utilize late nights and weekends to write. This LinkedIn newsletter post is an example.
• Stay away from (fake) finfluencers and their short-term gain strategy.
• Do not buy popular assets.

I would recommend everyone to read this book and have their own sets of positive changes in life. Believe me, this book can bring a huge transformation.

Continuing on this journey, I am targeting to read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius next.

Rating

• Book cover & designs – 10/5 (I know this seems absurd!)
• Presentation – 5/5
• Content – 5/5
• Writing style – 5/5
• Content - 6/5

(Disclaimer – The above expression is purely personal.)

(PS – Do watch the epic movie “Jerry Maguire”. Also tune in to the wonderful song “Secret Garden” from the same movie.)