{"id":1795,"date":"2017-12-14T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T08:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/?p=1795"},"modified":"2017-12-14T08:00:36","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T08:00:36","slug":"it-works-if-you-work-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/it-works-if-you-work-it\/","title":{"rendered":"It Works If You Work It"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a saying in Alcoholics Anonymous:\u00a0It works if you work it.<\/em>\u00a0By that they mean that there is nothing magical about the information in the program, nothing that will magically cure you just by hearing it. But if you do the work, if you turn the words into\u00a0practices,<\/em>\u00a0you can make progress. That means doing the steps, reading what they call the Big Book, going to meetings, working with your sponsor. Not half-assed, but really\u00a0doing it.<\/em><\/p>\n

The same is true of Stoicism.\u00a0Marcus Aurelius<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0Meditations<\/em>\u00a0were just that,\u00a0meditations.<\/em>\u00a0He was practicing the philosophy, reviewing his day, working through the exercises. And he was doing this basically until the day he died. He never stopped doing the work.\u00a0Epictetus<\/a>, for his part, talks over and over again\u00a0about habit formation<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t enough to nod your head to his teachings, he wanted you to turn them into habits. Stoicism then is both a philosophy and a discipline, and it\u2019s the latter that makes the biggest difference.<\/p>\n

This is one of the reasons we made\u00a0The Daily Stoic Journal<\/em><\/a>. So you can open it not once, but twice a day, and spend quiet, reflective time practicing the philosophy, doing the discipline. There are many other ways to do this of course and no right or wrong way. Schedule the time.\u00a0Read the books<\/a>. Talk to your fellow practitioners. Mull the sayings over in your head.\u00a0Do<\/em>\u00a0the negative visualization<\/a>, practice misfortune, meditate on your mortality, remind yourself of the things you can control and the things you can\u2019t,\u00a0take the \u2018view from above,\u2019<\/a>\u00a0practice fear-setting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But one last thing\u2014because there\u2019s a second part to the AA saying. The full line is: It works if you work it\u00a0and you\u2019re<\/em>\u00a0worth it.\u00a0<\/em>The same goes here. You\u2019re worth it. So do the work.<\/p>\n

P.S. Sign up today for\u00a0the Daily Stoic\u2019s email<\/a>\u00a0and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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