TJL #72: Watch your step (Daily productivity #47)

How Stoic philosophy can make you more productive

Daily productivity #47

If you want to have a tranquil mind, watch your step.

From Epictetus’ Enchiridion:

When walking, you are careful not to step on a nail or turn your foot; so likewise be careful not to hurt the ruling faculty of your mind. And, if we were to guard against this in every action, we should undertake the action with the greater safety.

When we are walking we are careful not to step in any broken glass or rusty nails. So why don’t we do the same when we are thinking? What’s stopping us, but our own mind, from avoiding this mental debris? We ought to be careful not to step on these dangerous things.

How to use this to become more productive

Your brain can be your greatest ally or your biggest foe. Prevent yourself from getting stuck in negative thought spirals by guarding your thinking proactively. Carefully observe the mental road ahead and avoid negative useless thoughts that send you into negative thought spirals.

In other words, watch your step.

Previous TJLs

Read my previous TJLs by following on the links down below:

• TJL #1: How to conduct a weekly review

• TJL #2: How to set up a StackNavigator in React-native

• TJL #3: Money is not wealth

• TJL #4: You get rich by owning things

• TJL #5: How to not be overwhelmed

• TJL #6: How to remember the difference between margin and padding

• TJL #7: According to Jeff Bezos there are two types of failure

• TJL #8: A stupid coding mistake

• TJL #9: Akrasia

• TJL #10: How to set goals like Google

• TJL #11: How to write great copy for your startup product

• TJL #12: How to change font in React

• TJL #13: Civilisation advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them

• TJL #14: The Motivation-Skill Dichotomy

• TJL #15: No plan is also a plan

• TJL #16: How to understand difficult code

• TJL #17: How to write self-help books

• TJL #18: The power of precommitment

• TJL #19: Reflections on my first remote project (part 1)

• TJL #20: Reflections on my first remote project (part 2)

• TJL #21: Three small things

• TJL #22: Building Wedje (part 1)

• TJL #23: Building Wedje (part 2)

• TJL #24: Obscurity is good

• TJL #25: Zettelkasten method

• TJL #26: Use a checkbox (Daily Productivity #1)

• TJL #27: Be aware of the spotlight effect (Daily productivity #2)

• TJL #28: Start with the upper-left hand brick (Daily Productivity #3)

• TJL #29: It doesn’t matter where you take it from, what matters is where you take it to (Daily productivity #4)

• TJL #30: Start with writing your README (Daily productivity #5)

• TJL #31: Work with an outline (Daily productivity #6)

• TJL #32: Use active recall (Daily productivity #7)

• TJL #33: Use quadrants (Daily productivity #8)

• TJL #34: How to get started (Daily productivity #9)

• TJL #35: Use the Pomodoro technique (Daily productivity #10)

• TJL #36: How to handle your negative feelings (Daily productivity #11)

• TJL #37: Imagine the work, not the reward (Daily productivity #12)

• TJL #38: Separate your writing from editing (Daily productivity #13)

• TJL #39: Make it visual (Daily productivity #14)

• TJL #40: Make it pleasurable (Daily productivity #15)

• TJL #41: Don't be ashamed to ask for help (Daily productivity #16)

• TJL #42: Block all distractions (Daily productivity #17)

• TJL #43: Don't expect perfection (Daily productivity #18)

• TJL #44: Sweep up every day (Daily productivity #19)

• TJL #45: Make fewer decisions (Daily productivity #20)

• TJL #46: Copy the greats (Daily productivity #21)

• TJL #47: Play some office music (Daily productivity #22)

• TJL #48: Focus on interests, not positions (Daily productivity #23)

• TJL #49: Eat your own dogfood (Daily productivity #24)

• TJL #50: Delete all your code (Daily productivity #25)

• TJL #51: Keep a (dis)traction list (Daily productivity #26)

• TJL #52: Don't be scared to fail (Daily productivity #27)

• TJL #53: Don't underline (Daily productivity #28)

• TJL #54: Change your font to Comic Sans (Daily productivity #29)

• TJL #55: Be more coachable (Daily productivity #30)

• TJL #56: Batch your tasks (Daily productivity #31)

• TJL #57: Stop forgetting things (Daily productivity #32)

• TJL #58: Manage your time proactively (Daily productivity #33)

• TJL #59: Limit what you save (Daily productivity #34)

• TJL #60: Think of future you (Daily productivity #35)

• TJL #61: Build momentum (Daily productivity #36)

• TJL #62: Make flashcards as you go (Daily productivity #37)

• TJL #63: Never give up (Daily productivity #38)

• TJL #64: Motivate yourself with these two questions (Daily productivity #39)

• TJL #65: Ask validating questions (Daily productivity #40)

• TJL #66: You can do it (Daily productivity #41)

• TJL #67: Set aside time to think (Daily productivity #42)

• TJL #68: Take a walk (Daily productivity #43)

• TJL #69: Some things are up to us and some are not up to us (Daily productivity #44)

• TJL #70: Life is like picking shells on the beach (Daily productivity #45)

• TJL #71: Internalise your desires (Daily productivity #46)