A 7-day Stoic reading plan
Read one short passage each morning for seven days, in this order: the dividing line between what is yours and what is not (Epictetus), judgements (Marcus Aurelius), other people (Marcus), time, fear, enough and death (Seneca). Each day takes about four minutes and comes with one small thing to try before evening.
This is the same sequence as our free seven-day email course, published here in full so you can follow it without signing up. Every passage is printed on this page; nothing needs to be bought.
How does the 7-day plan work?
Read the day's passage once in the morning, slowly. Then read the one-line idea underneath it, and carry the practice into the day. That is all. Do not read ahead: the order is built so that each day answers a question the previous one raises, and reading five passages at once is worse than reading one.
If you miss a day, do not double up. Pick up where you stopped. The plan is seven readings, not seven calendar dates.
What do you read on each day?
Day 1The dividing line
What should a man have ready in such circumstances? This: what is mine and what is not, what is permitted and what is not. I must die. Must I die lamenting? I must be chained. Must I lament that too?
Epictetus, Discourses I.1 The idea Everything in Stoicism starts here: some things are yours, most are not. Not a comforting idea. A useful one.
The practice Today, when something bothers you, ask one question before anything else: is this mine, or not? Then act only on the part that is.
More on this: What you can control
Day 2It is the judgement, not the event
If you are pained by any external thing, it is not that thing which disturbs you but your own judgment about it. It is in your power to wipe out that judgment now.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations VIII.47 The idea Two people meet the same morning. One suffers. The difference is not the morning.
The practice Catch one judgement today — "this is bad", "this should not have happened" — and hold it up to the light before you believe it.
More on this: Judgment & the mind
Day 3Other people
Whoever wrongs me shares the same intelligence, the same portion of divinity. No one can fix what is ugly on me. I cannot be harmed by my kin, and I cannot hate them.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations II.1 The idea Marcus rehearsed this before breakfast, every day, for years. He was not a saint. He was preparing.
The practice Before your first conversation today, expect people to be exactly as they are. Then notice how much less they cost you.
More on this: Anger & other people
Day 4Time
Who truly values their time, or reckons the worth of each day? We look forward to death as though it waits ahead — but the years behind us are already in its hands.
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius I The idea This is the first letter Seneca wrote to Lucilius, and the argument has not aged in two thousand years.
The practice Pick one hour today and spend it as if you knew its price. Just one. Notice what you would normally have let slip.
More on this: Time & the present
Day 5Fear, rehearsed in advance
More things scare us than crush us — we suffer more in our imagination than in actual fact. Let me offer a few safeguards by which you can fortify yourself.
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius XIII The idea Seneca is not telling you not to worry. He is telling you to look, precisely, at what you are avoiding.
The practice Name the thing you are dreading, in one plain sentence, no adjectives. Then ask what you would actually do if it happened. Most fears shrink when described.
More on this: Fear & anxiety
Day 6Enough
Do you want plenty, or do you want enough? The man with plenty still hungers for more, sign that he is not yet at enough. Whoever has enough has won what no rich man ever wins: a place to stop.
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius CXIX The idea "More" rarely settles anything. A chosen stopping point does. This is the passage people come back to.
The practice Decide one "enough" today — an amount, a time, a level — and stop there, on purpose. Feel how different chosen enough is from imposed lack.
More on this: Desire & enough
Day 7Death, kept in view
Order your mind as if you had come to the very end. Postpone nothing. Balance life's account each day. The greatest flaw in life is that it is always imperfect, and part of it is always postponed.
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius CI The idea Not to depress you. To return your attention to the hours you still have. This is where the week has been leading.
The practice Balance today's account tonight: what was done, what was postponed, and one thing you will not postpone tomorrow.
More on this: Death
Why this order?
Because the first idea carries all the others. Day 1 draws the line between what is up to you and what is not; Day 2 shows where that line runs inside your own head, in the judgements you add to events. Day 3 applies it to the hardest test, other people.
The last four days turn the same tool on the things that quietly run a life: how you spend time, what you fear, what you want, and the fact that it ends. The week starts with Epictetus because he states the rule most plainly, moves to Marcus because he shows it being practised, and ends with Seneca because he writes to you as a friend.
What should you read after the seven days?
Keep the rhythm of one passage a day and choose a single writer to stay with for a while. If you are unsure which book to pick up, start with the comparison below.
