Personal growth is often confused with public success. More money, praise, influence, or possessions may improve certain parts of your life, yet none of them settles the question of character. Marcus Aurelius looked inward for a better standard. The Roman emperor wrote in Meditations about self-command, sound judgment, duty, and the daily work of becoming […]
Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford, gave us the phrase “growth mindset.” The idea beneath it is much older than her research. In her work, a growth mindset is the belief that your abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort, good strategies, and help from others. People with a fixed mindset see talent as
Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. The notebook he kept during those years was never supposed to be read by anyone else, and much of it reads like a mentally tired man arguing with himself about how to behave on bad days. After his death, those private notes were published
Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from 161 to 180 AD. He also left behind one of the most widely read books of Stoic philosophy, which he never intended anyone else to see. Meditations started as private notes. He wrote parts of it in army camps along the Danube frontier, in the middle of long wars, with
Marcus Aurelius spent much of his reign fighting on the empire’s northern frontier while plague spread at home. During those years, he kept a private journal and used it to argue with himself about how to think. That notebook is now called Meditations. Smart people still read it because the advice is usable, and you
10 Stoic Habits of Highly Intelligent People Based on Marcus Aurelius’ Teachings Read More »
Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from 161 to 180 AD. He spent those years surrounded by generals, senators, lawyers, and a steady line of people who wanted something from him, yet the man under the purple robe preferred quiet and long hours alone with his thoughts. He kept a private journal written in Greek. We call
Marcus Aurelius’ 5 Timeless Pieces of Advice For Introverts Read More »
Most people hear the phrase “lone wolf” and picture a grumpy loner who skips every party and trusts nobody. That picture leaves a lot out. Plenty of lone wolves are simply independent people who feel comfortable working outside the pack. Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor whose private Stoic journal was later published as Meditations, wrote
5 Stoic Signs You Have a Lone Wolf Personality, According to Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Marcus Aurelius spent much of his reign as Emperor fighting on Rome’s northern frontier while a plague moved through the empire. During those years, he kept a private journal, written in Greek and addressed to no one but himself. His writings were later published as Meditations, which read like a man arguing with his own
5 Stoic Rules To Control Your Emotions For A Happier Life, According To Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. His reign brought years of war on the northern frontier and a plague that spread across the empire, and through it all, he kept writing private notes to himself. Those notes became Meditations. He never meant for anyone else to read them. The journal
Marcus Aurelius ran the Roman Empire through years of war on the northern frontier and a plague that spread across his territory. During those years, he kept a private journal, which became the book we now call Meditations. He never meant for anyone else to read it. The entries are reminders to himself, written in
Three Keys To Achieve Anything In Life, According to Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Marcus Aurelius ran the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. He spent those years fighting frontier wars and dealing with a plague, and he still found time to write private notes to himself. Those notes became Meditations. He never meant anyone else to read them, which is why they’re so personal and direct. Every
10 Stoic Self-Discipline Principles Marcus Aurelius Lived By Read More »
Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from 161 to 180 AD, and he wrote parts of his private journal while on a military campaign along the Danube frontier. He never meant for anyone else to read it. Nowhere in those pages does he say you owe anybody an explanation. His Stoic thinking leads there anyway, because he
5 Things You Don’t Owe Anyone an Explanation for, According to Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Marcus Aurelius ran the Roman Empire for nearly two decades. He also kept a private journal, writing reminders to himself in Greek. Those notes became the Meditations. Most scholars think he wrote them for himself alone and never intended for anyone else to read them. That tells you a lot about how the Stoics viewed
Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from 161 to 180 AD and spent a good part of that reign on military campaigns along the Danube. Along the way, he wrote notes to himself in Greek. Those notes became the book we call the Meditations. He doesn’t seem to have written them for an audience, which is probably
5 Signs You’re a High-Value Person, According to Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Talent helps. So does luck, and so does knowing the right people at the right time, but none of it lasts long without self-control. The ability to govern your impulses and your moods is what turns good intentions into results you can repeat. Most people know this already. Very few act on it when it
Self-Control is the Key to Success: 5 Lessons from Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. His reign brought years of war on the northern frontier along with a devastating plague, and he spent long stretches of it living in military camps far from Rome. Through all of that, he kept a private journal. We know it today as Meditations,
5 Things Highly Successful Men Do Every Day, According to Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire for nearly two decades, and his most enduring work was a private notebook he never intended to publish. In Meditations, he kept coming back to one practical problem: how to deal with people who make life harder. He wasn’t paranoid about it. He treated a clear read on human
The 5 Types of People You Should Never Trust According to Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Emperor Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire while fighting long wars on the northern frontier and enduring a plague that swept across the provinces. In whatever quiet hours he could find, he wrote notes to himself in Greek. Those notes became Meditations. He never meant for anyone else to read them, which is part of
5 Habits of Mentally Weak People, According to Marcus Aurelius Read More »
Marcus Aurelius ran the Roman Empire for nearly two decades. He also kept a private notebook full of reminders to himself, which became Meditations. He never planned for anyone to read it. That’s part of why it still works so well as a personal checklist, because he was writing to correct his own habits. Here
Marcus Aurelius ran the Roman Empire through years of war on the northern frontier and a plague that negatively affected enormous numbers of people. Somewhere in the middle of all that, he kept a private notebook written in Greek. We call it the Meditations today. He wrote it for himself, with no plan to publish