Lucius Annaeus Seneca, otherwise known as Seneca the Younger, or just Seneca was born in southern Spain over 2,000 years ago and educated in Rome. He was the son of Seneca the Elder, a well-known Roman writer as well as later in his life uncle to the poet Lucan.

One thing that stands out from Seneca is that he is one of the most enjoyable and readable of all ancient philosophers. Part of it was due to the fact that his most notable works came in the form of letters.

New to studying Seneca? These books are a great place to start.

Letters From a Stoic
Moral Essays
The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca
How To Die
How To Keep Your Cool
Dying Every Day by James Romm
Lives of the Stoics

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“One of the simplest ways to win is to always connect the small things you do to the larger thing you hope to accomplish.

Five minutes can be spent working on something trivial or working on something life-changing. A brief session of work oriented toward a great cause is always time well spent.

Most daily actions evaporate. Some accumulate.”

James Clear

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If I spoke to my friends how I used to speak to myself, I would have no friends.

Spoken by Wentworth Miller.

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Leave yourself open to experience.

TV Show: 🎬 Boy Meets World (1993).

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The ancient Greeks immortalized the story of a man who was perpetually distracted. We call something that is desirable but just out of reach “tantalizing” after his name.

The story goes that Tantalus was banished to the underworld by his father, Zeus, as a punishment. There he found himself wading in a pool of water while a tree dangled ripe fruit above his head.

The curse seems benign, but when Tantalus tried to pluck the fruit, the branch moved away from him, always just out of reach. When he bent down to drink the cool water, it receded so that he could never quench his thirst.

Tantalus’s punishment was to yearn for things he desired but could never grasp.

You have to hand it to the ancient Greeks for their allegories. It’s hard to portray a better representation of the human condition.

We are constantly reaching for something: more money, more experiences, more knowledge, more status, more stuff. The ancient Greeks thought this was just part of the curse of being a fallible mortal and used the story to portray the power of our incessant desires.
(Indistractable)


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The question is not, “Will I succeed?” but rather, “What should I attempt?”

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What affected their desire was not how much time had passed after a smoke, but how much time was left before they could smoke again. If, as this study suggests, a craving for something as addictive as nicotine can be manipulated in this way, why can’t we trick our brains into mastering other unhealthy desires? Thankfully, we can!
You’ll notice that throughout the book I cite smoking cessation and drug addiction research. I do this for two reasons: first, though studies show very few people are pathologically “addicted” to distractions like the internet, tech overuse can look to many like an addiction; second, I wanted to make the point that if these well-established techniques are effective at stopping physical dependencies to nicotine and other substances, then they can certainly help us control cravings for distraction. After all, we’re not injecting Instagram or freebasing Facebook.
(Indistractable)

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