Complex Numbers

I'll Do It Later

Well, here's a source that's new to me. Or at least it was when I found this article. It's been in my queue for a while. No, I haven't been putting it off, but I'll say I have for the joke.

How to Beat Procrastination Like a Stoic Philosopher  
Seven tactics from the ancient world that have stood the test of time

Seven tactics? What is this, a numbered list? That's Cracked's schtick. Well, okay, these aren't numbered.

For tens of thousands of years, people have been procrastinating just like you do today: They put things off, delayed, made excuses, and wished their deadlines would disappear. And just as it does with you, this caused them anxiety, made them piss off their colleagues and families, and, worst of all, wasted time.

Yes, but at least it's a source of comedy material.

Fortunately, unlike our ancient counterparts, we have ages of wisdom to help us avoid the mental traps that lead us to procrastinate.

Unfortunately, unlike our ancient counterparts, we have Netflix and social media.

Action by action

Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole… Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?” You’ll be embarrassed to answer.—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.36

"Action by action?" That doesn't even make sense. Or, rather, it can make at least three different kinds of sense.

While it can be productive to think about the troubles that might lie ahead — the Stoics used an exercise called premeditatio malorum, or “premeditation of evils,” to prepare for potential adversity — imagining the worst usually just causes us to become paralyzed with fear.

No, imagining the worst means I can only be pleasantly surprised, or right. Either way, I win.

This is why Marcus Aurelius’ advice was to keep in mind that a life is built action by action.

Oh, so that's the sense the heading means.

No author ever writes a book, he would say. Instead, they write one sentence and then another and then another.

That's, like... the worst way to write a book.

Create a routine

In many circumstances, we do not deal with our affairs in accordance with correct assumptions, but rather we follow thoughtless habit.—Musonius Rufus, Lectures and Fragments, 6.7

Thoughtless habit can be a good thing. Not always. But it can be.

Really, I won't be quoting all of it; the article speaks for itself. But that's a taste.

I'll just have one more thing to say:

Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.—Zeno

That's rich, coming from the guy who famously said it's impossible to go anywhere.   It's almost as if philosophers have always been self-contradictory.

Anyway, yeah, I'm a professional crastinator, but this advice might help. If I ever get around to reading the rest of the article.