How to Practice Stoicism: A Practical Guide to the Good Life
Why Practice Stoicism?
How to practice Stoicism might be the most important question to answer. Stoicism isn’t just a philosophy to be studied. It’s a way of life. Practicing Stoicism means applying its principles to the way you think, act, and respond to the world. Whether you’re facing stress, uncertainty, or everyday challenges, the Stoic path offers a method for finding peace, purpose, and strength, no matter what happens around you.
Why did even Epictetus ask to see a Stoic in one of his discourses? For he hadn’t seen one, and there probably hasn’t been a true Stoic since then. So why even bother, people might ask? Even the ancient ones realized this, but they emphasized the fact that we can make progress. We can keep the ideal picture of the Sage in front of us as a direction to walk towards. Below are some of the practices that Stoicism has to offer that will help us along the way. But let’s start with a quick recap of Stoic philosophy.
The Three Disciplines of Stoicism
Stoicism is built on three essential disciplines:
- Desire – Want only what is within your control.
- Action – Do your duty and live with justice.
- Assent – Choose which thoughts and impressions you accept.
Everything you do as a Stoic fits within one of these. This is where the philosophy meets life, and is where we will start as we put it into practice.
The Stoic Practices
1. Discipline of Desire — Want Only What Is Up to You
The Discipline of Desire trains us to shift our wants away from external goods, wealth, status, possessions, and to desire only what is truly good: virtue. Likewise, it cautions us to direct our aversions not toward things like pain or poverty, but toward vice alone. In doing so, it frees us from the grip of fortune and realigns our inner life with reason and Nature.
Our practical Stoic journey begins by reconfiguring what we want, and why. The first step is to align our desires with what is within our control: our own judgments, choices, and actions. Everything else, outcomes, recognition, and circumstances, must be regarded as indifferent. This includes both what we seek to gain and what we try to avoid.
Read more about the Stoic Discipline of Desire and some exercises
Rather than craving wealth, status, or health, or fearing poverty, obscurity, or illness, the Stoic learns to desire only to act virtuously and to avoid only vice. As Epictetus reminds us, the path is simple in theory but demanding in practice. The real challenge is in training our inner habits of desire, so that we no longer chase illusions, but remain rooted in what truly matters.
Practice: Reflect on what you have in your life right now. Are you being virtuous and grateful for what you have, or are you chasing the next shiny object?
2. Discipline of Assent — Think Clearly and Question Impressions
We often jump to conclusions and make judgments on what we think is the truth. However, when we take a moment to reflect on what is going on, we can find that we were wrong. The Stoics view it as follows: When an event happens, we receive an impression. But we have a choice: do you accept it as true?
This discipline teaches us to pause, analyze, and assent only to impressions that are accurate and aligned with reason. If this isn’t the case, then we should reject the impression. And if we don’t know, then we need to withhold our judgment. This last one should be our default.
As Epictetus says:
“It is not the things themselves that disturb people but their judgements about those things.”
Epictetus, The Handbook, 5
Practice: Pause. Think back to a moment that caused you a lot of worries or strong emotions, and now think about how you would have reacted if you had paused and looked for the truth. When something like this happens again, pause and reflect on what is going on. Use your reason and logic to investigate the truth of the situation.
Read more about the Stoic Discipline of Assent, with exercises.
3. Discipline of Action — Fulfill Your Role with Justice
The Stoic does not withdraw from life. Whereas other ancient philosophies encouraged you to retire from society, Stoicism recognized that you are an integral part of a community. You have roles as a parent, partner, citizen, and creator.
This discipline teaches you to act with purpose, guided by justice, courage, and community, no matter what others do.
Practice: Before you act, think about the role you are playing in the situation. What are your duties and responsibilities? Stick to them as best as you can and find purpose in fulfilling your role in society.
Read more about the Stoic Discipline of Action, with exercises.
4. Premeditatio Malorum — Prepare for Challenges
Life rarely unfolds as we expect. The Stoics knew this, and rather than hoping for constant smoothness, they trained themselves to be ready for disruption. Premeditatio malorum is the practice of anticipating what might go wrong — not to dwell on fear, but to prepare the mind for adversity. By rehearsing setbacks in advance, we loosen the element of surprise and remind ourselves that external events, however painful, cannot touch our character unless we let them.
This exercise must be practiced with moderation. The goal is not to spiral into worry or rumination, but to develop calm readiness. As Seneca wrote, “If an evil has been pondered beforehand, the blow is gentle when it comes” (Letters, 76.34). With the right measure of forethought, we can meet the future with greater resilience and gratitude for the present.
Practice: Before beginning your day, take a moment to imagine common challenges: delays, criticism, or loss. Remind yourself that these belong to the natural course of life. If they arrive, they will not overwhelm you; if they do not, you will have gained gratitude for their absence.
Learn more about Premeditatio Malorum, the Stoic Practice of Negative Visualization.
5. Memento Mori — Remember You Will Die
Death is part of nature. It is neither good nor bad, but something that belongs to all living beings. Yet we often forget this truth, and when we do remember, fear can stop us from truly living. The Stoics remind us that peace comes not from denying death, but from accepting it as our destiny.
Marcus Aurelius captures this with stark simplicity:
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do, say, and think.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 2.11
This reflection is not meant to depress but to sharpen our focus. When you keep death before your eyes, you value your time more, speak more carefully, and live with greater intention.
Practice: Take a moment of quiet and bring death to mind. Notice your first response — fear, resistance, sadness. Then ask: what judgment have I added to this fact? The Stoics teach that death is a natural change, nothing more. Let go of the labels “good” or “bad,” and see it for what it is: part of nature’s rhythm.
Learn more about Memento Mori – The reminder that we must die.
6. The Dichotomy of Control — The Exercise of the Delimitation of the Self
Ask someone about Stoicism, and this is probably the first thing you’ll hear. While the so-called dichotomy of control is not the whole of Stoicism, it remains one of its most important practices. Epictetus’s student Arrian thought it so central that he opened both the Discourses and the Handbook with this idea:
What is up to me, and what is not?
Its popularity comes from its clarity. What is up to us are our judgments, choices, and actions. These belong to our prohairesis, the ruling faculty. What is not up to us are outcomes, possessions, our bodies, and the events shaped by fate. To see this difference is to care for the soul and to live in harmony with Nature’s order.
Practice: Recall a recent moment that stirred anxiety or frustration. Draw a circle on a page. Inside, write what was truly up to you — your response, your decision, your intention. Outside, place everything else — other people’s actions, the outcome, chance. Notice how peace begins at the boundary.
Learn more about the Stoic Dichotomy of Control here.
7. The View from Above – See Life in Perspective
The Stoics cultivated a contemplative exercise called the View from Above. In it, they imagined themselves lifted higher and higher, above the streets of their city, above the land of their country, and finally above the whole earth. From such a vantage point, human affairs reveal their true nature: brief, fragile, yet part of a larger harmony.
Marcus Aurelius often returned to this perspective in his Meditations, reminding himself to view life from above, where armies, farms, courts, weddings, and funerals all appear as a single, interconnected flow of events. What seems overwhelming up close becomes fleeting and small when viewed against the immensity of time and the order of nature.
Practice: Close your eyes and picture yourself rising above your present situation. See your room, then your neighborhood, then the wider world beneath you. Hold in mind Marcus’ words about the “harmony of opposites,” and reflect on how your concerns shrink in scale, while your sense of kinship with all other human beings grows clearer.
Learn more about the Stoic View from Above here.
8. Stoic reserve clause – Add “Fate Permitting” to Your Plans
The Stoics taught that while we should act with purpose and commitment, we must also remember that the outcome is not entirely up to us. To guard against disappointment, they practiced the reserve clause (hupexhairesis), which means mentally adding “fate permitting,” “if circumstances allow,” or “if God wills it” to everything we intend to do.
This doesn’t make us passive. On the contrary, it allows us to pursue goals with energy while staying free from frustration if things don’t go our way. Seneca gave vivid examples of this in daily life—sailing, political office, business ventures, always with the caveat that Fortune may interfere. Marcus Aurelius reframed it existentially: life is built “action by action,” and each action achieves its goal if it is done with integrity, regardless of external results.
Practice: The next time you set out to do something, whether it’s a work project, a trip, or a conversation, remind yourself: I will do this, if fate permits. Notice how this frees you from anxiety over the outcome while keeping you committed to right action in the present.
Learn more about the Stoic Reserve Clause here.
9. Voluntary Discomfort
Seneca talks about taking cold showers, and Marcus Aurelius mentions sleeping on a cot and eating old bread. These are not techniques to torture ourselves, but to show us that we are more resilient can capable of more than we know. Especially when we are too used to certain luxuries in life, we choose moments of discomfort to build resilience. Fast. Sleep on the floor. Take cold showers. Go without your phone.
If you can endure small challenges willingly, you’ll be stronger when life brings bigger ones. It will also show you that you can deal with more than you thought yourself able to. As a final note, it will increase our gratitude for what we have in the moment.
Practice: Forgo one of the luxuries you experience for a day. See if you really missed it and what impact it has on your life. Perhaps you can go without it. Do the same the following day.
Learn more about Voluntary Discomfort.
10. Amor Fati — Love Your Fate
A phrase first coined by Nietzsche and later embraced by modern Stoics, Amor Fati means to love one’s fate, not just to accept what happens, but to welcome and even cherish it. To live this way is to affirm everything that unfolds as part of a larger, rational whole.
For the Stoics, this love of fate lies at the center of the Discipline of Desire. Peace comes when our wants no longer conflict with what is, when we stop wishing for life to be different and instead see meaning in what it brings.
Even hardship has value if we see it as part of our training. Every challenge offers a chance to act with courage, patience, and gratitude. Every success invites appreciation rather than attachment. When we learn to align our will with nature’s unfolding, joy follows naturally.
Practice:
Take a snapshot of your life as it is today. Can you love where you are, fully? When something feels hard, ask how it can strengthen or teach you. When something feels easy or good, pause and be thankful. In both, practice saying yes to life as it happens.
Learn more about how to practice Amor Fati.
11. Daily Stoic Journaling — Reflect and Strengthen Your Virtue
Journaling was a core practice for Stoics like Marcus Aurelius. His Meditations is essentially a private journal, where he reflected on challenges, virtues, and the right way to live. Writing offers a space to step back from immediate emotions and look at life through the lens of reason.
It helps you:
- Review situations that went well or poorly
- Prepare for the day ahead
- Strengthen your commitment to virtue
Practice: At the end of the day, write down what happened, how you reacted, and how you should have reacted. Note which virtues you need to cultivate more. By reviewing your day in this way, you can identify patterns, strengthen your resolve, and make steady progress toward wisdom.
