Self-improvement and growth are a big topic for me and I think it is everyone's duty to become the best version of himself. I try to read every day and with this blog, I want to summarize the books that I have read and say my thoughts about them.

Follow me [on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/devin_hasler/).
Follow me [on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/devin-hasler-0a567521a/)

Devin Hasler


## 🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

1. The ultimate goal of stoicism is living Eudaimonia, which means in good terms with your inner daimon
2. Stoicism is something that has to be practiced again and again, it is not something that can be achieved
3. To practice stoicism you have to take responsibility, live with areté and focus on what you control

## 🕵🏼Who Should Read It?

This book has a very basic and beginner-like approach to Stoicism. It covers all the major Stoics in the history of the human species and explains the basic principles that these Stoics taught. That's why the book is perfect for everyone new to Stoicism and wanting to learn the foundations. However, the book is also a good read for people who have already been confronted with the teachings of Stoicism.

## ☘️ How the Book Changed Me

The book equipped me with Stoic principles and tips to apply in everyday life. It strengthened and improved my knowledge of Stoicism. In the chapter “Preparing Practices”, Jonas Salzgeber lists practices for living as a Stoic. This list provides good direction and shows the basic practices to undertake.

## ✍️ My Top 3 Quotes

> “Seek not for events to happen as you wish but rather wish for events to happen as they do and your life will go smoothly.” Epictetus
>

> “The impediment to action advances actions. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Marcus Aurelius
>

> “Leisure without study is death— a tomb for the living person.” Seneca
>

## 📒 Summary + Notes

A long time ago, Stoicism was deeply rooted in the educational system. People saw it as a practice to pursue happiness, and they aspired to live and die well. Sadly, with the passage of time, the teachings of the Stoics receded into the background, and fewer and fewer people now live the Stoic way of life. The educational system no longer deems it appropriate to teach how to live happily; instead, it focuses on teaching the pursuit of status and materialistic things.

Today, more and more people are becoming familiar with Stoicism again, thanks to the hard work of popular Stoics. New Stoics and authors are emerging, leading to its resurgence in popularity.

### 1 The most important Stoic Philosophers

There were a lot of people, especially in the old times who influenced Stoicism but not one of them had a bigger impact on modern-day Stoicism than these four individuals.

**Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BCE – 65 CE)**

Seneca was born around the time of Jesus in Spain and was educated in Rome, Italy. He was a highly successful playwright and achieved wealth through intelligent financial ventures. Seneca is considered one of the finest writers of antiquity, and much of his work has survived, serving as an important source of Stoic philosophy.

**Musonius Rufus (c. 30 CE – c. 100 CE)**

Musonius Rufus is the least known Stoic of Rome. He had his own Stoic school where he taught a simple and practical philosophy. He believed it was unnecessary to teach things that were of no practical value. Musonius offered detailed advice on eating habits, one's sex life, proper dress, and how to behave towards one's parents. Unfortunately, Rufus never wrote down his teachings and wisdom.

**Epictetus (c. 55 CE – c. 135 CE)**

Epictetus had a remarkable life trajectory. He started as a slave and was later purchased by a secretary of Nero, the Emperor of Rome. Upon the death of his owner, Epictetus gained his freedom and established a school where he taught his philosophy.

**Marcus Aurelius (121 CE – 180 CE)**

Marcus Aurelius is one of the most renowned Emperors of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, he remains to this day the most well-known Stoic philosopher, primarily due to his book 'Meditations,' which I have already covered in a [blog](https://www.peopleofgrowth.com/post/meditations).

### 2 The Stoic Happiness Triangle

The core principles of the teaching of Stoic Philosophy can be covered with the Stoic Happiness Triangle. This Triangle was invented by Jonas Salzgeber.

The Triangle shows the principles “Take Responsibilities”, “Live with Areté” and “Focus on what you control”.

<img src="/images/blog/theLittleBookOfStoicism/stoicHappinessTriangle.jpg" alt="Stoic Happiness Triangle" title="Stoic Happiness Triangle" width="50%" height="auto" />

Let’s discuss the meaning of all the other principles.

**Eudaimonia**

In the middle of the Triangle, there is Edaimonia. It represents the ultimate goal of life. It means being on good terms (eu) with your inner daimon, your highest self.

**Live with Areté**

If we want to be on good terms with our highest self, we need to close the gap between what we’re capable of and what we’re actually doing. This is really about being your best version in the here and now, explains Jonas in this book.

**Focus on what you control**

Jonas explains this as follows: At all times, we need to focus on the things we control, and take the rest as it happens. What already is has to be accepted because it’s beyond our power to undo it. What’s beyond our power is ultimately not important for our flourishing. What’s important for our flourishing is what we choose to do with the given external circumstances.

**Take Responsibility**

Good and bad come solely from yourself. This follows the first two corners that say external things don’t matter for the good life, so living with areté, which is within your control, is enough to flourish in life. Also, you’re responsible for your life because every external event you don’t control offers an area you can control, namely how you choose to respond to this event.

Now after we have discussed what stoicism is and what values are contained in this philosophy we can now look at how stoicism can be practiced.

### 3 How to practice Stoicism

In this chapter, Jonas Salzgeber discusses the core principles of practicing Stoicism.

The most important principle among them is to **Brace Yourself**. This means that all the negative and challenging aspects of your life should be viewed as opportunities for personal growth and inner strength. The more difficulties you face, the stronger you will become.

To achieve this, it is crucial to be **mindful**. A Stoic is capable of pausing between a stimulus and their response to that stimulus. We need to be aware of our lives in order to make positive changes. Additionally, living in the present moment is essential, as it is the only aspect of life that we can control. If you want to learn more about mindfulness and living in the present, I recommend checking out the blog from the book  [*The Power of Now*](https://www.peopleofgrowth.com/post/the-power-of-now).

Also, to practice Stoicism you need ******************************self-discipline.****************************** To improve in any area of life needs effort and with that self-discipline to keep trying and keep coming back.

### 4 Practices

At this stage of the book, Jonas lists important practices for training oneself to live a Stoic way of life. Due to the limited space in this blog, I will only list the most important practices for me in this section.

**Remind Yourself of the Impermanence of Things**

This is highly significant considering the nature of life. Nothing is permanent, and everything comes and goes. Therefore, we should not cling to things but instead accept and appreciate what we have or experience in the present moment.

**Contemplate Your Own Death**

Although it may sound intimidating, contemplating our own death holds immense value if approached correctly. Many people fear death because they are afraid of missing out. However, as previously mentioned, "nothing is impermanent." That's why it's crucial to reflect on our own mortality. This practice helps us stop wasting time on trivial matters and increases mindfulness. One exercise I find helpful is called "The Funeral," where you imagine your own funeral. Envision your family gathering and delivering speeches. The question is: what do you want your family to say about you? This exercise aids in determining your core values and improving your focus on what truly matters.

**Eliminate the Nonessential**

This should be self-evident, yet it is one of the most challenging things to accomplish. Focusing on the essentials is a struggle for every individual. However, when achieved, it brings immense benefits.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of practices from the book, but rather my personal top three. If you want to explore all the practices, along with additional situational practices, I highly recommend reading the entire book.

I wish you the best on your stoic journey and I look forward to seeing you reading my next blog post.

With regards  
Devin Hasler

A book about the principles and practices of stoicism.

The little book of stoicism



## 🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

1. The 80/20 Principle can and should be used by every intelligent person in their daily life, by every organization, and by every social grouping and form of society.
2. The world is not linear, it is unbalanced: some forces are always more forceful than others.
3. Start to think 80/20 and start to use 80/20 Analysis

## 🕵🏼Who Should Read It?

This book does not have a specific target audience; rather, it offers something for everyone. The 80/20 Principle can be applied in any part of the world. Therefore, everyone should read this book to understand the principle and learn how to apply it to their specific circumstances.

## ☘️ How the Book Changed Me

I already knew about the Pareto or 80/20 principle, but I had only tried to apply it to studying. I had never considered applying it to marketing, business, or anywhere else. The book improved my understanding of the 80/20 principle and opened my eyes to its presence in my surroundings. Now, I try to think more in terms of 80/20 and implement it in other areas of my life, not just studying.

## ✍️ My Top 3 Quotes

> “The universe is not a straight line.” Richard Koch
>

> “A few things are always much more important than most things.” Richard Koch
>

> “Progress means moving resources from low-value to high-value uses.” Richard Koch
>

## 📒 Summary + Notes

The 80/20 principle is a pretty known method for managing time. Most people have heard this principle before and associate it with the man Pareto, who was the inventor of the 80/20 principle.
What most people don’t know is that the 80/20 principle applies in almost any part of the world which is why it is important to talk about what the 80/20 principle really is.

### What

As mentioned before, the 80/20 principle was discovered by Pareto and then rediscovered by Zipf. Zipf investigated Pareto's principle further and applied it to people, goods, time, and many other things. One possible definition of the 80/20 principle is therefore:

“The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.”

This for example means that 80% of a school project can be done in only 20% of the time. This means that if you have 10 Days to complete a school project, you can do 80% of the required work in only 2 Days.

### Whom

One of the best parts of the 80/20 principle is that it can be applied by everyone. In fact, Richard Koch said the following in response to the question of who can use the 80/20 principle:

“The 80/ 20 Principle can and should be used by every intelligent person in their daily life, by every organization, and by every social grouping and form of society.”

### Why

It is a big deal if a single method can be applied to everyone's life. But why is the 80/20 principle applicable in such a wide range of scenarios?
The most important thing about the 80/20 Principle is that it can help individuals and groups achieve much more with much less effort. The 80/20 principle can increase personal effectiveness and happiness. It can multiply the profitability of corporations and the effectiveness of any organization.

### How

How can you implement the 80/20 principle in your daily life? There are two applications of the principle: 80/20 Analysis and 80/20 Thinking.

#### 80/20 Analysis

The 80/20 Analysis is precise, quantitative, requires investigation, provides facts, and is highly valuable. It examines the relationship between two sets of comparable data. One set of data is always a universe of people or objects, usually a large number of 100 or more, that can be turned into a percentage. The other set of data relates to some interesting characteristics of the people or objects that can be measured and also turned into a percentage. An example of the 80/20 Analysis can look something like this:

<img src="/images/blog/the8020Principle/8020Analysis.jpg" alt="Figure 6 in the book - 80/20 Analysis Example" title="Figure 6 in the book - 80/20 Analysis Example" width="50%" height="auto" />

_Figure 6 in the book - 80/20 Analysis Example_

In a group of friends, it was measured which person drank the most beers and sorted in descending order. This set of data can now be used to create a bar chart, which is the type of diagram that best displays the relationships in the 80/20 Principle.

<img src="/images/blog/the8020Principle/8020Rule.jpg" alt="Figure 9 in the book - shows an 80/28 ratio" title="Figure 9 in the book - shows an 80/28 ratio" width="50%" height="auto" />

_Figure 9 in the book - shows an 80/28 ratio_

In this type of diagram, we can see the unbalanced ratio between beer drinkers. This diagram shows that 28% of the people measured drank 80% of all the beer.

#### 80/20 Thinking

The 80/20 Thinking is more fuzzy, qualitative, requires thought, and provides important insights. This type of application is used if there is no time to do an in-depth analysis of a set of data. 80/20 Thinking is for daily life and all the non-quantitative applications of the principle. As with 80/20 Analysis, we start with a hypothesis about a possible imbalance between inputs and outputs, but instead of collecting data and analyzing them, we estimate them. This helps us to spot the few really important things that are happening and helps us ignore the mass of unimportant things.

#### And then

When presented with data or a bar chart that displays the 80/20 Ratio, it is now possible to take action. This insight into income and outcome distribution allows for the reallocation of resources from the less productive to the more productive side, as well as the simplification of your product, company, or strategy. Another economically sound action is to outsource unproductive processes to individuals who are more productive in that particular area. This allows you to focus on your speciality and be more efficient and productive.

### When

The 80/20 principle is highly versatile and can be applied to various aspects of life. It can assist in daily life by increasing efficiency and productivity. In marketing, it can help identify the customers that should be prioritized. In business, it can aid in defining strategy, improving quality, reducing costs, enhancing service, facilitating decision-making, project management, and even negotiation.

The 80/20 principle can also be applied to personal connections and alliances. Make use of alliances with other people extensively, but limit your alliances to only 20% of people and to the 20% of them that are strong allies. Then, aim to connect your alliances to other individuals who also fall within the top 20%.

As you can tell by now the 80/20 Principle is a powerful tool which should be used by every person daily. Although the book’s taught principle is really important I gave the book only 3 Stars because I felt like most of the book’s teachings were a bit self-explanatory. Non the less I can really recommend reading the book if you don’t now the 80/20 Principle already. With that feel free to share your thoughts about the 80/20 Principle in the comments below and I hope to see you in my next blog post.

With regards  
Devin Hasler  



A book about the 80/20 Principle which can get your efficiency to the next level and improve your productivity.

Routine

The little book of stoicism

The 80/20 Principle