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The stoic philosophy, for some reason, it is a trend in recent years in Silicon Valley. In this article, I will make a brief introduction to the stoicism and show that their lessons, more than two thousand years ago, still can teach us about life and software development.
This philosophical movement began with Zeno of Citium, around 300 BC, during the Hellenistic period. Greece was facing major changes. Alexander the Great, emperor of the region, died in 323 BC, leaving behind his gigantic weakened empire. After his death, she began a long period of political turmoil, with governments seeking power (the vast majority of his own generals).
At this time, grew many schools of philosophy. Many of them had as a principle the task of trying to deal with the anxiety caused by the political events of the time over which (almost) no one had control. Stoicism was one of those schools.
Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius are examples who have dedicated their lives to apply this philosophy to the adversity they faced and their bright ideas and techniques can teach us a lot about the human condition . But what we developers can learn from them?
“Choose not be harmed, and you will not feel degraded. Do not feel hurt and you will not be. “- Marcus Aurelius
The Stoics had an exercise called” Turning the obstacle upside down “in which they simply tried to see the problem a different angle, which is beneficial to you. For example: back-end is not your business, but your business needs someone to develop in Java. You can see this situation as an obstacle or as an opportunity to learn something new.
“It’s not that we have little time to live, is that we waste a lot him. Life is long enough, and a generous amount is given to us to achieve the greatest achievements if we invest well. But when we waste time on unnecessary luxury and activities that are not good, we are forced by the limitations of death to understand that everything passed before we realized what was happening. So that’s it: we do not have a short life, we short become, and we are not poorly supported, it is we who waste time … Life is long if you know how to use it “- Seneca
I agree that sometimes your boss can create difficult deadlines. But most of the time, software developers complain without understanding that they are not using your time well enough. External factors such as deadlines, are not your fault. . But being unproductive is totally your fault
“What happened to you prevented him from: do justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, simplicity and all the other qualities which allow the nature of a person to be satisfied? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain:. The thing itself is not all bad, go through it and survive is the jackpot “- Marcus Aurelius
projects can give wrong, your code can lead to a huge loss of money or you might be fired, but you have to know that there is life after the failure. And that’s not all … With the right thought, when you recover from each failure, will be stronger and ready to shine again. Remember that if you’re not failing, you’re not growing.
“Do not just say you read books, show that through them you learn to think better and to be a more reflective and sensible person. Books are the weights of the mind. They are very useful, but it would be a mistake to assume that someone has progressed only internalize their content. “- Epictetus
Reading is great, especially to learn through the mistakes of others. But read only, without applying what you read, it is a complete waste of time. I have seen many developers reading blog, books and other content, but without applying almost anything. The purpose of education is to internalize knowledge, but it is definitely necessary to take action from there
“Start every day saying to yourself:. Today I must find interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill will and selfishness – all because of the ignorance of people about what is good or bad. “- Marcus Aurelius
The most difficult part of the development surely software are not technical issues, but how to deal with people. The Stoics deal with this kind of adversity using a called practice of “premeditated expectations”: every morning you must wake up, sit quietly and be very pessimistic. This way, you will already be mentally prepared for adversities that happen to you and they will not affect you so much.
In short, Stoicism teaches us not to fight with the nature of things. Instead of investing energy in things we can not change or try to avoid the inevitable, we can focus on have a clear mind to transpose obstacles. The nature of the world of digital product development can be very severe for the eyes of some, however, with the mental training and behavioral preparation, we can become stronger in adversity.
To find out more, here are a few sources to search:
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Special thanks:.. Carol Almeida (translation) and Victor Nascimento (edition)
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