The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

by William B. Irvine

Overview

“The ultimate mental fitness program” (David Heinemeier Hansson, coauthor of Rework), The Stoic Challenge teaches us how to respond to the challenges of our increasingly unpredictable age.

In this practical, refreshingly optimistic guide, philosopher William B. Irvine explains how centuries-old wisdom can help us better cope with everything from the everyday stresses of modern living to its significant crises. The Stoic Challenge uniquely combines insights from ancient Stoics like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus with techniques discovered by contemporary psychological research, such as anchoring and framing. The result is Irvine’s surprisingly simple, updated “Stoic test strategy,” which teaches us how to dramatically alter our emotional response to life’s stumbling blocks. Not only can we overcome these obstacles—we can benefit from them, too.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393541496
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	39,414
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

William B. Irvine is professor of philosophy at Wright State University. The author of seven books, including The Stoic Challenge and A Guide to the Good Life, he has also written for the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Salon, Time, and the BBC. He lives in Dayton, Ohio.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Day at the Airport 11

Part I Dealing With Life's Challenges

Chapter 1 Setbacks: When Things Take a Turn for the Worse 23

Chapter 2 Anger Issues 35

Chapter 3 Resilience 41

Chapter 4 Can We Become More Resilient? 59

Part II The Psychology of Setbacks

Chapter 5 You Are of Two Minds 69

Chapter 6 Sinking Anchors 75

Chapter 7 Playing the Frame Game 83

Part III Taking Stoic Tests

Chapter 8 Your Other Setback Challenge 97

Chapter 9 Using the Stoic Test Strategy 105

Chapter 10 The Five-Second Rule 115

Part IV Living A Stoic Life

Chapter 11 Studying for Stoic Tests 123

Chapter 12 Embracing "Failure" 131

Chapter 13 Toughness Training: Expanding Your Comfort Zone 139

Chapter 14 Setups: When Things Take an Unexpected Turn for the Better 151

Chapter 15 Death: Your Exit Exam 159

Conclusion: Another Day at the Airport 173

Acknowledgments 179

Suggestions for Further Reading 180

Notes 181

Index 187

Editorial Reviews

"The Stoic Challenge is a beautifully engaging account of how to approach life with a particular gem of Stoic wisdom as your guide. I can see this book benefitting many people in their daily lives, and I’m sure they’ll go on to recommend it to their friends."

Donald Robertson

"Irvine is a warm and friendly Stoic, and one of the great guides through the subject. His congenial writing offers strategies for the anxiety-free, supple kind of sturdiness with which we should all be greeting ourselves and the world."

Derren Brown

"The Stoic Challenge is the ultimate mental fitness program. You’ll whip your fortitude into shape with exercises like negative visualization, reframing, and other Stoic principles and practices that have helped humans lead calmer, happier lives for millennia."

David Heinemeier Hansson

"While it’s a commonplace that we can change our minds, this book shows us how we can also reframe our emotions in ways that liberate us from the grip of thoughts and feelings that can keep a good person down. A promising blend of classical Stoicism and trailblazing psychology."

Christopher Phillips

"Bill Irvine does it again: he uses ancient Stoicism, updated with modern findings from psychological research, to challenge us to become better human beings."

Massimo Pigliucci

"Every startup founder knows that startups, no matter how successful they appear from the outside, are actually beset with setbacks. The best founders retain equanimity and energy regardless. This book shows how the philosophy of Stoicism can be directly applied to the process of building companies and making new things in the world."

Marc Andreessen

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