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stoicism

concept · in 13 sources (2018–2020)

The philosophy Ali uses for rejection: accept what you cannot control; only your thoughts and actions are yours.

Sources by year: 2018: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2020: 5

Also known as: serenity prayer

Also named in the threads: Ali says he is going to work on his own Skillshare classes, taking a deep dive into how he makes his videos: filming, editing and post-production.

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

Derren Brown (4) · James Clear (2) · Netflix (2) · Book Club (2) · Atomic Habits (2) · Kindle (4) · Spotify (2) · Tim Ferriss (2) · BMAT (2) · Taimur Abdaal (2)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2020

  • 2020-06-21 · A HUGE Unboxing Day — Ali spends an hour recording an episode of Freshly Grounded with its host Faisal, talking about productivity, YouTube, being a creator on the internet and their shared love of stoicism. — 00:00:29
  • 2020-09-25 · How Stoicism Made Me Happier — announcement: Ali and his friend Sam have just released a Skillshare class on Stoicism, How to Be Happier – A Stoicism Masterclass, on its five fundamental principles and five domains where they applied them. — 00:00:00
    • Over 12 lessons, How to Be Happier – A Stoicism Masterclass explores the key themes of Stoicism and how to apply its principles to live happier and healthier lives. — video description
    • Ali calls the dichotomy of control, that some things are within our control and some are not, the main idea of Stoicism, related to the serenity prayer he often thinks about. — 00:00:58
    • Ali explains Epictetus's second quote: we think external events cause our negative emotions, but Stoicism says it is the story we tell ourselves about the event. — 00:04:12
    • Ali explains the Stoic practice of premeditating adversity: prepare yourself for worst-case scenarios so you are ready when they come and feel more gratitude. — 00:12:17
  • 2020-09-29 · How to See Problems as Opportunities (The Obstacle is the Way) — Ryan Holiday (quoted): Ryan Holiday's The Obstacle Is the Way argues that we meet obstacles at every stage of life and, instead of avoiding them, must learn to tackle them and use them to our advantage. — 00:00:29
    • Ryan Holiday (quoted): In Ryan Holiday's account, perception is how we judge and interpret events: by controlling our emotions, putting things in perspective and examining them objectively, we see obstacles more clearly. — 00:00:58
    • Ryan Holiday (quoted): Ryan Holiday describes will as the discipline of heart and soul: inner fortitude and wisdom that lets us put events in context, endure hardship and draw meaning from obstacles, the Stoics' inner citadel. — 00:06:17
  • 2020-10-27 · Think Like a Monk - @jayshetty - Summary + Key Points — Ali likens spot, stop and swap, observing, reflecting and then modifying our behaviour, to what the Stoics taught, and calls it a really good way of addressing negativity and also fear. — 00:01:56
    • Ali often thinks of the Stoic idea of preferred indifferents: he may prefer a 49-inch ultrawide monitor with a fancy keyboard and mouse, but he does not need them to be happy and is not attached to them. — 00:02:55
  • 2020-12-31 · I WAS WRONG - How I Set Goals — Ali says he never had goals for his YouTube channel: subscriber and view counts are outside his control, and as the Stoics say there is no point worrying about that; his system was to release one to three videos every week. — 00:00:29
  • …and 8 statements more in 2020 — all statements of 2020

2019

  • 2019-03-30 · Monthly Favourites #7 - Ali Abdaal — Ali says The Courage to Be Disliked did not really change his worldview, because having read a lot about stoicism he was already fairly sympathetic to the philosopher's view. — 00:03:55
  • 2019-05-02 · Monthly Favourites #8 - Ali Abdaal — Ali says Derren Brown's Happy is a book about philosophy, not magic, and a fantastic introduction to the Stoic school of philosophy. — 00:00:48
    • Derren Brown (quoted): The cover text of Happy says Derren Brown traces ideas of happiness from the Stoics and Epicureans to today's self-help industry, and shows that its routes such as positive thinking, self-belief and setting goals can be disastrous and cause anxiety. — 00:01:46
    • When people ask how he seems so carefree, unstressed and content, Ali points them to Derren Brown's Happy, which he says explains the philosophy that makes him happy and content most of the time. — 00:02:15
  • 2019-08-16 · Money, Relationships and Hair Loss - Answering your Assumptions — Ali credits his calm partly to stoicism, whose main idea he gives as: events do not make us angry or sad, the story we tell ourselves about them does. — 00:18:44
    • As introductions to stoicism Ali recommends Derren Brown's Happy and William Irvine's A Guide to the Good Life. — 00:18:44

Also named in: Life Advice Q&A with my Brother

2018

  • 2018-03-21 · Q & A - 5,000 Subscribers! — Ali likes stoicism and the serenity prayer as a philosophy for dealing with rejection and as a way of living that reduces negative emotions. — 00:10:30
    • Ali says a romantic, academic or professional rejection is outside our control, so there is no point dwelling on it: treat it as a learning experience, take away a lesson and move on. — 00:10:59
  • 2018-05-07 · Live Q&A + Hangout - Bank Holiday vibes - Ali Abdaal, Cambridge medical student — recommendation: Ali: To a student down about a bad OSCE history station, as his was too, Ali says feeling down only makes you feel bad: accept what you cannot change, like the serenity prayer, and move on. — 00:27:14
    • Citing Stoicism, Ali says there is a gap between a stimulus and our response, and within that gap we have the space to choose our feelings about it. — 00:35:56
  • 2018-08-03 · Life Advice - 50k subs Q&A — Ali says he can count on one hand the times he has felt stressed, partly because he likes the philosophy of stoicism. — 00:03:16
    • On stoicism Ali always recommends Derren Brown's book Happy, and also William Irvine's A Guide to the Good Life, whose title he half-remembers. — 00:03:16
    • Ali's first principle of stoicism: external events do not directly cause a negative emotion; our response to them, the story we tell ourselves about them, does. — 00:03:40
    • Facing a lot to do, Ali reframes "I have so much to do and no time" as "it is what it is, I'm going to do these things", so feeling bad about the work, which he takes to be stress, never comes in. — 00:04:10
    • Ali's second principle is the serenity prayer, which he calls the ultimate way of living: most things lie outside our control except our own actions and, arguably, our own thoughts. — 00:04:10
    • Since he controls only his own thoughts and actions, Ali says nothing else needs to concern him; stressed friends tend to worry about what they cannot control, and worrying only about your own thoughts and actions makes for a stress-free life. — 00:04:55
    • To have fewer bad days, Ali holds that the event is not what makes him feel bad but his story about it, so to stop feeling bad he only has to change his story. — 00:08:32
  • 2018-09-11 · My new podcast - Microphone setup + reflections — Ali calls having few expectations good practice according to stoicism and fully agrees with not having many expectations in life at all. — 00:11:07
  • …and 2 statements more in 2018 — all statements of 2018