The recent Coronavirus epidemic has no doubt greatly affected the business and financing of some of our venture building projects. Our entrepreneurs have worked tirelessly to get results but with little or no success.
In the face of these setbacks, calmness, wise judgement and even maintaining a positive attitude is a test of the minds for many entrepreneurs.
While being self-quarantined after my business trip to China, I took the time to read some books on Stoicism and discovered that this ancient school of Greek philosophy can give us, entrepreneurs, the ability to shed light on our inner minds and improve our personal goals.
It is fascinating! Today, let me share with you some knowledge on this important Western school of thought.
Stoicism is one of the four major and most popular, philosophical schools in Ancient Greece. From Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome to Later Europe, many of us are familiar with the famous philosophers, writers, and politicians of the Stoic school including more famous figures like Roman General Scipio Aemilianos and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Presently, many of Silicon Valley’s technopreneurs are also practitioners of stoicism.
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What is the Stoic’s philosophy of life?
The school of Stoicism teaches that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge. The wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune, pleasure and pain; to realise one’s control and tame (rather than eliminate) instinctive desire and passion with reasoning to achieve “stoic calmness and tranquillity”.
Stoicism has many unique thoughts in philosophy, politics and psychology. One of the very basic ways of thinking is called “negative visualisation” i.e. always imagining the worst situation.
Assuming that everything has been taken away by fate, what should I do?
Stoicism suggests for us to imagine the things we value to be taken away by fate – such as the loss of jobs, the loss of wealth, the death of loved ones, and even consider our own death, and then re-examine what we have and what we are doing.
Seneca, the great ancient philosopher of Stoicism, said, “We should love all of our dear ones …, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever—nay, no promise even that we may keep them for long.”
Seneca takes things even further than this, adding on that, “We should live as if this very moment were our last. ” This is the most important Stoic psychological technique for “all things everywhere are perishable.”
By practising negative visualisation, we will be able to embrace whatever life we are living and love it with every bit of delight we can extract from it.
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It also prepares us for events that will deprive us of the things that bring up happiness. In other words, it teaches us to embrace our life and endeavour without clinging to the pain and pleasures of vicissitudes.
Such ideas can also be found in modern thought. For example, the writer Rowland said, “There is only one heroism in the world: to see the world as it is, and to love it.” By contemplating the impermanence of everything, we will not only gain the primary benefit of Stoicism, namely “a boundless joy that is firm and unalterable,” but also to pursue our endeavour with a significance and intensity that would otherwise be absent.
This is the life philosophy of the strong.
Philosophy is a sentence or two of life mottos that makes sense. Philosophy is the product of speculation. But you must have a concrete logic that can withstand scrutiny and debate.
Similarly, the formation of the philosophy of life and ideological concepts requires a lot of active practice: daily, in self-reflection and when faced with adversity.
Especially for entrepreneurs who face all kinds of opportunities and adversity every day, many mental methods of Stoic philosophy may help us to see clearly the goals of life and entrepreneurship, face all uncertainties rationally and calmly, and still persist with enthusiasm!
The content of Stoic’s philosophy is definitely rich and intriguing. For friends who are interested, I highly recommend reading A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine.
Startup life is full of surprise and setbacks, Keep calm, our fellow entrepreneurs.
Acknowledgement: The author would like to thank Stephanie Winata for her contribution to this article
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