On the Shortness of Life: The Stoic Classic

The most important lesson of On the Shortness of Life is, of course, that we need to value our time and avoid wasting it at all costs. The essay is a poignant reminder of what we so deeply intuit, yet so easily forgetand so chronically fail to put into practice.

There is no shortage of things that take away our time, and we must guard against them. To live this lesson, practice saying No! to many of the time-wasting things that you dolike trying to impress people or staring at a screen. Consider whether your potential actions are virtuous, whether they will truly benefit you, and whether they are worthy of making up your only life.

If not, commit to turning them down, even if it might cause others to be displeased with you. The lessons from On the Shortness of Life urge us to take stock of how we have lived so far, and to count the time that has been truly livedas opposed to time merely filled with unworthy busyness and distractions.

What you can start doing today is to practice the Stoic art of journaling and start reflecting on how you spend each and every day. To borrow from Seneca, his favorite time to journal was in the evenings. When darkness had fallen and his wife had gone to sleep, he explained to a friend:

I examine my entire day and go back over what Ive done and said, hiding nothing from myself, passing nothing by.

Then he would go to bed, finding that the sleep which followed this self-examination was particularly sweet.

The final lesson we should take away from Senecas workand a theme that is constant for the Stoics in generalis that we need to remember that we could die at any moment, and that barring some massive medical breakthrough, we have at most a few more decades left to live.

We should find a way to remind ourselves every day that we are going to dieperhaps by placing sticky notes in places we will see daily. You might feel like you dont forget that youre going to die, but do you think about it on a regular basis? Does it inform your decision-making?

Most people cant say yes to thatso we must do a little work to make sure we can.