The Stoic life centred around habits and routines — practices in which they engaged daily, from their waking moments until going to sleep, that provided the structure necessary for a day lived well. These practices can provide a blueprint for us, to help us to lead good and happy lives. This article outlines these practices, and how you can structure your day like a Stoic thousands of years later.

“Assemble your life… action by action. And be satisfied if each one achieves its goal… No one can keep that from happening…Action by action.” — Marcus Aurelius

Morning

Wake up early

“The day has already…

Detoxing is like a spring cleaning; it removes all the unwanted substances from your body. These include heavy metals picked up from our environment, various toxins, and metabolic waste.

Although we have built-in detoxification mechanisms such as the liver and kidneys, the amount of toxic substances we are exposed to now is a lot higher than when these processes evolved.

Back when we were living on the savanna or in the jungles we weren’t exposed to pollution, pesticides, or heavy metals. Toxins can be found everywhere, from non-stick cookware to the fire retardants put in mattresses.

Signs your body needs a detox

Do you experience any…

I’ve had a lot of people tell me they’d love to be morning people, but they just can’t find the motivation to get up and get going in the morning.

This is a common problem, but luckily, one that can be mitigated with a few simple tweaks. The key is to make getting up truly something to look forward to. Sometimes I wake up at 5am and I have to urge myself to go back to sleep — I just can’t wait to get up.

Here are 3 strategies you can use to become more excited to get out of…

It’s so easy to get caught up in the productivity that our society rewards.

Being productive, which often just looks like being permanently busy, is a huge badge of honor in our society. There are numerous articles, books, courses, and videos on how to be more productive. There are apps and software that will help you. There are routines you should follow. Desk set-ups you should try.

But this relentless focus on being productive shifts our lives way out of balance. We find ourselves having less and less free time and increasingly becoming more and more burnt out and unhappy.

…

I am becoming increasingly cognizant of the fact that we need rest.

While it can seem counterintuitive, taking time to pause and do the things we enjoy will actually make us more productive in the long run, and able to go harder for longer. Chronic stress is one of our biggest, and most silent, killers. The adverse effects of this long-term stress can be fatal, and we need to take the time and make the effort to mitigate this. …

These days, we think busyness = success.

But it doesn’t. Busyness = a lack of priorities. And while this may sound harsh, I’m saying it in the hope it will help someone as I sit here, sick and completely burned out. I’ve been busy, thinking I needed to be busy to be successful, and now I’m flat on my back.

It’s been a wake up call, and a sign that I need to re-evaluate my priorities.

Busyness leads to burnout

Burnout is a word that’s getting thrown around more and more.

But what actually is burnout? I always thought it would come from being…

I bet that pretty much everyone has heard the name Jerry Seinfeld.

I grew up watching Seinfeld with my parents (we owned all 9 seasons on DVD) so I definitely know the name. But even if you didn’t grow up with a Seinfeld DVD constantly in the DVD player, you probably still know roughly who he is.

He’s created incredible success for himself, and while he no doubt worked incredibly hard for this, he had one guiding principle through it all.

Systemization

Seinfeld had a system for everything, and it was in keeping to these systems that he was able to…

One of the biggest stressors in my life is sleep. I don’t think there’s anything in my life that I worry about more, whether it’s getting to bed on time, getting enough quality sleep, or getting enough hours of sleep.

As the evening approaches 10pm, I start to stress about getting into bed. If it passes 10:30pm and I’m not asleep yet, I know I won’t get my 7.5 hours. When I wake up in the morning after an inadequate amount of sleep, it’s all I can think about. How did I get it so wrong? I have to be…