A Stoic practice
What is the Stoic morning and evening routine?
The Stoics bookended the day. In the morning you name what you are getting up to do and what is likely to go wrong. In the evening you review what you did, without flattery and without cruelty. Neither takes long. The point is the repetition, not the ceremony.
Where it comes from
Marcus Aurelius writes the morning half to himself twice over: in the morning when you rise unwillingly, let this thought be present — I am rising to the work of a human being. And elsewhere, more bracingly: begin the morning by saying to yourself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. The evening half is Seneca's — the day put on trial before sleep.
How to do it
- 01Morning: name the work you are rising to do. One sentence, said plainly.
- 02Morning: name what will probably go wrong, and who will probably be difficult. You are not cursing the day; you are refusing to be surprised by it.
- 03Evening: run the day back. What did you do badly? What did you do well? What is still open?
- 04Evening: no flattery, no cruelty. The review is evidence-gathering, not a verdict on your character.
How it goes wrong
Letting the evening review curdle into rumination. Seneca's version is a court that adjourns: the day is examined, judged, and closed. If yours does not close, it is not a review.
The idea behind it
The dichotomy of control is the Stoic distinction between what is up to us and what is not. Epictetus placed it first in the Enchiridion: our judgments, desires, and actions are in our power; our bodies, reputations, property, and outcomes are not. Wisdom is spending yourself only on the first.
What is the Stoic dichotomy of control?The book on it: In Your Control