1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:05,910 Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman statesman and a stoic philosopher, who recognized that 2 00:00:05,910 --> 00:00:11,190 if we are to live well, we must be constant students of the greatest subject of all — life 3 00:00:11,190 --> 00:00:17,500 itself. In his moral essay, On the Shortness of Life, Seneca, offers us an urgent reminder 4 00:00:17,500 --> 00:00:24,349 on the non-renewability of our most important resource: our time. So, with that in mind, 5 00:00:24,349 --> 00:00:30,060 here are 10 of the most important insights for time management from the writings of Seneca. 6 00:00:30,060 --> 00:00:36,950 1. Treat time as a commodity Seneca says “People are frugal in guarding 7 00:00:36,950 --> 00:00:42,160 their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful 8 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:45,530 of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy”. 9 00:00:45,530 --> 00:00:50,690 Seneca cautions that we fail to treat time as a valuable resource, even though it’s 10 00:00:50,690 --> 00:00:55,980 arguably our most precious and least renewable one. Imagine walking down the street and seeing 11 00:00:55,980 --> 00:01:01,970 a very rich guy just throwing his money away. You will definitely call that person was insane. 12 00:01:01,970 --> 00:01:07,520 And yet we see others—and ourselves—throw away something far more valuable every day: 13 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:13,649 our Time. The amount we get is uncertain but surely limited. It’s clearly more insane 14 00:01:13,649 --> 00:01:20,049 to waste time than money because unlike money, we can’t make any more when it runs out! 15 00:01:20,049 --> 00:01:25,020 To realize the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade. 16 00:01:25,020 --> 00:01:30,920 To realize the value of one month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. 17 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:36,060 To realize the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper. 18 00:01:36,060 --> 00:01:41,009 To realize the value of one hour, ask the person who just missed a train. 19 00:01:41,009 --> 00:01:45,569 To realize the value of one second, ask the person who narrowly avoided an accident. 20 00:01:45,569 --> 00:01:50,950 And to realize the value of one millisecond, ask the person who took the Silver Medal at 21 00:01:50,950 --> 00:01:53,189 the Olympics. 22 00:01:53,189 --> 00:01:58,150 Well the amount of time we get is uncertain, the one thing that is certain is that that 23 00:01:58,150 --> 00:02:04,520 time is limited. Money and property can increase and decrease depending on luck or effort but 24 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:11,670 our time is fixed. Death creeps up on time wasters, people who assume time is cheap because 25 00:02:11,670 --> 00:02:18,060 when employed correctly, time becomes an amplifier. When spent without consideration, it becomes 26 00:02:18,060 --> 00:02:20,500 a persistent source of regret. 27 00:02:20,500 --> 00:02:26,750 2. Don’t invest your time preparing for life 28 00:02:26,750 --> 00:02:31,810 According to Seneca “He who bestows all of his time on his own needs, who plans out 29 00:02:31,810 --> 00:02:37,110 every day as if it were his last, neither longs for nor fears the morrow’. 30 00:02:37,110 --> 00:02:42,440 We are all guilty of spending way too much of our time preparing for life. Seneca pushes 31 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:50,040 us to live right now. To not delay our happiness. To not think that happiness lies in the future. 32 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:55,230 He criticizes those who think that they can work diligently until around age 60 when they 33 00:02:55,230 --> 00:03:00,390 finally retire, and can be ‘happy’. Our future is uncertain and it’s not in your 34 00:03:00,390 --> 00:03:06,120 control. The life in the future you’re working towards may never come. We are so busy and 35 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:10,350 worried about the future that we often let the present slip away, allowing time to rush 36 00:03:10,350 --> 00:03:16,630 past unobserved and unseized. And then when we are old and on our deathbeds we finally 37 00:03:16,630 --> 00:03:21,460 realise how short and valuable life is, left with a regret of not making the most of it 38 00:03:21,460 --> 00:03:24,020 when we could. 39 00:03:24,020 --> 00:03:29,270 Seneca compares time to a rushing stream, that won’t always flow. If you were in the 40 00:03:29,270 --> 00:03:33,430 middle of a desert dying of thirst, and you came across a stream of water but you are 41 00:03:33,430 --> 00:03:38,830 not sure when it would stop — wouldn’t you drink much of it as you possibly could? 42 00:03:38,830 --> 00:03:42,730 Just like water, we should use as much of our time as possiblein making the most of 43 00:03:42,730 --> 00:03:43,730 our present. 44 00:03:43,730 --> 00:03:49,830 Your 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond are all worth planning but don’t allow them to take away 45 00:03:49,830 --> 00:03:51,430 the precious present. 46 00:03:51,430 --> 00:03:56,420 You can only live one moment at a time, and you can only live it once, so choose to live 47 00:03:56,420 --> 00:03:58,130 in the moment. 48 00:03:58,130 --> 00:04:04,930 3. Live life for your own self To quote Seneca “So you must not think a 49 00:04:04,930 --> 00:04:10,230 man has lived long because he has white hair and wrinkles: he has not lived long, just 50 00:04:10,230 --> 00:04:12,310 existed long” 51 00:04:12,310 --> 00:04:16,939 We all have certain things that we want in our life, whether it’s a dream job, a dream 52 00:04:16,939 --> 00:04:21,691 house, a dream relationship, or that dream vacation. But majority of us don’t even 53 00:04:21,691 --> 00:04:25,819 come close to achieving many of these things because we are stuck with the job we can’t 54 00:04:25,819 --> 00:04:29,740 stand just to pay the bills, or a partner we pretend to love because we don’t want 55 00:04:29,740 --> 00:04:34,789 to be alone. You’re just being tossed and turned by everything that’s coming at you, 56 00:04:34,789 --> 00:04:39,749 and in today’s world, there’s a lot coming at you. We then fool our-selves by telling 57 00:04:39,749 --> 00:04:46,030 us that we don’t have enough time to try new pursuits. Being busy is always your choice. 58 00:04:46,030 --> 00:04:50,690 Being busy with things we don’t like is the greatest distraction from living, we routinely 59 00:04:50,690 --> 00:04:55,490 coast through our lives day after day, showing up for our obligations but being absent from 60 00:04:55,490 --> 00:05:01,449 our selves, mistaking the doing for the being. The best way you can invest your time is by 61 00:05:01,449 --> 00:05:06,529 investing in creating a life you love living. If you don’t know what you love or what 62 00:05:06,529 --> 00:05:10,349 you want, then ask yourself these questions - 63 00:05:10,349 --> 00:05:14,050 If I had more time, what are the things I could do? 64 00:05:14,050 --> 00:05:17,150 Or If I can change something right now around 65 00:05:17,150 --> 00:05:20,410 or about me, what would it be? 66 00:05:20,410 --> 00:05:25,060 You may realize that you want to change your job or you want to get in shape or pursue 67 00:05:25,060 --> 00:05:30,189 a new hobby. You can start by waking up early and use that extra hour for doing those things 68 00:05:30,189 --> 00:05:33,689 that you love. Time is precious, and it's ticking away for 69 00:05:33,689 --> 00:05:38,599 all of us. The longer you wait to start making changes, the longer you will spend your life 70 00:05:38,599 --> 00:05:42,159 working to make someone else's dream a reality. 71 00:05:42,159 --> 00:05:49,090 4. Practice Premeditatio Malorum As we learn from Seneca “While wasting our 72 00:05:49,090 --> 00:05:54,629 time hesitating and procrastinating, life goes on” 73 00:05:54,629 --> 00:05:59,159 Procrastination occurs when a conflict between short term gratification of impulses like 74 00:05:59,159 --> 00:06:04,199 to do nothing and waste time and the long term commitments like making a sales report 75 00:06:04,199 --> 00:06:12,330 or editing this video is won by the former party. In psychology this is called time inconsistency. 76 00:06:12,330 --> 00:06:16,559 Even though doing meaningful work over the course of years is more important to most 77 00:06:16,559 --> 00:06:21,330 of us than lounging around, the human brain has a very dated bias towards what is here 78 00:06:21,330 --> 00:06:26,830 and now. However, Seneca gives us a way to fight this with a very effective and a simple 79 00:06:26,830 --> 00:06:33,559 method. The Stoics called it Premeditatio Malorum. The idea behind this is to ask yourself 80 00:06:33,559 --> 00:06:39,389 before you do something about what can go wrong. It’s a form of negative visualization, 81 00:06:39,389 --> 00:06:44,719 and once you’ve identified the distractions or problems, you can design around them with 82 00:06:44,719 --> 00:06:49,860 preparation. By acknowledging distractions beforehand, and then in response, setting 83 00:06:49,860 --> 00:06:55,490 a suitable time, place, and starting point, you can bypass the allure of short-term impulses 84 00:06:55,490 --> 00:07:01,130 ahead of time. If you prepare yourself by scheduling ahead whatever it is you want done, 85 00:07:01,130 --> 00:07:05,759 you’re two to three times more likely to follow through. 86 00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:13,889 5. Make long term rewards immediate To Seneca “Putting things off is the biggest 87 00:07:13,889 --> 00:07:20,099 waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising 88 00:07:20,099 --> 00:07:25,819 the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy” 89 00:07:25,819 --> 00:07:31,580 Our need to procrastinate is most powerful right at the start of work. Even if you’ve 90 00:07:31,580 --> 00:07:36,099 removed all distractions, and you’re ready to get to work at 8 AM — as you had planned 91 00:07:36,099 --> 00:07:41,059 — to your brain, the allure of finding an excuse to do something easier is still very 92 00:07:41,059 --> 00:07:46,650 strong. The hardest challenge is finding a way to make that starting effort less unpleasant. 93 00:07:46,650 --> 00:07:52,110 The key here is expectancy. That’s what we crave when we want to delay something that 94 00:07:52,110 --> 00:07:58,619 we know benefits us. That’s the gap between short-term impulses and a long-term reward. 95 00:07:58,619 --> 00:08:03,100 The reason that it’s often hard to start something is that there is no expectation 96 00:08:03,100 --> 00:08:08,710 of an immediate reward. Sometimes, the reward is years away. However if you bundle your 97 00:08:08,710 --> 00:08:14,650 work with the expectancy of an immediate reward, you give yourself a good reason to start. 98 00:08:14,650 --> 00:08:19,710 For example, if you procrastinate by watching youtube, you can make a deal that you’re 99 00:08:19,710 --> 00:08:25,499 not allowed to watch youtube until a certain amount of work is done. This way you get rewarded 100 00:08:25,499 --> 00:08:29,379 by completing the unpleasant work with something immediate. 101 00:08:29,379 --> 00:08:36,250 6. Make the most of your free time As we learn from Seneca “It is not that 102 00:08:36,250 --> 00:08:41,741 we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and 103 00:08:41,741 --> 00:08:46,130 a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were 104 00:08:46,130 --> 00:08:51,750 all well invested”. We all work hard to earn two things: money 105 00:08:51,750 --> 00:08:58,120 and free time that we can spend on leisure activities. We work 8–9 hours a day so that 106 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:03,070 we can earn free time, while we endlessly waste that hard-earned free time on the most 107 00:09:03,070 --> 00:09:08,149 irrelevant things like drinking in the pub with co-workers or friends, watching TV shows 108 00:09:08,149 --> 00:09:13,190 or just gossiping around the water cooler. As some people point out, you have to stop 109 00:09:13,190 --> 00:09:18,720 and say, “No more.” No more wasting the free time you earn 110 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:24,020 Even if you enjoy your day job, keep time spent working at a minimum. You’ll never 111 00:09:24,020 --> 00:09:29,880 get those overtime hours back, they are gone forever. Most of us spend our precious one 112 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:35,240 hour lunch breaks eating at our desks. Instead we should make good of our lunch breaks. Read, 113 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:40,519 write or exercise. If you work in a city, visit a museum or gallery. Maybe start an 114 00:09:40,519 --> 00:09:45,980 office reading group that can meet at lunchtimes. On weekends or on evenings when you have ample 115 00:09:45,980 --> 00:09:51,690 of free time, make the most of it by meditating, reading, exercising or journaling or anything 116 00:09:51,690 --> 00:09:57,180 that could add a value to your life. If you want to beat mediocrity and start living your 117 00:09:57,180 --> 00:10:02,370 life, then you need to start making the most of your free time. 118 00:10:02,370 --> 00:10:10,029 7. Spend time reflecting on your past Seneca informs us “But life is very short 119 00:10:10,029 --> 00:10:16,350 and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future” 120 00:10:16,350 --> 00:10:22,459 For Seneca, time is divided into three parts: The present which is transitory, 121 00:10:22,459 --> 00:10:26,490 The future which is uncertain and The past which is unalterable. 122 00:10:26,490 --> 00:10:32,399 All the modern time management lessons tell us to focus on the present with a view to 123 00:10:32,399 --> 00:10:38,670 the future. They all focus on the uncertain and transitory. Whereas Seneca tells us to 124 00:10:38,670 --> 00:10:45,420 pay attention to our past. If we are to extend our life we must have enough self-awareness 125 00:10:45,420 --> 00:10:51,339 to remember the lessons of our past so that we can be more effective today. When you actually 126 00:10:51,339 --> 00:10:56,150 take a moment to stop and think, to comb through who you have been in the past, and really 127 00:10:56,150 --> 00:11:02,190 what made you that person, it’s pretty enlightening. Reflecting on your past and doing some serious 128 00:11:02,190 --> 00:11:08,220 introspection does the soul good. It helps you be present, and comprehend the changes 129 00:11:08,220 --> 00:11:13,730 within yourself that have occurred. Plus it gives you a clear, focused idea of who you 130 00:11:13,730 --> 00:11:19,310 are today, and who you want to be tomorrow. It even helps you take responsibility and 131 00:11:19,310 --> 00:11:25,230 ownership of yourself and your actions. Sometimes it can be difficult for you to see how far 132 00:11:25,230 --> 00:11:31,040 you’ve come, especially if you tend to compare yourself to others but spending time on reflecting 133 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:37,200 on your past gives you the space and time to see just how far you’ve come in life. 134 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:45,220 8. Stop wasting time in life’s trivialities As we learn from Seneca “If such people 135 00:11:45,220 --> 00:11:50,680 want to know how short their lives are, let them reflect how small a portion is their 136 00:11:50,680 --> 00:11:51,680 own” 137 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:57,300 We are all guilty of spending way too much of our time in trivialities. More and more 138 00:11:57,300 --> 00:12:02,670 of our time nowadays is spent starring at screens, either for work or on social media, 139 00:12:02,670 --> 00:12:07,860 trolling through yet more status updates and posting endless selfies. How often are we 140 00:12:07,860 --> 00:12:13,089 caught in giving our time to others for nothing more than the pursuit of monetary and social 141 00:12:13,089 --> 00:12:16,459 profit? Casually playing a video game with no particular 142 00:12:16,459 --> 00:12:22,449 merit is throwing time away, time you could be developing a useful skill, exercising or 143 00:12:22,449 --> 00:12:27,930 edifying yourself with literature, art or music. The same can be said of social media, 144 00:12:27,930 --> 00:12:32,529 like other open-ended forms of entertainment, social media is designed and optimised to 145 00:12:32,529 --> 00:12:33,930 consume your time. 146 00:12:33,930 --> 00:12:39,750 If people came up to you all day asking for 20 bucks you’d tell them to get lost. But 147 00:12:39,750 --> 00:12:44,430 people all day long come up to you weather in person or on the phone or via email or 148 00:12:44,430 --> 00:12:50,879 even sms to ask for your time. And you just hand it on over. We must be devoted to living 149 00:12:50,879 --> 00:12:56,420 for ourselves, at least most of the time. The person who says yes to everyone's requests 150 00:12:56,420 --> 00:13:00,709 will soon find that they have no time of their own, and that they are living for other people, 151 00:13:00,709 --> 00:13:05,560 not themselves. Those who are happy, fill their time with activities that are valuable 152 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:09,769 and meaningful to their own vision of his life. 153 00:13:09,769 --> 00:13:14,120 9. Invest your time creating new memories 154 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:19,389 To quote Seneca “You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile death will 155 00:13:19,389 --> 00:13:24,800 arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that” 156 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,579 If you give a rich man money, he will try to double his money by investing in places 157 00:13:28,579 --> 00:13:34,769 where he will get maximum returns. Similarly, we should all invest our time wisely and the 158 00:13:34,769 --> 00:13:39,370 best returns we can get with our time is by investing it in creating new memories and 159 00:13:39,370 --> 00:13:46,680 in philosophies. Seneca tells us that memory is more enduring than grief. We spend too 160 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:52,209 much of our time in chasing that makes our short life shorter like luxuries, leisure 161 00:13:52,209 --> 00:13:58,040 so that once we get old, we regret not living at all. “One of the enemies of happiness 162 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:04,350 is adaptation,” says Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University 163 00:14:04,350 --> 00:14:09,779 who has been studying the question of money and happiness for over two decades. Gilovich 164 00:14:09,779 --> 00:14:14,490 and other researchers have found that memories from life experiences—as fleeting as they 165 00:14:14,490 --> 00:14:20,830 may be—deliver more lasting happiness than things. Memories guide our thoughts, actions 166 00:14:20,830 --> 00:14:26,500 and decisions – they shape who we are. You can start creating new memories by taking 167 00:14:26,500 --> 00:14:33,050 on new challenges, by spending time with people you love, travelling, seeking new opportunities. 168 00:14:33,050 --> 00:14:37,540 Buying an Apple Watch isn’t gonna to change who you are; taking a break from work to hike 169 00:14:37,540 --> 00:14:43,510 the Appalachian Trail from start to finish most certainly will. We are not our possessions, 170 00:14:43,510 --> 00:14:47,750 but we are the accumulation of everything we’ve seen, the things we’ve done, and 171 00:14:47,750 --> 00:14:50,810 the places we’ve been. 172 00:14:50,810 --> 00:14:56,639 10. Invest your time in philosophies In our final piece of wisdom from Seneca for 173 00:14:56,639 --> 00:15:03,030 this video we learn “Of all people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, 174 00:15:03,030 --> 00:15:08,980 only those are really alive. For they not only keep a good watch over their own lifetimes, 175 00:15:08,980 --> 00:15:14,330 but they annex every age to theirs. All the years that have passed before them are added 176 00:15:14,330 --> 00:15:18,220 to their own”. Seneca points to the study of philosophy as 177 00:15:18,220 --> 00:15:23,680 the only worthwhile occupation of the mind and spirit - an invaluable teacher that helps 178 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:29,110 us learn how to inhabit our own selves fully in this “brief and transient spell” of 179 00:15:29,110 --> 00:15:36,730 existence and expands our short lives sideways, so that we may live wide rather than long. 180 00:15:36,730 --> 00:15:44,759 Philosopher means lover of wisdom”. Philosophy is a study of truth, virtue, life and death. 181 00:15:44,759 --> 00:15:49,480 Nothing in this world is permanent except the truth. The philosopher will always seek 182 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:55,029 to discover the truth of the way this world is and what our role is within it. You can 183 00:15:55,029 --> 00:16:00,660 start with reading. Good books have been written in the service of you. The knowledge and wisdom 184 00:16:00,660 --> 00:16:08,339 they hold is condensed time and that time compressed into their pages adds to your time. 185 00:16:08,339 --> 00:16:13,160 If you enjoyed this video, please do make sure to check out our Stoicism playlist and 186 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:17,819 for more videos to help you find success and happiness using ancient philosophical wisdom, 187 00:16:17,819 --> 00:16:21,360 don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much for watching.