17 Dec - 23 Dec 2018
Not all that much to report this week. It was the usual scramble trying to complete as much as possible before the Christmas break. I spent Friday in Birmingham at the Library with Marc to do a quarterly review. I also treated myself to a late birthday present/early Christmas present — I got a series 4 Apple Watch.
Reading Progress
I’m still working my way through It doesn’t have to be crazy at work and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
I’ve also started The Soul of a Butterfly, an autobiography of sorts of Muhammad Ali.
A week in Stoicism
The fourth and final week of the SMRT training course brought in the premeditation of adversity, an exercise to help build resilience and longer-term well-being. Through repeatedly visualizing catastrophes, the aim is to become “comfortable” with it by practicing Stoic equanimity.
I didn’t practice it every day as it was a rather busy week, trying to clear the decks at work and other commitments of the season. I did find it to be a helpful exercise and I would like to build it into a regular routine.
Overall, I’ve found the course to be very helpful in becoming more aware and mindful of what triggers my daily stressors, and my habits and biases that I want to seek to correct.
Therefore train yourself without hesitation to say in response to every harsh appearance that “you are merely an appearance and in no way the thing appearing.”_ Epictetus
weeknotes