There are many ways to practice Stoicism in our daily lives. My preferred method is to remember a few key principles and use them whenever my tranquility is disturbed. Most Stoic principles are interrelated. When you practice one, you practice many others with it. Here is a list to get you started. You can use these or make up your own.

1. Focus on what you can control

At the heart of Stoicism is a simple idea: focus on what you can control, and make peace with what you can’t. Our opinions, judgments, and actions are ours, while things like other people’s behaviour, traffic, or the weather are not. Stoicism in daily life often begins with noticing how much energy we waste fighting reality instead of responding wisely to it.

Daily practice: Whenever you are bothered by anything, ask yourself: What action or thought is under my control? Choose what is under your control and ignore what is not.

2. Pause and examine your impressions

Another reason for our disturbed state of mind is that we rush to judgment the moment someone says something or something happens. We don't pause and examine what exactly the situation is.

External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.47

Daily practice: If something disturbs you—such as an email going unanswered, a plan falling apart, or someone saying something irritating— pause and check your reactions. When something goes wrong, the Stoic move is to pause and ask yourself: Is this actually harming me, or is it my interpretation that’s causing the stress? You will realize the story of harm is created by your mistaken impressions. 

3. Separate judgment from emotion

We are often ruled by our emotions. We treat our actions based on emotions as well-thought-out judgments. As a result, we often feel frightened.

We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality. - Seneca, Moral Letters, 13

Daily practice: In daily life, pay attention to your emotions. Note how this shows up when we spiral over hypothetical futures—career anxiety, relationship worries, or imagined judgments from others. When this happens, bring yourself back to what’s real and present, rather than feeding mental catastrophes.

4. Live by values rather than moods

We are often swayed by our moods and forget to live by our values. Since it is our values, not our constantly changing moods, that contribute to our happiness, we should be aware of our values all the time.

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 10.16

Daily practice: Remind yourself of the values you want to live by. Every morning, remind yourself what is important and act honestly even when it’s inconvenient, be kind when it’s not rewarded, and show self-discipline when motivation fades.

5. Reflect on impermanence

The Stoics practiced memento mori, remembering that life is finite—not to be morbid, but to gain clarity. Marcus Aurelius reminds himself:

You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.11

Daily practice: Remind yourself that you are here for a short time. Do you want to live well, practicing the excellences of wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice, or do you want to lead a purposeless life?

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