As I have mentioned several times in the past few weeks, these are difficult times. The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down. People are dying. Businesses are failing. Economies are heading towards recession. Everyone - literally everyone in the world - has been adversely affected by the pandemic.
Leaders everywhere are struggling to find the right thing to say, as well as the right time to say it. It’s hard enough to be a leader under normal circumstances, let alone during times of crisis. At times like these, it’s important for leaders to take time to reflect, relax, and recharge. Whether it’s spending time alone writing in a journal, exercising, praying, or reading, spending some thoughtful time alone at the end of a busy day is an important part of leadership.
Lately, I have found solace in reading about the ancient Stoic philosophers. Seneca, once said, “Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.” A (very) brief history lesson is appropriate here. Seneca (often called Seneca the Younger) lived from 4 BC to AD 65 during the time of the ancient Roman Empire. He was exiled to the island of Cordoba in AD 41 by the emperor Claudius (for reportedly having an adulterous affair), returning in AD 54 to serve as a tutor to Nero. Seneca later served as one of Nero's advisors once he became emperor. Seneca was forced to take his own life for allegedly conspiring to assassinate the corrupt Nero, though historians suggest that he was likely to have been innocent in this plot. Throughout his life, Seneca lived according to the precepts of the Stoic philosophy, and his letters and essays have been read throughout history and to the present.
What exactly did Seneca mean in the quote above, and what can we learn from him today? The Stoics would teach us that there's no point in worrying about the future. It will happen no matter what, and there's a good chance that we will have absolutely no control over it. In other words, why spend your time worrying about things that you can't control? When will the pandemic end? Will there be a so-called "second wave" of coronavirus infections? When will schools and businesses be allowed to resume normal operations? When will the economy recover? The Stoics would have us ask ourselves, first, "Are the answers to these questions within your locus of control?" If not, Seneca (and other Stoic philosophers) would tell us that we shouldn't spend our time worrying about them.
Seneca also says that we would perhaps do better to learn from the past. I have talked about this before (see most recently "...all of this has happened before" and "Study the Past"). It's easy to discount the past as the past, but there are clear lessons for all of us in what has happened before our time. For example, several individuals have been warning of a worldwide pandemic for at least the past decade. Would you believe that shortly after the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic of 2003, scientists predicted that a similar coronavirus would cause even worse disease in the future? Once the world recovers from the current COVID-19 pandemic (and we will recover), we MUST learn from our past mistakes so that we can be better prepared for the future.
Lastly, Seneca suggests that we should not neglect the present. We live in the here and now. And how we go about living our lives matters, now and in the future. How we react to COVID-19 matters. Unfortunately, we haven't always reacted in a humane way (witness the increase in prejudice against Asian Americans shortly after COVID-19 started spreading out of China).
I have found solace in the ancient writings of Seneca. There is a lot to unpack in this one quote. Basically, learn from the past, live for today, and don't worry about the future.
I learned the stoic philosophy from an interesting source: my experience at Toyota. One of the first lessons that my Japanese advisor, Miwa-san, instructed me was to focus on what I can control and not to worry or complain about others. This mindset was drilled into every employee and that culture allowed workers to do the seemingly impossible at times. I can't tell you how many times our project teams accomplished an objective that early on seemed unattainable.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to bring that mindset and training to the health care industry.
Thanks for your reply! There is so much that we cannot control during this COVID-19 pandemic. But in the words of Ryan Holiday, author of "The Daily Stoic" blog, "We control whether we hold our heads high. We control whether we help our neighbors. We control whether we contribute to the panic or not. We control whether we take care of ourselves and take precautions." In short, we control our attitude and our response! Stay safe and be well my friend!
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