The Stoic Challenge

A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

By: William B. Irvine

Narrated by: Brian Troxell

A practical, refreshingly optimistic guide that uses centuries-old wisdom to help us better cope with the stresses of modern living.

Some people bounce back in response to setbacks; others break. We often think that these responses are hardwired, but fortunately this is not the case. Stoicism offers us an alternative approach. Plumbing the wisdom of one of the most popular and successful schools of thought from ancient Rome, philosopher William B. Irvine teaches us to turn any challenge on its head. The Stoic Challenge, then, is the ultimate guide to improving your quality of life through tactics developed by ancient Stoics, from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca to Epictetus.

This book uniquely combines ancient Stoic insights with techniques discovered by contemporary psychological research, such as anchoring and framing. The result is a surprisingly simple strategy for dealing with life’s unpleasant and unexpected challenges - from minor setbacks like being caught in a traffic jam or having a flight cancelled to major setbacks like those experienced by physicist Stephen Hawking, who slowly lost the ability to move, and writer Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered from locked-in syndrome.

The Stoics discovered that thinking of challenges as tests of character can dramatically alter our emotional response to them. Irvine’s updated “Stoic test strategy” teaches us how to transform life’s stumbling blocks into opportunities for becoming calmer, tougher, and more resilient. Not only can we overcome everyday obstacles - we can benefit from them, too.

©2019 William B. Irvine (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Dealing With Life's Challenges-Setbacks Reimagined

Part I was a great introduction and understanding to our own self importance and motivations with sharing setbacks or the tendency to "one-up" others who share their setbacks in life. I also found great perspective in the toughness training (Chapter 13) and negative visualization exercises mentioned a few places. That was less than half the audio. Some good takeaways, but not a title I will revisit.

Definitely recommend

My favorite self betterment books that I've read so far. It helped me better understand The Four Agreements as well.

The first 5 chapters are Okay, the rest is great.

I love the portions on framing and building mental toughness. Chapters 5-Conclusion are great. Can't wait for his next book.

listened to this 2x in one day

I had the speed set to 2x and restarted as soon as I finished it to get a 2nd chance to go through the concepts. I would love to see a reworking of this to be child-inclusive for families to take this information in together without mentions of concepts early elementary kids may not be ready for or that would disrupt listening for tangental conversations about concepts like rape & Santa. Without those topics included, I would listen to this with my 7 year old. I am making it required "reading" for my teen & tween.

Great Refresher for the Good Life

It’s a great way to refresh the Good Life training. If you haven’t read/listened to Irvine’s first book, I would read/listen to that first

Very inspiring!

The book covers basic stoic concepts and their applications. It uses stories and similes to illustrate ideas. It would have been nice to relate ideas to a more Writer and books, to my liking.

Very informative

Absolutely loved it. It was a wonderful introduction to the Stoic Test Theory which I fully plan to begin implementing in the same way that I did with meditation practice.

Life changing

Life changing. Practical, digestible & exceptionally valuable. Read this book if you want to become happier, more productive & more intentional with your life.

Helpful to those starting out

The author gives concrete examples of how to apply stoicism to one’s daily life. Some books I’ve read on the topic are too abstract for me to find immediately useful and might be directed towards more philosophically literate readers. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a practical guide to Stoicism.

Practical, Simple

I enjoyed this book and the practical, simple wisdom shared in it. Zero fluff. If you are looking for a way to onboard to Stoicism without getting bogged down with too much history, this is your book.