the story I want to tell you today is
about an ancient philosophy called
stoicism and its applicability for our
daily lives today especially when it
comes to set your goals wisely for
reason of expectation management I want
to say some words to who I am and what I
am NOT so I’m another researcher I’m not
an academic and I’m not a philosopher
but I am a marketeer I’m a digital
expert and sort of a stoic layman most
of all I have almost 40 years of trial
and error a humanistic education and I
take quite a good horse sense but today
we would cook a Greek happy meal
together at ancient times philosophies
were schools of life where the parents
sent our children to to be educated for
a successful life let’s meet our
protagonists of our TEDx play were
setting back to 2,000 years around 300
and peace 300 BC two schools two
philosophies were founded one is
stoicism by sino and the other is
Epicureanism by Epicurus I show both
schools because they they’re very famous
there and they influenced our lives for
centuries to this day but they’re
somewhat contradictory below you see
probably the the the most famous Stoics
of all time on the left side you see
Seneca today we would say that he led a
life of an investment banker he became
very rich then he was banished from Rome
because of adultery then he became very
rich again he was advisor to the Emperor
Nero and finally it was sentenced to
death in the middle you see Epictetus
epictetus was born as a slave and we
when he obtained his freedom he started
to teach philosophy in Rome he opened a
school and well he got banished as well
I could see a pattern there but he got
banished because the the Emperor the
Emperor at the time demission demission
banished all philosophers out of Rome
probably because they gained too much
influence in society and last but not
least you have Marcus Aurelius he’s been
one of the most appreciated Roman
Empire’s Roman emperors at the peak of
the empire now you might ask but those
guys have to say when it comes to modern
age problems like online behavior and
stress called by digitalization let’s
make one example three hundred and fifty
thousand tweets per minute a half a
billion a day who can cope with that’s
an enormous enormous amount of
information Seneca could answer with one
of his very clever saying sayings life
you receive is not short but you make it
so well that might be true and very wise
but it actually doesn’t help much so
before we start to cure symptoms we
should understand some underlying
mechanisms and ask us if we really have
a problem caused by digitalization or
another stress level caused by
digitalization let’s take addictions for
example addictions to substances there
naked lis destructive and the other hand
there are many behavioral addictions
which are quietly destructive and often
act wrapped in cloaks of creation and I
show this picture because the famous
game probably everybody knows them and
knows it and it’s one of the most
addictive of all times and here’s a
powerful misconception the illusion of
progress will sustain you while you gain
will require a higher level higher
scores you require more followers on
Facebook or you improve your skills
playing the game an experiment done with
pigeons in the 1950s called Skinner box
has shown us that brains are releasing
far more dopamine when the reward was
unexpected but when it was predictable
the rule of the pigeon game was very
simple we push a button you get a reward
but when they changed that rule that
showed a completely other picture a
pigeon tapped a whopping eighty seven
thousand times over a period of 14 hours
that’s tacked back back on that button
when the reward was only released less
than 1% of the time and in 2012 a bunch
of Silicon Valley web developers
unleashed a similar feedback experiment
but this time with hundreds of millions
of human beings the experiment took the
form of a deceptively simple new feature
called the like button since the likes
you get for your photos and stories are
unpredictable and the release of
dopamine is higher and well the swiping
on tinder is as close to the Skinner
Park as it gets so we might admit that
there is a higher level of stress
factors cost from the digital age the
digitalization there are even studies
saying that we’re facing a mental health
crisis for a generation said in a recent
study Millennials were asked what their
most important life goals are 80% of the
youngsters answered I want to become
rich another 50% of the same people
answered I want to become famous and in
addition to that we constantly tell our
selves ourselves and our youngster that
with heart of our givenchy achieve
everything you can achieve achieve your
dreams and make it make your dreams come
true well be aware of the golden carats
you set yourself in front of your nose
because some of the goals are nearly
impossible we we set ourselves but what
is it that really keeps us happy and
healthy as we go through our digital
life we have to state one thing to make
one thing very clear one cannot be
deliriously happy all the time even some
people on some media or Dionysus or the
Roman Bacchus tells us otherwise we see
him here having one of his decadent
orgies the hedonic treadmill states that
regardless of what happens to someone
the level of happiness returned to the
baseline after a certain time so no
matter if you lose your job no matter if
you win the lottery move into a new
house or on the other hand lose your job
and lose your house after a certain time
you will you will return to the setpoint
of happiness so wanting more and more
and more and aiming higher in your life
can’t be the goal or the means to become
happy Epicurus was very aware of that
fact when he said nothing is enough for
the man whom enough is too little but
now let’s start to cook the Greek happy
meal together here you see one of the
main ingredients and what I’m going to
tell you now might appear disturbing and
some somewhat counterintuitive
it’s called negative visualization whom
of you have a dog at home you know those
days it’s raining outside you have to
get up early or under a lot of stress
and you have to take your dog for a walk
can be annoying
for instance just imagine for a couple
of seconds that you beloved dog becomes
terribly sick or even die is tomorrow
this exercise is not more than a mental
trick but it works very well it shifts
your current position being under stress
and annoying towards gratitude and maybe
you get up the next morning still
raining outside easier to take a dog for
a walk or when he stands in front of you
wagging his tail with a favorite toy in
his mouth and wants to start to play you
close your laptop once more your
consciousness understands that your dog
is not a matter of course this leads to
the next ingredient for a happy life
according to the Stoics friendship
Epicurus put it that way of all the
things which wished wisdom provides to
make us entirely happy much the greatest
is the possession of friendship Harvard
Medical School started a study 75 years
ago a companioning young people from
different social classes interviewing
them about their status of happiness and
their feelings the clearest message we
got from that study is good
relationships keep us happier and
healthier . so we should actually be the
most happy the happiest people of all
times having thousands of friends on
Facebook and other social media networks
and being connected to the half of the
globe even to that a Roman friend Seneca
had an answer
he said everywhere means nowhere when a
person spends all his time in foreign
travels or surfing the internet he ends
by having many acquaintances but now
friends if you’re in your kitchen trying
to cook your Greek happy meal and have
to choose ones one one kitchen – let it
be the cooking
spoon the dichotomy of control is one of
the most useful and effective tools in
stoicism Epictetus explains it very
simply some things are up to us and some
are not up to us so we should focus not
on things we have not under on our
control like the weather the past or
death on the contrary we should invest
all our energy in things which actually
are under our control like our
relationships our opinions and our goals
that’s where our actions are meaningful
and can have an impact the next cooking
tool is called self-denial sometimes I
have to cut things off the so exhausted
and to regularly practice self-denial if
thou wilt make a man happy AB not on to
his riches but take away from his
desires
Seneca said pepakura said sorry and
Seneca for instance added to sleep on a
hard cold floor and where basic clothes
from time to time he’s the rich
investment banker so instead of asking
what we can add we should ask what we
can remove to be happier whom of you
takes cold showers in the morning
besides that it’s very healthy for your
body you know how to really appreciate a
hot shower from time to time right
another idea is leave your smartphone on
your desk in your office overnight or
put it in airplane mode and one thing I
particularly like is to navigate through
a city like darn barren not knowing
where to go and not using Google Maps so
you have to go by memory or even ask
real people this helps to move your
comfort zone and test what you really
need in your life to be happy
and most important but you’re only
afraid to lose
Seneca said we are more often frightened
than hurt and we suffer more in
imagination than in reality the kitchen
tools and ingredients I showed you today
the negative visualization good
relationships dichotomy of control and
self-denial could help you to cook your
your own happy meal at home and there is
one particular thing I have learned from
the Stoics always set your goals wisely
goals we set are so hard to achieve or
even impossible and therefore that is
very disappointing and on the other hand
we set goals which are too way too easy
to achieve and therefore they’re not
fulfilling and that’s as well where the
great mantra of digitalization comes in
make our life easier every new digital
device did it device every new digital
service comes with the allure of
liberating you from from wasting time
but serotonin and dopamine our feel-good
neurotransmitters of the happiness
spices in our meal are only released
when three conditions are fulfilled our
daily tasks have to be meaningful so
that it really means something to you
they have to be desirable to really want
to do them and last but not least they
have to be feasible you have to be
coupled capable to do them well do we
have to bring back a grain of resistance
and pain into our lives let me end with
the words of Marcus Aurelius who said
the art of living is more like wrestling
than dancing thank you very much [Applause]
about an ancient philosophy called
stoicism and its applicability for our
daily lives today especially when it
comes to set your goals wisely for
reason of expectation management I want
to say some words to who I am and what I
am NOT so I’m another researcher I’m not
an academic and I’m not a philosopher
but I am a marketeer I’m a digital
expert and sort of a stoic layman most
of all I have almost 40 years of trial
and error a humanistic education and I
take quite a good horse sense but today
we would cook a Greek happy meal
together at ancient times philosophies
were schools of life where the parents
sent our children to to be educated for
a successful life let’s meet our
protagonists of our TEDx play were
setting back to 2,000 years around 300
and peace 300 BC two schools two
philosophies were founded one is
stoicism by sino and the other is
Epicureanism by Epicurus I show both
schools because they they’re very famous
there and they influenced our lives for
centuries to this day but they’re
somewhat contradictory below you see
probably the the the most famous Stoics
of all time on the left side you see
Seneca today we would say that he led a
life of an investment banker he became
very rich then he was banished from Rome
because of adultery then he became very
rich again he was advisor to the Emperor
Nero and finally it was sentenced to
death in the middle you see Epictetus
epictetus was born as a slave and we
when he obtained his freedom he started
to teach philosophy in Rome he opened a
school and well he got banished as well
I could see a pattern there but he got
banished because the the Emperor the
Emperor at the time demission demission
banished all philosophers out of Rome
probably because they gained too much
influence in society and last but not
least you have Marcus Aurelius he’s been
one of the most appreciated Roman
Empire’s Roman emperors at the peak of
the empire now you might ask but those
guys have to say when it comes to modern
age problems like online behavior and
stress called by digitalization let’s
make one example three hundred and fifty
thousand tweets per minute a half a
billion a day who can cope with that’s
an enormous enormous amount of
information Seneca could answer with one
of his very clever saying sayings life
you receive is not short but you make it
so well that might be true and very wise
but it actually doesn’t help much so
before we start to cure symptoms we
should understand some underlying
mechanisms and ask us if we really have
a problem caused by digitalization or
another stress level caused by
digitalization let’s take addictions for
example addictions to substances there
naked lis destructive and the other hand
there are many behavioral addictions
which are quietly destructive and often
act wrapped in cloaks of creation and I
show this picture because the famous
game probably everybody knows them and
knows it and it’s one of the most
addictive of all times and here’s a
powerful misconception the illusion of
progress will sustain you while you gain
will require a higher level higher
scores you require more followers on
Facebook or you improve your skills
playing the game an experiment done with
pigeons in the 1950s called Skinner box
has shown us that brains are releasing
far more dopamine when the reward was
unexpected but when it was predictable
the rule of the pigeon game was very
simple we push a button you get a reward
but when they changed that rule that
showed a completely other picture a
pigeon tapped a whopping eighty seven
thousand times over a period of 14 hours
that’s tacked back back on that button
when the reward was only released less
than 1% of the time and in 2012 a bunch
of Silicon Valley web developers
unleashed a similar feedback experiment
but this time with hundreds of millions
of human beings the experiment took the
form of a deceptively simple new feature
called the like button since the likes
you get for your photos and stories are
unpredictable and the release of
dopamine is higher and well the swiping
on tinder is as close to the Skinner
Park as it gets so we might admit that
there is a higher level of stress
factors cost from the digital age the
digitalization there are even studies
saying that we’re facing a mental health
crisis for a generation said in a recent
study Millennials were asked what their
most important life goals are 80% of the
youngsters answered I want to become
rich another 50% of the same people
answered I want to become famous and in
addition to that we constantly tell our
selves ourselves and our youngster that
with heart of our givenchy achieve
everything you can achieve achieve your
dreams and make it make your dreams come
true well be aware of the golden carats
you set yourself in front of your nose
because some of the goals are nearly
impossible we we set ourselves but what
is it that really keeps us happy and
healthy as we go through our digital
life we have to state one thing to make
one thing very clear one cannot be
deliriously happy all the time even some
people on some media or Dionysus or the
Roman Bacchus tells us otherwise we see
him here having one of his decadent
orgies the hedonic treadmill states that
regardless of what happens to someone
the level of happiness returned to the
baseline after a certain time so no
matter if you lose your job no matter if
you win the lottery move into a new
house or on the other hand lose your job
and lose your house after a certain time
you will you will return to the setpoint
of happiness so wanting more and more
and more and aiming higher in your life
can’t be the goal or the means to become
happy Epicurus was very aware of that
fact when he said nothing is enough for
the man whom enough is too little but
now let’s start to cook the Greek happy
meal together here you see one of the
main ingredients and what I’m going to
tell you now might appear disturbing and
some somewhat counterintuitive
it’s called negative visualization whom
of you have a dog at home you know those
days it’s raining outside you have to
get up early or under a lot of stress
and you have to take your dog for a walk
can be annoying
for instance just imagine for a couple
of seconds that you beloved dog becomes
terribly sick or even die is tomorrow
this exercise is not more than a mental
trick but it works very well it shifts
your current position being under stress
and annoying towards gratitude and maybe
you get up the next morning still
raining outside easier to take a dog for
a walk or when he stands in front of you
wagging his tail with a favorite toy in
his mouth and wants to start to play you
close your laptop once more your
consciousness understands that your dog
is not a matter of course this leads to
the next ingredient for a happy life
according to the Stoics friendship
Epicurus put it that way of all the
things which wished wisdom provides to
make us entirely happy much the greatest
is the possession of friendship Harvard
Medical School started a study 75 years
ago a companioning young people from
different social classes interviewing
them about their status of happiness and
their feelings the clearest message we
got from that study is good
relationships keep us happier and
healthier . so we should actually be the
most happy the happiest people of all
times having thousands of friends on
Facebook and other social media networks
and being connected to the half of the
globe even to that a Roman friend Seneca
had an answer
he said everywhere means nowhere when a
person spends all his time in foreign
travels or surfing the internet he ends
by having many acquaintances but now
friends if you’re in your kitchen trying
to cook your Greek happy meal and have
to choose ones one one kitchen – let it
be the cooking
spoon the dichotomy of control is one of
the most useful and effective tools in
stoicism Epictetus explains it very
simply some things are up to us and some
are not up to us so we should focus not
on things we have not under on our
control like the weather the past or
death on the contrary we should invest
all our energy in things which actually
are under our control like our
relationships our opinions and our goals
that’s where our actions are meaningful
and can have an impact the next cooking
tool is called self-denial sometimes I
have to cut things off the so exhausted
and to regularly practice self-denial if
thou wilt make a man happy AB not on to
his riches but take away from his
desires
Seneca said pepakura said sorry and
Seneca for instance added to sleep on a
hard cold floor and where basic clothes
from time to time he’s the rich
investment banker so instead of asking
what we can add we should ask what we
can remove to be happier whom of you
takes cold showers in the morning
besides that it’s very healthy for your
body you know how to really appreciate a
hot shower from time to time right
another idea is leave your smartphone on
your desk in your office overnight or
put it in airplane mode and one thing I
particularly like is to navigate through
a city like darn barren not knowing
where to go and not using Google Maps so
you have to go by memory or even ask
real people this helps to move your
comfort zone and test what you really
need in your life to be happy
and most important but you’re only
afraid to lose
Seneca said we are more often frightened
than hurt and we suffer more in
imagination than in reality the kitchen
tools and ingredients I showed you today
the negative visualization good
relationships dichotomy of control and
self-denial could help you to cook your
your own happy meal at home and there is
one particular thing I have learned from
the Stoics always set your goals wisely
goals we set are so hard to achieve or
even impossible and therefore that is
very disappointing and on the other hand
we set goals which are too way too easy
to achieve and therefore they’re not
fulfilling and that’s as well where the
great mantra of digitalization comes in
make our life easier every new digital
device did it device every new digital
service comes with the allure of
liberating you from from wasting time
but serotonin and dopamine our feel-good
neurotransmitters of the happiness
spices in our meal are only released
when three conditions are fulfilled our
daily tasks have to be meaningful so
that it really means something to you
they have to be desirable to really want
to do them and last but not least they
have to be feasible you have to be
coupled capable to do them well do we
have to bring back a grain of resistance
and pain into our lives let me end with
the words of Marcus Aurelius who said
the art of living is more like wrestling
than dancing thank you very much [Applause]
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