Training

Practices

Exercises for training judgement, desire, action, and attention. They follow diagnosis; they are not generic productivity rituals pasted onto every problem.

A practice is useful only when it trains a principle the student actually needs. The Classroom therefore links each exercise to the relevant principle and back toward primary texts instead of presenting exercises as detached Stoic hacks.
01

Separate the event from the judgement

Write the external event in one sentence using only observable facts. Then write the judgement you added to it. Ask which part is the event and which part is your claim about its meaning or value.

TrainsJudgement and assent.
Principle · Enchiridion 5
02

Inventory what is yours

For the problem in front of you, list your judgements, intentions, choices, and actions separately from outcomes, reputation, other people, and circumstances. Do not use this to pretend externals are irrelevant; use it to identify where moral agency actually sits.

TrainsControl and prohairesis.
Principle · Enchiridion 1
03

Delay assent

When a charged impression arrives, name it as an impression before deciding that it is true. Give yourself enough space to ask what evidence supports the judgement and what alternative account is possible.

TrainsImpressions and assent.
Principle · Explore primary texts
04

Audit desire and aversion

Choose one recurring fear or craving. Ask what outcome you are demanding, what you believe would be terrible if denied, and whether you have attached your peace of mind to something that is not wholly yours.

TrainsDesire and aversion.
Principle · Enchiridion 2
05

Rehearse the role before the encounter

Before a difficult meeting, conversation, or duty, decide what excellent conduct in your role would require from you regardless of how the other person behaves. Enter the situation with that standard already chosen.

TrainsRoles and action.
Principle · Explore primary texts
06

Review the day by judgement, not outcome

At the end of the day, examine where you assented too quickly, demanded an external result, acted beneath your role, or corrected yourself well. Measure progress by the quality of your judgement and action, not by whether circumstances rewarded you.

TrainsProgress across the curriculum.
Principle · Return to the Library
These are Classroom-authored training forms, not quotations from Epictetus and not claims that he prescribed these exact modern worksheets. Where a primary-text connection is not yet verified against the processed corpus, the practice links to the Library rather than fabricating a precise citation.