The Stoics way to achieve your goals
So how would a Stoic coaching approach look like? How is it different and what are its unique benefits? The answer is quite simple: In a Stoic coaching framework the goal-setting is practical, disciplined, and we would focus on what is within your control. Whether seeking a job promotion, improving health, or mastering a skill, a Stoic would follow a structured plan to pursue the outcome without attachment to the result. Here’s a step by step approach on how you could work towards your goals.
Step 1: Define the Goal Clearly and Virtuously
Before setting a goal, a Stoic would ask: Is this goal aligned with wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance? Is the goal aligned with your own values? Are you clear about what specifically you would like to achieve and why? The pursuit must be honorable and contribute to your personal growth. If seeking a job promotion, for example, the focus should be on excelling in work, not just status or financial gain.
Step 2: Identify What Is Within Your Control
Stoics recognize that while they can influence events, they cannot control them. They break the goal into elements:
Within control: Effort, attitude, discipline, integrity, skill development.
Outside control: Employer decisions, market trends, office politics. By directing energy only toward controllable factors, they remain resilient and composed.
Step 3: Take Consistent, Virtuous Action
A Stoic would focus on daily actions that contribute to progress. It is the incremental, small steps which are done consistently that bring the desired results. If the goal is a promotion, a Stoic would:
Perform work diligently and with excellence.
Seek feedback and improve continuously.
Build strong, ethical relationships with colleagues.
Avoid shortcuts or unethical behavior. Each day, every interaction is an opportunity to practice virtue and move forward.
Step 4: Detach from the Outcome
Rather than obsessing over whether they will succeed, a Stoic remains indifferent to the final result. Seneca reminds us, “Cease to hope and you will cease to fear.” The effort itself is the measure of success, not external validation. This way we become more internally referenced focusing at how much effort we are putting in, setting our own standards to determine if we have done a good job or not. Unfortunately a lot of us rely heavily on external references - other people’s standards and the end results we are getting. However, if you focus on your own judgment of your performance you become more in control, more content and more successful.
Step 5: Use Obstacles as Opportunities
If faced with setbacks, a Stoic does not complain but adapts. Marcus Aurelius said, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Every challenge is a lesson:
Rejected for a promotion? Seek new skills or another opportunity.
Facing workplace difficulties? Use them to strengthen patience and resilience.
We all face challenges and these challenges are opportunities to learn and adapt. Indeed sometimes it is our own expectation that everything should be ‘easy’ that can get in the way. We are not owed anything. So how can we work with what we have and make the most out of it? If we focus too much on all our obstacles or the absence of these obstacles in the lives of our friends, colleagues or other people around us we lose sight of our own potential and what is possible for us. So don’t give away the control over your life, your power. Every obstacle is the way, your way forward. Work with it, lean into it, examine it, reflect on it, move with it and this becomes your way.
Step 6: Reflect and Adjust as Needed
Stoics practice daily reflection. They ask:
Did I act with wisdom and integrity today?
What could I improve tomorrow? This process ensures continuous growth and alignment with their values.
In fact, our busy lives prevent us from creating the space and the time to reflect. Stoics took the time to contemplate, to meditate, to create distance between thought, feeling and action. So before acting without thought, before simply following your pre-programmed behaviour or everyday pattern take a moment every day to pause, to really think about yourself, your life, your situation. Are you on track? Are you content with your life, the effort you're putting into your relationships, family, work? And based on your findings adjust your approach.
Step 7: Accept the Outcome with Equanimity
Whether they achieve the goal or not, a Stoic remains at peace. They trust that they have done their best and that external events do not determine their inner tranquility. They move forward with gratitude and readiness for the next challenge. Since a Stoic is detached from the outcome focusing on the process and the effort put in the outcome becomes irrelevant. Imagine you worked hard towards progressing your career. One outcome could be that your manager sees your work and gives you a promotion. However, it also could be that your manager does not acknowledge or reward your efforts. Whatever, the outcome you accept it with equanimity. You know you did well and that’s what matters.
Conclusion
A Stoic’s approach to achieving a goal is structured yet detached from results. They act with purpose, focus on what is within their control, embrace adversity, and prioritize virtue above all. In doing so, they succeed not just in external achievements but in mastering themselves—making them resilient, fulfilled, and always prepared for whatever comes next. This approach can be adapted in life and business. If you would like to learn the Stoic’s way and how it can benefit you feel free to reach out.