Stoicism is a school of philosophy originating in ancient Greece. Its central concern is how to remain inwardly steady in a world one cannot control. For Raymond Hou (Raymond), this is one of the few enduring reference points running through his work philosophy. Since 2020, he has publicly described Stoicism as “the underlying philosophy of life hacking,” and has repeatedly drawn on it in courses, interviews, and reflection tools. This entry describes the school itself, how it reached Raymond, and the role it plays in his thinking. For details on how Raymond has turned it into everyday methods, see Raymond’s Practice of Stoicism.
Overview of the school
Stoic philosophy holds that external events are neutral in themselves; what truly shapes a person’s emotions is their judgment of those events. Therefore, the focus of practice is not changing the world, but calibrating one’s own views and responses. It emphasizes reason and logic and has a clear system of principles. Raymond often places it alongside two neighboring schools of thought: Alfred Adler’s “separation of tasks,” and the Eastern traditions of Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Buddhism. He describes Stoicism as a way of living that is “like removing the religious part and retaining only the philosophical part,” and sees its greatest common ground with Laozi and Zhuangzi. The title of his 2020 article directly poses the claim that it is “more suitable for modern people than Adler,” arguing that separation of tasks deals with relational boundaries between people, while the Stoic dichotomy of control deals with boundaries of attention between people and events. The latter is the more scarce ability in an age of information overload.
Two core tools: the dichotomy of control and imagined experiments
Raymond draws two especially useful tools from Stoicism.
The first is the “dichotomy of control”: in any situation, first ask, “Is this within my control?” Handle what is controllable with full effort; accept what is not, without spending emotional energy on it. He summarizes this logic in eight Chinese characters: “Respond when things come; let the past go without holding on.” He points out that most worries created from nothing come from directing attention toward things that cannot be changed.1
The second is the action-oriented side of Stoicism, which he calls “imagined experiments” or the experimental spirit: deliberately live through a period of poverty, go for several weeks without complaining, or imagine in advance that disaster has befallen oneself, in order to train one’s character. He sums this up as “Whatever you fear, go experience it.” Whether one undergoes the experience or first imagines it in one’s mind, the purpose is to gain a little certainty amid uncertainty. How these two tools were adapted into his “three-part control model” and combined with AI-assisted reflection is documented in The Problem Analysis Method and Raymond’s Practice of Stoicism.
How the ideas reached Raymond
Raymond’s Stoic influences came from reading and modern popularizers, rather than academic training. His earliest systematic synthesis grew out of Joseph Reagle’s book Hacking Life. In 2020, he spent more than three months breaking the book down into nine articles; the final article concluded with Stoicism, positioning it as the underlying philosophy of life hackers. Stories and quotations in the book about the dichotomy of control often reached his articles through Wan Weigang’s retelling, such as Jeff’s story of having his wallet stolen on the Rome subway and still going on to have a good day. Raymond also cites Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, who called Stoicism a “personal operating system,” as validation for his own tool-oriented interpretation. This transmission path reflects Raymond’s attitude: he does not examine the original meaning by studying an entire set of classical texts; he “only takes what can be used and applies it to himself.” This echoes Reagle’s observation about life hackers: they are not concerned with the original intentions of the sages, but want to solve problems in their own lives.
Extended through Ryan Holiday
In recent years, Raymond has treated Ryan Holiday as a leading example of turning Stoicism into content. In a 2025 article, he analyzed how Holiday packaged this ancient philosophy as material that modern people can put into practice, building a content ecosystem across books, newsletters, podcasts, and a physical bookstore around the four virtues of courage, self-discipline, justice, and wisdom.2 For Raymond, Holiday validates two things that matter to him: Stoicism remains useful as an action strategy for dealing with uncertainty, and when everyone is chasing new trends, choosing the seemingly outdated position of “the modern application of ancient wisdom” can create a niche amid competition. This gives Stoicism an additional layer of meaning in Raymond’s thinking: it is both a personal philosophy and a business example of long-term thinking and focused niche-building, corroborating his arguments in Super Individual and From Ordinary Person to Life Hacker to Super Individual.
Raymond’s stance and reservations
Raymond’s approach to Stoicism is consistently practical, and he recognizes that this way of reading comes at a cost. He cites a question raised by critics in Reagle’s book: is it really right to use the wisdom of the ancients merely as a tool? His answer is that there is no absolutely correct way to operate in life, only trade-offs. Being aware that a tool has limits and costs is itself a form of practicing the Stoic spirit. He does not argue that everyone should live this way. Instead, he keeps Stoicism as a reference he can draw on when deciding where to spend his energy.
Sources cited
Footnotes
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Hou Zhixun, “Stoic Philosophy: More Suitable for Modern People Than Adler? The Dichotomy of Control and Imagined Experiments,” WordPress, 2020-11-02. View original ↩
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Hou Zhixun, “Who Is Ryan Holiday? From College Dropout to Bestselling Author, Building a Stoic Content Empire with the Commonplace Book Method,” WordPress, 2025-09-23. View original ↩