This video is sponsored by Babbel. Babel is an ad free and the number 1 language
learning app used by over 10 million users worldwide. We will talk more about Babbel at the end
of the video but for now let’s get on with 7 ways to change your life from the philosophy
of Friedrich Nietzsche. Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most unusual
philosophers, who succeeds to shock the world even today. He wrote several books, including “Thus
Spoke Zarathustra”, “Beyond Good and Evil”, “The Birth of Tragedy”, and “The Twilight
of the Idols” and his ideas have shaken the foundations of human society on many aspects
such as culture, religion, philosophy, literature, psychology. He was one of the biggest precursors of existentialism
and his teachings can guide us in bettering ourselves,
in gaining confidence while facing the difficulties of life, helping us become stronger, freer
and happier. More importantly, his teachings help us to
shape our own lives in the way we please. To help you understand the ways in which his
ideas can change your life, here are 7 habits we can adopt from the philosophy of Friedrich
Nietzsche: 1. Spend more time alone
Nietzsche says: “I go into solitude so as not to drink out of everybody's cistern. When I am among the many I live as the many
do, and I do not think as I really think. After a time it always seems as though they
want to banish myself from myself and rob me of my soul.” Philosophers are often perceived as wise and
lonely creatures. And it seems that Nietzsche was no exception. Although Nietzsche enjoyed great moments of
popularity when he was a young professor at Basel, he only got fully acquainted with his
true inner self, when he was wandering alone in the Alpine mountains. Nietzsche believed that in social life, we
tend to copy one another so much, that as a result it is often difficult to understand
what is truly unique to you. We need to take more time alone to explore
our inner world. According to Nietzsche, solitude can be approached
in three different ways: 1) by avoiding being surrounded by people, 2) by focusing more
on creative activities like personal hobbies and 3) by meditating on life’s meaning and
analyzing ourselves. Others can steal a lot of time from our lives
and we need to make time alone a priority to meditate, to read a book which speaks to
our soul, to walk in nature, to plan our life. One hour each morning and a few hours each
weekend in which you can be by yourself can make a huge difference to your life. However, we should not fall to the other extreme,
of being lonely. There is a difference between solitude and
loneliness, the latter being the state of being alone, and having an intense desire
to be with other people. So, remember to make a conscious choice to
ride solo from time to time and enjoy your own company. 2. Mind your own business
Nietzsche says: “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and
the only way, it does not exist.” Nietzsche was one advocate of perspectivism,
the world view that says that since each of us sees the world differently, there is no
correct way to live your life as others really cannot see the world as you do. All of us have different lives and different
life experiences, it results in different judgements, opinions and emotions which results
in different actions. Thus, what we all have are called ‘’subjective
truths’’ and we must realize that they do not necessarily represent reality. Somebody born in a Sub-Saharan country, for
example, might see the world very differently from somebody born in Singapore. As there is no objective reality, it is important
to stop trying to convince others that our point of view is right as there is nothing
“right” or “true”, there is only our perception. We are all biased in one way or another and,
to make our lives easier, it is better to give up the desire to categorize things as
good or bad. In essence, everything is relative. To apply this Nietzschean lesson in our lives,
we should be more humble, and stop pretending that we have the final answers to what is
true or not, what is good or evil, our life is a journey and each step a new discovery. Therefore, next time when you feel the impulse
to criticize somebody for their opinions or who they are, you should stop for a few moments
to reflect on this. It is very easy to dismiss an opposing view
or different lifestyle as ‘wrong’ simply because it is not in line with one’s personal
beliefs, but most of the time these choices have little-to-no impact on our own lives
and as such we should not engage in the debate, and instead mind our own business. 3. Follow your own plans
Nietzsche tells us: “He who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures.” According to Nietzsche, freedom is not a given
right, it is a faculty that must be exercised. By being lazy in exercising this faculty,
we might fall into the trap of following other people and groups which he termed the herd
mentality, instead of following ourselves, our true instincts and reason. When faced with an unpleasant situation, most
people try to get away with the smallest energy expenditure possible, being too lazy to think
for themselves as it is much easier to follow somebody else, a group, which tells you what
is right and wrong, how you should behave, and even who you are. Thinking for yourself requires a great deal
of mental fortitude, strength, and discipline; a level of effort few people choose to put
in. We need to listen to Nietzsche and make the
effort to be disciplined, to listen to our inner voice, our reason and act according
to our own values and principles. In other words, we need to obey ourselves
first before acting in society. We might start doing so by having a real introspection,
discovering who we really are, what we need to do in order to be happy, what kind of job
would be appropriate to our skills and goals in life, what kind of person we should be
in a relationship with, where we want to be in 10 years time. Starting with these answers, we can create
a long term plan and we need to review this plan frequently, to make sure we don’t deviate
from it. We can change our plans from time to time,
but when we do, we need to make sure the change was not dictated by somebody else’s goal
for us, but by a change in our inner selves. 4. Choose reality over religion
To quote Nietzsche: “In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with
reality at any point.” An essential aspect of Nietzsche’s philosophy
is his criticism of religion, of Christianity in particular. In the past, followers of Christianity generally
took the words of the Bible literally, including the chapters of Genesis and the Apocalypse. Nowadays, many believers don’t take the
Bible at face value, but rather interpret it in their own ways or according to their
community, trying to find meaning and wisdom that is in-step with our modern-day sensibilities. But Nietzsche saw the rift between religion
and reality, aggressively blaming religion for not only sugar-coating reality, but also
for distorting it. One of the main theses of Nietzsche’s philosophy
is that Christianity is born out of resentment towards the ruling classes. He saw it as creating an illusory reality
and morality in order to attack the ruling class at a time when Christians were amongst
the poor classes of society at the fringes of a powerful Roman empire. In time, after seeing the potential of this
new religion, the very men of power Christianity formed in protest of, started to use it to
further keep the masses under control. Nietzsche advises us to stay away from religion,
as it is a way to take us away from reality, to control us, injecting ourselves with a
slave mentality and morality. For every claim you hear, you need to look
for its proof, for its basis in reality, you need to be able to see the facts, not only
the stories attached to those facts and you need to reject those stories which the facts
contradict. For example, if your community believes that
seeing a black cat crossing the street is bad luck, you should research and test this
claim, perhaps observing the occurrences of seeing a black cat and correlating it with
the events that took place in your life in the days immediately before and after. With this evidence you can start to draw your
own conclusions about the veracity of that superstition. The same approach can be taken with any kind
of belief or superstition. 5. Follow your intuition
In the words of Nietzsche: “Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker,
emptier and simpler.” Nietzsche focused mostly on intuition and
gut instincts, sometimes seeing himself more as a psychologist rather than a philosopher,
confessing he can “smell” if somebody is not authentic. He considered that our thoughts are controlled
by our feelings. For example, when we make a decision, we sometimes
feel we just follow our logical reasoning, but actually it's our mind that tricks us
as our thought process is influenced by our feelings including desire, fear, anxiety. Considering this view of a thought as a shadow
of our feelings, in order to really know ourselves and others, we should rather rely on our intuition
and instincts when it comes to making important decisions in our life. Oftentimes we are not aware of what makes
us act as we act and logic cannot help us because our mind is corrupted by our feelings. To live an authentic life, in line with who
we really are, we need to start trusting our instincts and intuition more, because they
are meant to push us to obtain the things that we really desire and to avoid the things
we fear. One effective way to take a deep look inside
our feelings is to learn to pay more attention to our emotions. A few times every day, stop what you are doing
and ask yourself “how am I feeling right now?”, “what can I do to improve my emotional
state?” Also, when confronting some tough decisions,
you can ask yourself “do I feel alright with the actions of my spouse, my boss, or
colleague?”. If not, you need to take action to let them
know something bothers you. Or you can ask yourself “would I feel happier
if I take this action instead of another like moving to another city and so on. Getting in touch with your emotional side
can help you better navigate your way through life’s problems and tough decisions. 6. Use envy to your advantage
Nietzsche teaches us to: “Look at who you envy, that is the person you should aim to
be.” For Nietzsche, envy is a positive feeling,
that forces us to accelerate our self-development. This is in line with many other of his teachings,
gravitating around the idea that it is better to face your inside monsters rather than hide
them under the carpet. Becoming conscious of everything you fear
and are anxious about is important for maintaining your psychological health. Some motivational or spiritual gurus advise
us to completely suppress our feelings of envy, suggesting we should behave in a peaceful
way, being kind with everybody, avoiding conflict even with ourselves and ignoring negative
feelings, covering them with a smiley face. But this is at complete opposition with what
Nietzsche believed. He was against repressing emotions, even if
they are negative. We have to explore them, finding them a positive
application in our lives. Instead of ignoring the feeling of envy, you
should rather use the people you envy as your role models. Instead of trashing them and having resentment,
it is better to try to imitate them, to learn from the way they speak and act and find out
what triggers their success in life. Think of all the celebrities you envy, as
well as your acquaintances or even friends you have a gram of envy towards and ask yourself
what are they doing differently? Do they have an advantage in life that you
don’t? How can you compensate for this? What can you do on a daily basis to progress
towards being like them? Maybe you envy one of your workplace colleagues,
who always looks stunning, dressed in expensive clothes, garnering perpetual praise and salary
raises, seemingly without any effort. Perhaps it’s not their looks, but their
friendly and relaxed attitude that makes people more attracted to them. Instead of complaining about the unfair treatment
between you and them, it is better to face the harsh reality that you might lack the
social skills and positive attitude that can push you further up the ladder of success. You might need to listen to more self-development
content, read more books on how to increase your social skills and likeability, or buy
new clothes that make you feel more confident. Rather than keeping your anger and resentment
inside, use your envy as a motivational tool to bring you more success in life. 7. Find happiness in the little things
In our final quote from Nietzsche for this video, he says: “How little it takes to
make us happy! The sound of a bagpipe. Without music, life would be a mistake. The German even imagines God as singing songs.” Like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche placed music
on the top of the most elevated experiences one can live. Good music is not to excite our senses, but
to transcend our spirit into a greater and divine reality, filling our hearts with joy. Enjoying life plays an important place in
Nietzsche’s philosophy. One of his big themes is the dionysiac experience,
a celebration of all the senses, living dangerously, pushing the limits of our existence. The more developed a person is, the more elevated
his or her pleasures in life, and the more happiness he might extract from the small
experiences in life. Happiness is free and very common, we do not
need to do much to have it, it happens naturally. You wont get happiness by gaining a job position,
by earning a lot of money, finding the perfect partner, moving into a dream house, buying
an expensive car. According to Nietzsche, happiness is a state
of being which comes and goes, and the more open you are to life in general, the more
often you can experience happiness. You might live in a very poor environment,
you might be without family or friends, but, if you are receptive to everything that happens
around you, if you can learn to find meaning and pleasure from the little things in life,
like the sound of birds at your window or the colour of the sky, you can be as happy
as a king or queen. You can experience happiness if you can walk
in nature, if you surround yourself with music and great art. You can be more happy if you don’t repress
your emotions or behave too rigidly in life, but rather be more open to anything life has
to offer. Start saying yes more often, go on that mountain
trip you postponed for so long or start a hobby, like painting or playing music for
example. Surround yourself with wonder and you may
just find you have a wonderful life. As we said at the beginning, this video is
brought to you by Babbel. 2020 was a tough year for most of us and this
year, everyone is looking for a fresh start, to define what we want to achieve in 2021. It's a great opportunity to set up new goals
towards being our best selves this year such as learning a new language, and Babbel is
the perfect app for it. As I am sure you have guessed by now I love
learning about philosophies and exploring new places to get immersed in their rich culture. Therefore it’s always helpful for me to
have a reliable app to learn new languages quickly. Babbel is a subscription based language learning
app which I use so that I can confidently start new conversations and make meaningful
human connections in foreign countries. Babbel offers 14 different languages with
professional bite-sized courses that take your native language into account and while
other apps use machine learning algorithms and AI-technology, the lessons here on babbel
are built by over 100 language experts and are voiced by native speakers. These bite-sized lessons are tailored to real
life situations which you can actually customize to meet your specific language goals be it
for your business, your upcoming test, food, your travel or more. The app works on multiple devices which makes
it even easier for you to learn any language from anywhere at any time and according to
a global survey, 73 percent of Babbel users say they can speak a new language after just
five hours of using the app. Start learning a new language today by signing
up for Babbel. Click on the link in the description below
to get a time-limited offer of upto 65% off your Babbel subscription. So, if you enjoyed this video, please do make
sure to check out the full Philosophies for Life channel and for more videos to help you
find success and happiness using ancient philosophical wisdom, don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much for watching.
