Confront the ‘What Ifs’ with Stoic Fear-Setting Exercises

The Stoics taught the practice of premeditatio malorum—premeditation of evils. Seneca wrestled in his mind with shipwrecks, exile, and torture not to induce worry, but to tame surprise and steel himself. The modern entrepreneur Tim Ferriss revived this as “fear-setting,” laying out every nightmare scenario so its shadow no longer loomed.

Viktor Frankl, who survived the Nazi camps, spoke of an “existential vacuum” when people lost belief in meaning. He said that by imagining the worst, he surrendered its power, transforming fear into readiness. John D. Rockefeller asked himself “What if the oil fields ran out?” before every market panic, then built his empire by acting boldly.

Psychologists call this “inoculation”—gradual exposure to a feared stimulus until it loses potency. Defining nightmares shrinks their mysterious terror, and gives you a battle plan rather than a paralyzing spiral. In trials, executives who practice fear-setting make faster decisions and handle setbacks with greater resilience.

Take your toughest worry and map out every possible downside, assign realistic odds, then sketch how you’d handle each hit. This process disassembles the dread and builds a clear, personal roadmap so you can move forward boldly tomorrow.