It's interesting, because my first impression is that stoicism is more of a virtue for someone like Derek than someone who has yet to, for lack of a better phrasing, make as tangible, substantive dent or mark or whatever in the universe, i.e. myself. However, reading Sam Soffes' blog post last night where he states his deep dissatisfaction with his accomplishments to date (Cheddar, SSToolkit, Seesaw, elusive internet fame), it makes me think that I'll never be happy even after achieving larger goals.
From my current point of view, which will no doubt change, stoicism kind of seems pointless insofar as people, for at least the past couple hundred years, have had an intrinsic desire/need to feel important. It's what motivates us to do ANYTHING, not just start a universe-changing company, or achieve lofty goals in open source, or to become rich, but it motivates our everyday interactions with people we encounter for any reason. Dale Carnegie has a nice discussion of this phenomenon in 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'.
From my current point of view, which will no doubt change, stoicism kind of seems pointless insofar as people, for at least the past couple hundred years, have had an intrinsic desire/need to feel important. It's what motivates us to do ANYTHING, not just start a universe-changing company, or achieve lofty goals in open source, or to become rich, but it motivates our everyday interactions with people we encounter for any reason. Dale Carnegie has a nice discussion of this phenomenon in 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'.