In a world that seems to be spinning out of control with Covid-19, economic shocks and environmental disasters, stoicism is having a pretty big moment. If you’ve managed to avoid it so far, stoicism is a school of philosophy that goes back to the ancient Greeks and Romans and focused on living virtuously in the moment, and not being caught up in pleasures such as food or spending money. They focused on staying calm in the face of distress, which is something we all could use more of now. One stoic exercise that has caught on around the world and could help keep us from disaster is called the “premortem” or negative visualisation: thinking about the worst result, then working backwards from there to see the steps to avoid. Basically, if you figure out what is the worst thing that can happen and think through what would have to happen to end up there, you can avoid the negative outcome by refraining from the steps leading to that result. As I’m a personal finance writer, I wanted to focus on a terrible financial outcome that I’ve seen many people face in the UAE: working hard but still ending up broke. Now, I understand that some things can’t be controlled, such as certain health conditions – not heart disease, diabetes or lifestyle diseases, which can be controlled by better choices – accidents, getting sued, and just plain bad luck. Sometimes, life is a gamble and the universe decides a whole lot of terrible things need to happen all at once. Covid-19 has taught this to a lot of us. But by going through this premortem process, we can figure out a path that avoids pitfalls and leaves us with a much better chance of success. So, disregarding things that I can’t control, how would I end up broke? These are not theoretical factors. I’ve seen many friends in Dubai and around the world fall into such traps. These are often people who will always get their financial house in order next year, after they just get through this one thing. But next year never comes, and they stay on the hamster wheel of spending as much as they make or even more than they make, going into chronic debt that leaves them trapped and with no monetary cushion. Any financial success I’ve had here (and I’m no millionaire, but I’ve increased my net worth seven-fold in the five years I’ve lived in Dubai as a teacher, most of that coming in the past three years after I learned about financial independence) has come from doing the opposite of the seven steps above. None of these steps require you to do anything crazy or unobtainable. I’m a pretty average person in a lot of ways. But if you figure out what your financial traps are and focus on financial success instead, you can avoid them. <em>Dubai schoolteacher Zach Holz (@HappiestTeach) documents his journey towards financial independence on his personal finance blog <a href="https://www.thehappiestteacher.com/">The Happiest Teacher</a></em>