The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday: Book Review & Summary
We are stuck, stymied, frustrated. But it needn't be this way. There is a formula for success that's been followed by the icons of history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs— a formula that lets them turn obstacles into opportunities.
Faced with impossible situations, they found the astounding triumphs we all seek.
These men and women were not exceptionally brilliant, lucky, or gifted. Their success came from timeless philosophical principles laid down by a Roman emperor who struggled to articulate a method for excellence in any situation.
This book reveals that formula for the first time—and shows us how we can turn our adversity into an advantage.
Book: The Obstacle Is the Way
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph is the third book by author Ryan Holiday. It was published in 2014. It is a book that offers individuals a framework to flip obstacles into opportunities, an approach crafted by Holiday. It was inspired by the philosophy of stoicism. ---Wikipedia
- Originally published: May 1, 2014
- Author: Ryan Holiday
- Genre: A self-help book
- Cover artist: Erin Tyler
- Pages: 224 pages
About the Author: Ryan Holiday
RYAN HOLIDAY Ryan Holiday is a media strategist and prominent writer on strategy and business. After dropping out of college at nineteen to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power, he advised many bestselling authors and multiplatinum musicians.
He served as marketing director at American Apparel for many years, where his campaigns have been used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube, and Google and written about in AdAge, the New York Times, and Fast Company.
His first book, Trust Me I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator—which the Financial Times called an “astonishing, disturbing book”—was a debut bestseller and is now taught in colleges worldwide. He currently lives in Austin, Texas, and writes at RyanHoliday.net and Thought Catalog and for the New York Observer.
Book Summary
The book teaches us that obstacles in life can help us grow and become better people. Instead of seeing problems as barriers, we can see them as chances to improve ourselves.
The book is based on Stoicism, a philosophy from ancient Greece. Stoics believe that we should focus on what we can control and let go of what we cannot. They turn challenges into opportunities.
Ryan Holiday shares stories about famous people like Amelia Earhart, Ulysses S. Grant, and Steve Jobs. They faced big challenges but used Stoicism to overcome them and achieve success.
The book highlights Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor who wrote about handling problems. He said, “What stands in the way becomes the way,” meaning that obstacles can lead us to new paths.
The author explains how many great leaders and thinkers have dealt with tough situations throughout history. They learned to use their challenges to grow stronger.
Many people feel fear, confusion, or frustration when facing problems. However, some find ways to turn these obstacles into stepping stones for success.
The book emphasizes that our attitude towards problems is important. Instead of feeling stuck, we should change how we think about our challenges.
The author shares how successful individuals turned their setbacks into triumphs. They didn’t let obstacles stop them; instead, they used those experiences to push forward.
The book encourages readers to take action when faced with difficulties. It asks us to think about how we can turn our own problems into opportunities for growth.
Everyone has the power to change their situation. By embracing challenges, we can become better, just like the heroes of history.
Book Reviews
This is a very popular book in the US recently. I read part of it and found it very readable.
It contains many cases and allusions, including the "Stoic School" of ancient Athens, and I learned a lot from it.
The topic is interesting, but the long-winded arguments and nonsense, the evidence, and the reasoning are so rigid that it's like a college entrance examination essay.
Maybe what I need is to look at the examples and get along with them, but it's written in such a tone that I can't stand it.
I read it for the second time and still don't think it's good, but I finally understand why the rating is so high.
The author is a person who knows nothing about psychology and can only do marketing!
He makes up stories everywhere, and the most unbearable thing is that he uses other people's successful examples to prove his point of view.
I remember a chapter about a baseball player's son who slipped and fell, and the doctor said he was disabled, but he did not give up hope, and finally, his son miraculously recovered... What is your example trying to illustrate?
Don't you think it is a versatile topic for writing elementary school essays?
There is no depth, and the examples have no source or evidence.
The whole book is about saying that there is a routine for success, and you are not successful because you didn't read my book to learn the routine... Jobs and Rockefeller succeeded because they followed this routine...
And this routine is, in one sentence: the obstacle is the way, all bad things are good...
Reading Notes
God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
What is up to us: our emotions, our judgments, our creativity, our attitude, our perspective, our desires, our decisions, our determination.
No one is coming to save you. And if we'd like to go where we claim we want to go -- to accomplish what we claim are our goals -- there is only one way. And that's to meet our problems with the right action. Therefore, we can always (and only) greet our obstacles: with energy, persistence, a coherent and deliberate process, iteration and resilience, pragmatism, strategic vision, craftiness and savvy, and an eye for opportunity and pivotal moments.
Genius often really is just persistence in disguise.
For most of what we attempt in life, chops are not the issue. We're usually skilled and knowledgeable and capable enough. But do we have the patience to refine our idea?
It's supposed to be hard. Your first attempts aren't going to work. It's going to take a lot out of you -- but energy is an asset we can always find more of. It's a renewable resource. Stop looking for an epiphany, and start looking for weak points. Stop looking for angels, and start looking for angles.
Great entrepreneurs are: never wedded to a position, never afraid to lose a little of their investment, never bitter or embarrassed, and never out of the game for long. They slip many times, but they don't fall.
In North America, the British learned how to fight the Germans -- and early on they learned mostly by failure. But that was acceptable because they'd anticipated a learning curve and planned for it. They welcomed it because they knew like Grant and Edison did, what it meant: victory further down the road. The one way to guarantee we don't benefit from failure -- to ensure it is a bad thing -- is to not learn from it.
All these issues are solvable. Each would collapse beneath the process. We've just wrongly assumed that it has to happen all at once, and we give up at the thought of it. We are A-to-Z thinkers, fretting about A, obsessing over Z, yet forgetting all about B through Y.
When we get distracted, when we start caring about something other than our progress and efforts, the process is the helpful, if occasionally bossy, voice in our head. It is the bark of the wise, older leader who knows exactly who he is and what he's got to do: shut up. Go back to your stations and try to think about what we are going to do ourselves instead of worrying about what's going on out there. You know what your job is. Stop jawing and get to work.
Moving forward, one step at a time. Subordinate strength to the process. Replace fear with the process. Depends on it. Lean on it. Trust in it.
The process is about doing the right things, right now. Not worrying about what might happen later, or the result, or the whole picture.
The Grant Captain will take even the most hazardous indirect approach -- if necessary over mountains, deserts, or swamps, with only a fraction of the forces, even cutting himself loose from his communications. Facing, in fact, every unfavorable condition rather than accepting the risk of stalemate invited by direct approach.
You don't convince people by challenging their longest and most firmly held opinions. You find common ground and work from there. Or you look for leverage to make them listen. Or you create an alternative with so much support from other people that the opposition voluntarily abandons its views and joins your camp.
Action has many definitions. It's not always moving forward or even obliquely. It can also be a matter of positions. It can be a matter of taking a stand.
Adversity can harden you. Or it can loosen you up and make you better -- if you let it.
Instead of giving in to frustration, we can put it to good use, It can power our actions, which, unlike our disposition, become stronger and better when loose and bold. While others obsess with observing the rules, we're subtly undermining them and subverting them to our advantage. Think water. When dammed by a man-made obstacle, it does not simply sit stagnant. Instead, its energy is stored and deployed, fueling the power plants that run entire cities.
To be physically and mentally loose takes no talent. That's just recklessness. To be physically and mentally tight? That's called anxiety.
You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. Things that we had postponed for too long, that were long-term, are now immediate and must be dealt with. A crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that we could not do before.
The obstacle is not only turned upside down but used as a catapult.
Just our best, that's it. Not the impossible. We must be willing to roll the dice and lose. Prepare at the end of the day, for none of it to work.
We have it within us to be the type of people who try to get things done, try with everything we've got, and, whatever verdict comes in, are ready to accept it instantly and move on to whatever is next.
If perception and action were the duscuokubes of the nub and the body, then Will is the discipline of the heart and the soul.
Always prepare ourselves for more difficult times; Always accept what we're unable to change; Always manage our expectations; always persevere; Always learn to love our fate and what happens to us; Always protect our inner self, retreat into ourselves; Always submit to a greater, larger cause; Always remind ourselves of our mortality.
It was the deprivation of these senses -- and acceptance rather than resentment of that fact -- that allowed them to develop different, but acutely powerful senses to adjust to their reality.
The next step after we discard our expectations and accept what happens to us, after understanding that certain things -- particularly bad things -- are outside our control, is this: loving whatever happens to us and facing it with unfailing cheerfulness.
Why you will read this book?
- This book teaches how to turn problems into opportunities for success.
- It shares stories of famous people, like Amelia Earhart and Steve Jobs, who used challenges to grow stronger.
- The author, Ryan Holiday, explains the ancient philosophy of Stoicism, which helps you stay calm and focused when facing hard times.
- The book shows how to handle obstacles, plan actions, and keep going, even when things are tough.
- It's filled with practical advice that can help anyone, whether you’re a student or a professional, to improve in life.
- By following its lessons, you can learn how to overcome problems and use them to reach your goals.
- The book also includes inspiring stories and examples to motivate readers to never give up.
- This is the first of a three-book series, offering more lessons on Stoic philosophy.
