The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday (PDF)

Description

#1 Wall Street Journal BestsellerThe Obstacle is the Way has become a cult classic, beloved by men and women around the world who apply its wisdom to become more successful at whatever they do. Its many fans include a former governor and movie star (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a hip hop icon (LL Cool J), an Irish tennis pro (James McGee), an NBC sportscaster (Michele Tafoya), and the coaches and players of winning teams like the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Cubs, and University of Texas men’s basketball team.The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. As Marcus Aurelius put it nearly 2000 years ago: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Ryan Holiday shows us how some of the most successful people in history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—have applied stoicism to overcome difficult or even impossible situations. Their embrace of these principles ultimately mattered more than their natural intelligence, talents, or luck.If you’re feeling frustrated, demoralized, or stuck in a rut, this book can help you turn your problems into your biggest advantages. And along the way it will inspire you with dozens of true stories of the greats from every age and era.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Every day I wake up and wonder if things would be easier if I didn’t have a job that has reminded me how untrained and unqualified I am, parents who used my birthday to announce their divorce, an ex-girlfriend that repeatedly tried to destroy the medicine for my mental health, friends who have taken advantage of me time after time and gaslight me when I “keep score”, a family that has not wished me happy holidays since I moved away and stopped helping them, and health problems that need not mentioned.I know realize I was given these afflictions not because I am unlucky, but because I am lucky. I am lucky enough to endure multiple things that would destroy a single person and cause them to give up. I am blessed in my ability to turn tragedy into opportunity. People should be so lucky to have half the life I’ve lived and endure half the trial I have. I am infinite.

⭐this is a well written book for a subject that can get a bit dry for which this book is not. It is a book that all children at the 7th 8th grade level should read. It would give them a lot to think about and as they go through their lives they could relate to the lessons experience. As they travel on their journey they would be able to relate the experiences covered.I don’t believe that this book is read by those people who are not already living its experiences would be reading it. I found that I lived this way and thought this way having never read the book until now in my retirement. That is why I believe it is one that should be read by teenagers!!!

⭐While I know Ryan personally, I believe that I am uniquely qualified to review this book and, after reading a lot of the comments, add to the discussion. A lot of people miss that Ryan is articulating a journey and is translating it into something edible and powerful. Something 99% of us at ANY age cannot do, even with “wisdom of experience”.Storytelling has been around since the beginning of time, but actual mass communication has been around for a very short time (relatively). It looks as if the “paper book” business will become a specialty- if surviving at all. I know that Ryan knows this as he has always been quick to lend an idea, do some digging and most important- analyze and decide. As he uses as an example in his book, he pulls an Amelia Earhart and ACTS. He can talk about Tesla in the same sentence as popular games on the meat markets in early Chicago. He has read (studied) Marshall McLuhan to Malcolm Gladwell. This rabid quest to find out and face his own soul searching path- has delivered a perfect book for the RIGHT PERSON. This is not Chicken Soup for the Soul.Ryan has done WAY more and influenced WAY more decisions than he would ever talk about, but has helped untangle talent and communication complications (i.e- market properly) using many of his methods he developed under Robert Greene and even 50 Cent and Tucker Max. He helped in stealth, but in critical ways, to launch, maintain and capitalize on #1 Films, TV Shows, YouTube and MANY multi platinum musical artists. I can vouch for it myself.It is always amazing to read a review somewhere when that person has never faced down rejection and fear and can criticize anyone for at least putting their thoughts and ideas out there for judgment. To do that, when the WORLD is telling you that finishing college is the only way to go and you have the same people close to you saying that you will fail- it truly was an Obstacle to overcome. It only got more intense for Ryan, but his lessons are earned. He was led to the water, but unlike most people, he drank. How can you question the message, integrity and courage of that? Steven Pressfield, one of our generations best and most diverse authors, has called it “The Resistance”. Even he endorsees the book on the dust jacket.The reason that I preface the review this way is to show you Ryan’s true accomplishment here- articulating what he has learned, applying it to clear examples people can remember and also help people. There have been big choices in Ryan’s life- not the least of which was whether to go in house for a safe “job” or “bet on himself”. He DID what he talks about here. It is the true reflection on a part of his life and the methods HE used to combat them. This is especially important for a generation who “has ADD” and can’t relate to the past. At 22- I think it would be silly to not monitor this refreshing voice and mind as he progress’. He actually went and spent time with Dr. Drew after reading his not so best selling books.Marcus Aurelius is the clear hero in this book, being compared to boxer “Hurricane” Carter (among others), while dealing with your internal power. The ideas and themes of the book seem to come from some Herman Hesse and Tom Wolfe as much as out of print magazines and long dead historical stars of their time. That is what is so attractive. Anyone should find a part of this to relate to. This is especially helpful to someone who wants a quick boost of intellect instead of trying to muscle through a biography (but he def refers to a lot of interesting people I need to read more about). Ryan does not rely on the same tired stereotyped figures from the past, but finds new, more relatable, characters and situations. Athletes, Entrepreneurs, Parents and CEO’s, and those looking to look at life in a certain lens, will benefit greatly.Think you are having a bad day? Open your eyes and you will find out that another historical leader (other than Churchill) suffered severe depression while running the country that may or may not exist depending on his choices- Abraham Lincoln (didn’t see a lot of that in the movie). Grant, Nietzsche and Edison all make a story about fortitude and acceptance. A much different approach than looking in a window and imaging you will get the new purse that is in there and moving on. Again- this is intended for action and not philosophy.Self Help crap would be fine if it worked, but that means there would only be one book- and it would work. Awareness. Dealing with fear and uncertainty. Mindful and deliberate. Shame and guilt. Accountability and results. How did other people deal with this? Only through careful research do these stories become just as powerful to the man who believes that history is a verb as they are to someone just trying to make it through their day.The point is- you are not alone. In fact, you are not even close to being the first person today to experience multiple obstacles. It is comforting to see how adversity has been confronted in the past. This is a book for those who believe in Realpolitik and seeing life for what it is. I would say it is the actual back up action plan to what a mystical book like the Mayan based best seller, “The 4 Agreements”, is. Although the book is very much based on stoic principles it makes no judgements about your belief system in a macro way.I can see how this book can have some legs for people try to cope with a new world where you have too much or think you have too little- information to ingest. It is a reference book that can be returned to over and over.Ryan Holiday is an important voice in the book space these days. Mostly because he is willing to actually commit to writing good books as well as growing his digital presence quickly. Non fiction at that age in 2014 is pretty impressive and patient. He can deal w Dov Charney, 50 Cent, Tucker Max and many others- due to his diversity. His “Read to Lead” mentality is refreshing and way more valuable than any class. He has a Best Seller in “Growth Hacking” at the same time, so holding his own with decades older armchair authors, while understanding the generation gap in communication is not such a bad way to describe this book.And finally…yes- he uses the bible as reference at times..

⭐I first learned of Stoicism my freshman year of college. It helped me through addiction and Mr. Holiday has written about this philosophy in a very inspirational way. Very well written and I would recommend to any young adult to adult. 5 stars

⭐No doubt, you are trying to get ahead in whatever ‘getting ahead’ means to you. But so often an obstacle seems to stand in your way. Yes, there are a few people who report having planned their charmed life or their business success and had it unfold almost exactly as planned, and with style and elegance. Amazing, but never true. Most people blocked by the obstacles of time, money, connections, opportunity and more, do nothing.This book has a fascinating take on ‘being stuck’ – it is a primer on how to turn adversity to advantage, as the subtitle explains.Let me state upfront – I am bored by motivational talks and books. I find very little about them interesting or useful twelve hours later. This book is not a motivational text, though it is motivating as many good books are.The “Ancient Art” of the subtitle is referring to the wisdom and insight of the Stoic philosophers. These writings or thoughts influenced all the people Holiday uses as examples of this approach to obstacles of life. The circumstances of these people would leave most disoriented, reactive, torn and even paralyzed. As Holiday shows “some seem to turn those very obstacles, which stymie us, into launching pads for themselves.”Knowing that there are heroes doesn’t help us to become heroes, but knowing how they became heroes, does. The value of this book is that it offers an ancient and profound method and framework for understanding, appreciating, and acting in the face of the obstacles life throws at us.Turning obstacles into the way forward takes many forms. For the great Athenian orator, Demosthenes, it was a relentless drive to improve himself through action and practice. For Abraham Lincoln it was humility, endurance, and compassionate will. In each case, all the people cited in this book were not born with the attributes it took to succeed, and many faced unimaginable horrors, from imprisonment to debilitating illnesses, and of course the day-to-day frustrations we all endure.So, what did they do? “They had the ability to see obstacles for what they were, the ingenuity to tackle them, and the will to endure a world mostly beyond their comprehension and control,” Holiday explains.The perspective is not a self-delusional, positive and happy one, ‘this is not so bad’, but rather, ‘I can make this good’.The starting point is maintaining a state of mind that one of Holiday’s examples, the extraordinary businessman, John D. Rockefeller, had perfected: cool headedness and self-discipline.When America send the first astronauts into space, they trained them in one skill more than in any other: the art of not panicking. When people panic, they make mistakes. They just react, but not to what they need to react to, but to their survival hormones. At 150 miles above Earth, panic is suicide. Panic had to be trained out of the astronauts and it does not go easily. It must be trained away, through persistent, repeated attempts at not panicking, until you don’t.Talent isn’t the most important characteristic for success, grace and poise are, because these precede the opportunity to deploy your talent.The action after the panic allows for a change of perception that is a prerequisite for right action. George Clooney spent his first years in Hollywood getting rejected at every audition. He desperately wanted the producers and directors to like him, and they didn’t. He blamed them for not seeing how good he was. His life changed when he changed perspective, from self-centredness to that of other-centeredness, not possible in panic mode.Producers need to find the right actor to cast in their film, and they all hope that the next person to walk into the room is the right actor. When Clooney realized that he was the answer to their prayers, not the other way around, his performance improved and so did his career.Consider the refusal to fund your company. I could be an obstacle, or a call for a change of action. Getting the person to fund you this isn’t up to you, but the decision to refine and improve your presentation is.Consider the number of exceptional businesses started during depressions or economic crises.Fortune magazine was founded soon after the crash of 1929. Hewlett-Packard, and Revlon in the Great Depression. General Motors in the panic of 1907. Microsoft in the recession in 1973-75. LinkedIn during the burst of the dot-com bubble. Half the companies in the Fortune 500 were started under adverse conditions.Rather than focus on the difficulties of an economy in free-fall, they focused on what they needed to do to succeed, and that produced the difference. This difference requires presence of mind.Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, said “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” In like fashion, great individuals find a way to transform weakness into strength.This is essentially a very practical book which will introduce you to a wealth of important ideas beyond what I have introduced in this column. They will be of extraordinary value as you try to facedown business crises.Readability Light –+- SeriousInsights High +—- LowPractical High -+— Low*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of the soon to be released ‘Executive Update’.

⭐This had lots of good reviews and was recommended by a Stoic site, but I don’t think it is worth having. I’ve read about half up to now and I’m losing interest, I doubt I’ll finish reading it. Lots of heartwarming examples of people who were not actually Stoics but exhibited some form of Stoic behaviour don’t really convince me that the author had anything useful to say. The book feels like he padded it out to make the word count, there’s little in the way of original insights or things you didn’t realise. The fact that he uses a lot of stories from American sports is something I personally find tedious, I have no idea who the people are or what he’s writing about. I really dislike chapters that are three pages long. I also found his use of English was poor, it’s not fluid, you constantly notice how he’s expressed himself, rather than what he’s said. Good English should be unobtrusive and flow from the page to the reader’s mind without you noticing it.He does explain the basics, so it’s not a bad book to read if you have never encountered Stoic ideas before, but he doesn’t seem to cover the subject in any depth. I’m waiting for him to introduce concepts like Eudaimonia and Apatheia, but this book reads too much like a self-help book for my taste. He’s constantly offering military insights, not all of them accurate (The German attack on Poland in 1939 was a series of Kesselslachen, not Blitzkrieg). Lots of them are about American generals, quite a rich field where you can find many good examples, but after a quick introduction of Sherman (for example), he briefly discusses his personal qualities and he then moves on. Sherman wasn’t a stoic (He was a Catholic as an adult), it’s as if the author is trying to find things that can be used to support his views. Sherman was mired in controversy several times in his life and had a nervous breakdown in 1861. He was an effective general but not a good choice to support the book’s narrative. This book is more like a magazine article or an essay written by someone who knows nothing about the subject but has researched it well on-line.There are a lot of better books to read on the subject that offer more depth and better insights. I’d not recommend this book to anyone who showed any interest in the subject.

⭐Have you ever seen those ads on the internet? “Change your life today for only all of your money”. And you are taken to some badly written course outline that reeks of a pyramid scheme. The self help world is riddled with cons and Ryan Holiday is the latest addition.The man is a tv marketer by background – he knows how to fool the masses. And he has somehow managed to get his online badly written life changing course printed.He basically takes a few basic stoic concepts – don’t worry about what you can’t control, work hard, remain positive etc – and spin a book out of it. Throw in the names of Marcus Aurelius and Seneca along with some modern anecdotes and you are deemed a genius, according to a few people on the back (who clearly haven’t read the book or are part of the self help pyramid scheme)The anecdotes themselves are horribly cliché. Just name drops people that everyone will know such as Edison, Lincol, Eisenhower, the Lakers (marketing 101 – don’t lose your audience). The bits and bobs of history are so basic and sometimes just wrong – I’m not sure he even bothered to google some of it.The attempts at motivation amount to little other than “are you ready to go to work? Let’s get to work!”The writing is blatantly dreadful and nauseating “Lincoln possessed an inner mental fortress that girdered him” Jesus.It might seem like a good book if you are under 20 and haven’t read any self help books before but if you’ve ever read any few before this, you will be quite disappointed with this.

⭐I had high expectations for this book which it didn’t quite live up to. Ryan Holiday opens this book and bases his narrative around a quote by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, which indicates there are 3 critical steps to overcoming an obstacle: (i) perspective, (ii) action and (iii) will/perseverance.The book is then subsequently sectioned into 3 parts on (i) perspective, (ii) action and (iii) will/perseverance. Each part is divided into roughly 8-10 sub sections. Each sub section is several pages long and offers one key insight. e.g. perspective can be objective/subjective or perspectives create opportunities etc etc.The book uses anecdotes of successful historical figures to validate ideas which includes the use of Politicians (Lincoln, Roosevelt), Athletes (Hurricane Carter), George Clooney to name a few. There is also many references to Stoic philosophers (Epictetus, Demosthenes, Marcus etc).Overall I agreed mostly with the proposition of the book. I didn’t however believe that the anecdotes supply sufficient reasoning to argue these points. It felt that the author cherry-picked case-studies to fit his narrative.I also tended to find the writing style was slightly awkward and a lot of sentences were of this nature: “leadership requires determination, energy and courage” which by itself often seemed irrelevant. The author also feels the need to use 2 descriptive words at all instances, e.g. “It’s easier to persist in our efforts and actions than to endure the uncomfortable or the painful”Furthermore, if the reader has read about Stoicism before (e.g. The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by Irvine) then much of the Stoic ideas are recycled. For an introduction to Stoicism with logical arguments I would recommend Irvine (5* read).To conclude I feel the overall idea is good. This book will be useful for anyone who has to deal with adverse circumstances. It will appeal to people who prefer anecdotes over reasoning.

⭐I have both the audio book and the paper copy of this book. I first got the audio book and thought somehow the content sounded just plain repetitive – different words same message; so thought I’d read the book instead so that I can follow it with more attention. But it transpired that page after page after page may have been filled by the author with words but it is repetition, repetition, and yet more repetition of the message behind the content. If that was deliberate then well done to the author, he nailed it. For those readers and seekers of wisdom (or better understanding of stoicism) find and stick to a good translation of Meditations book of Marcus Aurelius instead; that’s where you’ll find the originality.

⭐I’m no expert on Stoic philosophy but my understanding of it was that can help us be more calm and resilient. Holiday repackages it into some kind of motivation way to make money in order to be successful. The likes of Marcus Aurelious and Seneca would turn in their graves if their philosophy was compared to unscrupulous business owners like John D Rockefellar. He thinks that just by inserting Stoicism on the front cover and a load of philosophical quotes, he can verify his message. He often power phrases these quotes so that he can subtly twist their meaning to suit his own narrative. His main message seems to be that other people are our enemies and they must be vanquished at all costs. I can imagine someone like Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) or Hitler, before invading Poland, lapping this up. Okay Hitler was a bit extreme. He also often contradicts himself, for example we should never give up, but a few pages later, we should never be wedded to a position or some things in life are bigger than us. We should not worry if our actions limit or hurt others and then we should consider their feelings. We need to take urgent action and then we shouldn’t be in a hurry. He also randomly mentions we can control what we desire….He also says we should ignore our feelings and perceptions. While I agree that we should be skeptical of our feelings as they can be unhelpful, we should from time to time at least try to understand where they come from. His approach seems to be to bury our heads in the sand, this seems like the road to toxic masculinity. He likes a bit of good old fashioned male bravado, life is a race and you have to win.He doesn’t take into account simple bad luck and other variables and simply repeats page after page that we need to tackle our problems. We do, but there are other things at play.For example if our boss asks something unfeasible at work we shouldn’t question it, just put our head down and work harder. Working harder seems to be his main tip for a better life, making him sound like Boxer from Animal Farm. Don’t question authority or the status quo, just shut up and get on with it. I can imagine what he thinks of protests like BLM.There are some useful tips however, such as approach obstacles as an opportunity to practice a virtue, such as patience, forgiveness or courage and that we are in control of how we react to our problems. Also we are all guilty of procrastination at times and could benefit from more action. I agree that life is hard and often things contradict themselves. (I’m doing it in this review)I agree that a degree of anxiety is required in every life but Holiday’s approach will have people slitting their wrists and having sky high blood pressure all over the place. He’s reinforcing a dog eat dog world where there has to winners and losers. If you’re not the next Steve Jobs, cunningly defeating your enemies and taking all the credit, you’re a failure and should be ashamed for not working harder. Something Seneca will help us come to terms with a million times better than Holiday.

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