The Obstacle is the Way by Holiday
Ref: Ryan Holiday (2014). The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. Portfolio Books.
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Summary
Stop seeing obstacles as hurdles to your progress in life. Rather, view them as a means of improving yourself and those around you, setting yourself up for success while preparing you for even bigger hurdles.
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. What blocked the path now is a path. What once impeded action advances action. The Obstacle is the Way.
See each and every obstacle as an opportunity to practice some virtue: patience, courage, humility, resourcefulness, reason, justice, and creativity.
The challenge makes you better than if you'd never faced the adversity at all.
All great victories, be they in politics, business, art, or seduction, involved resolving vexing problems with a potent cocktail of creativity, focus, and daring.
You will come across obstacles in life—fair and unfair. And you will discover, time and time again, that what matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure.
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Emotion
When people panic, they make mistakes. They override systems. They disregard procedures, ignore rules. They deviate from the plan. They become unresponsive and stop thinking clearly. They just react—not to what they need to react to, but to the survival hormones that are coursing through their veins.
If an emotion can’t change the condition or the situation you’re dealing with, it is likely an unhelpful emotion. Or, quite possibly, a destructive one.
Defeat emotions with logic, or at least that’s the idea. Logic is questions and statements. With enough of them, we get to root causes (which are always easier to deal with).
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Perspective
Perceive what others see as negative, as something to be approached rationally, clearly, and, most important, as an opportunity—not as something to fear or bemoan.
Our best ideas come when obstacles illuminate new options.
The struggle against an obstacle inevitably propels the fighter to a new level of functioning. The extent of the struggle determines the extent of the growth. The obstacle is an advantage, not adversity. The enemy is any perception that prevents us from seeing this.
Those who attack problems and life with the most initiative and energy usually win.
Perspective is everything.
Okay, you’ve got to do something very difficult. Don’t focus on that. Instead break it down into pieces. Simply do what you need to do right now. And do it well. And then move on to the next thing. Follow the process and not the prize.
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Failure
Failure really can be an asset if what you’re trying to do is improve, learn, or do something new. It’s the preceding feature of nearly all successes.
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Focus
When it comes to our actions, disorder and distraction are death. The unordered mind loses track of what’s in front of it—what matters—and gets distracted by thoughts of the future. The process is order, it keeps our perceptions in check and our actions in sync.
Focus on what can be controlled.
Revert to the present moment.
Place things in perspective.
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Misc Quotes
Objective judgment, now at this very moment. Unselfish action, now at this very moment. Willing acceptance—now at this very moment—of all external events. That’s all you need.-Marcus Aurelius.
We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out.-Teddy Roosevelt.
What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first steps to something better.-Wendell Phillips.
Whoever cannot seek the unforeseen sees nothing, for the known way is an impasse.-Heraclitus.
“This too shall pass”-Abraham Lincoln.
Mens sana in corpore sano: Sound mind in a strong body (Latin).
Ta eph’hemin, ta ouk eph’hemin: Distinguish between the things that are up to you and the things that aren’t
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.-Tennyson.
Keep Buggering On (KBO).-Churchill.
LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.
Apatheia: Keep steady no matter what happens, no matter how much external events may fluctuate.
Sangfroid: Unflappable coolness under pressure.
Genius often really is just persistence in disguise.
We often choose the ominous explanation over the simple one, to our detriment.
In a study of some 30 conflicts comprising more than 280 campaigns from ancient to modern history, the brilliant strategist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart came to a stunning conclusion: In only 6 of the 280 campaigns was the decisive victory a result of a direct attack on the enemy’s main army.
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.
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