Name: The Obstacle is the Way
Rating: 3.928571428571428 (182 reviews)
ISBN: 9781591846352

Ryan Holiday

Reframing advice from icons throughout history, including Ulysses S. Grant, Amelia Earhart and Steve Jobs, for today's world, this motivational guide shows readers how to overcome obstacles and turn them into advantages.

The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph

The Obstacle is the Way

Rina

#1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller The 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.

The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

The Obstacle Is the Way

Greg Pyle

Ryan Holiday's book, The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph, has a simple theme. Rather than throwing up your hands in defeat whenever you're faced with a difficult problem, approach it with a Stoic mindset and turn it into an opportunity for personal growth. Holiday has become somewhat of a modern-day popularizer of Stoic philosophy with his many books on the subject. In fact, this book is the first in a series of three. The book is divided into three parts, each representing overlapping elements of his plan for everyday people to incorporate Stoic philosophy into their own lives: perception, action, and will. In the final chapter, Holiday summarizes how these elements can be adopted; "See things for what they are. Do what we can. Endure and bear what we must." His view is that facing life's challenges with this tripartite ethos presents opportunities for personal growth, if you're open to it. Stoic philosophy has become popular over the last several years because it offers a way for people to get the most out of life without deferring to religion. There are some very good books on the subject, but this isn't one of them. This book is written in the simplistic, condescending tone of a self-help book written by a self-anointed sage on the topic. Holiday's version of Stoic philosophy is less philosophical and more productivity-oriented—despite a postscript chapter declaring those who finish reading this book are now philosophers. According to Holiday, philosophy has been hijacked by academics and squirreled away from the public in the hallowed halls of the Ivory Tower. Such a sentiment betrays the author's profound misconception of philosophy. The book is peppered with examples of famous people incorporating elements of Stoic philosophy to overcome some seemingly insurmountable obstacle. These examples are used to illustrate basic Stoic maxims. Some of the advice provided is good. But some is ill conceived at best and flat out wrong at worst—like disregarding rules when they get in the way of achieving some objective. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book nor can I bring myself to endure two more books in this series, let alone the other dozen or so by the same author.

Nast

A modern guru who shows the way to turn problems into opportunities - in business and marketing, Ryan Holiday has done it all, seen it all, and now he's here to show you the way.

The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage

Christian Bager Bach Houmann

A must read. I highly recommend this book.

Haikal Satria

Lighter reading than Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, The Obstacle Is The Way is a very accessible pathway to the school of Stoicism. Using a combination of amusing anecdotes and understandable vernacular, Holiday makes a thousand year old concept interesting for the masses, and I am very thankful to him for that.

My favorite passage is in a chapter about preparing for intervention and disruption, in which Holiday says that we must always prepare ourselves by asking ourself 'What if?'

But sometimes, the answer to 'What if?' is simply: It will suck, but we'll be okay.

Anton

This books is a good introduction into stoicism as well as a brief collection of stories about modern day stoics. 

I give it too stars just because I feel like it’s overrated here. There are much better stoic books on Goodreads with rating below this one. Little Book of Stoicism, for example. Or, as the author suggested, read the originals that also have worse reviews.

Akeisha

Breakthrough capable book. Essential and timeless messages made accessible to the modern layman (me) haha. Just really good advice.

Jacob Medure

Breakthrough capable book. Essential and timeless messages made accessible to the modern layman (me) haha. Just really good advice.

Important read imo.

An OK book, but certainly not anything new or life altering.  It was obvious that the author was a student of Robert Greene (whose books I LOVE), because it followed a similar format of telling a lesson, then sharing a historical example that underscores the lessons, but it was unmemorable.

Dylan Stewart 

Charlotte Dann

Update March 2018:
I've really loved re-listening to this book, it's made me realise how far I've come since I first read it in terms of choosing to approaching problems stoically. Six months ago I cried a lot from putting myself in risky/stressful situations and felt very helpless, and now I'm still doing those things (lol), but my response to them is unceasing positivity and confidence. I'm actually living the wisdom of this book! It'll be interesting to come back to it in a year or so and check in on my progress.

Original review (October 2017):
a) This is really good and if you keep the sentiment present in your mind whenever you face adversity it will be immensely helpful.
b) it's just a collection of aphorisms, bastardised stoicism, and 'YOU CAN DO IT' cheer.

This is the second time I've read this book and it was my introduction to Stoicism several years ago.  The title is taken from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and Ryan Holiday does a good job of modernization a lot of these principles.

Benjamin Harrison

Cams Campbell

I was so excited to read this after going through Ryan's 7-day email sequence. I got as far as P75 before I couldn't read any more. It reads like it's written for high school kids, which is fine. I'm just not one of them. I think I'll head straight to Aurealias' Meditations and learn about stoicism that way.

Emily Medic

I read it for the focus on stoicism, but was pleasantly surprised about all the real-time examples. Jumping through history was quite enjoyable, and I’d definitely re-read it. 

Ivaylo Durmonski

Probably you won’t find anything new in this book in terms of handling obstacles – spot the opportunity in every tough situation, break the challenge into pieces to handle it, etc. However, you’ll get something much more valuable – motivation.

The stories shared inside The Obstacles is The Way, and how key players in our history coped with adversity, will help you find solutions in your daily life.

The way Ryan Holiday structured this book is exceptionally good. Instead of long chapters with a never-ending resolution, you get short sections each covering one story and each offering one specific lesson.

If you’re trying to run a business in tough conditions or you’re baffled every time a challenge arises, you should definitely consider this book.

Key takeaway?

Obstacles never cease to exist. Deflecting them or trying to hide from them will only cause you harm. When times are good, improve yourself. This way you’ll be better prepared when bad things actually start to take place.

Read full summary:
https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/...

Christina Wells

If you want to read a really long and trite motivational poster, then this book is for you.

Lucas Coelho

This book did nothing to me. But it was me, not the book I feel. Having read Meditations many times and Seneca's Letters and other stoicism books I believe it is so much you can gather from this simple life philosophy by just reading it, especially when the book is so superficial or 'entry-level' like The Obstacle is the Way. 

Also, the anecdotes feel more like survivorship bias to me than actually adding to the philosophy. 

I can see what Ryan was aiming here and the public so I am still giving 3 stars as the read in itself was not unpleasant, but if you are already into stoicism you can easily skip this book.

Randy Robbins

This book is one of those that you read one chapter a day and take wisdom you can apply immediately. I got this at the library but I will be purchasing a copy to keep on my main bookshelf and revisit often. If I had pursued a dream of teaching high school, I would require this book as reading. Everyone in the world can find value in this book.

Luca Conti

Yasmin S.

Adam

When reading about modern stoicism, this one kept coming up as a book recommendation. The focus is on resiliency and growth mindset when it comes to opposition. This may seem like common advice, but it's sometimes most difficult to remember when in the worst positions.

The Obstacle is the Way The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph

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