The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

by Ryan Holiday

Our actions may be impeded . . . but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting.

Uncertainty and fear are relieved by authority. Training is authority.

This is the skill that must be cultivated—freedom from disturbance and perturbation—so you can focus your energy exclusively on solving problems, rather than reacting to them.

“When you worry, ask yourself, ‘What am I choosing to not see right now?’

Does what happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness?

sometimes being superficial—taking things only at first glance—is the most profound approach.

It’s funny, you should try it the next time someone intimidates you or makes you feel insecure. See them in your mind, grunting, groaning, and awkward in their private life—just like the rest of us. Marcus Aurelius had a version of this exercise where he’d describe glamorous or expensive things without their euphemisms—roasted meat is a dead animal and vintage wine is old, fermented grapes. The aim was to see these things as they really are, without any of the ornamentation.

“business opportunities are like buses; there’s always another coming around.”

Genius is the ability to put into effect what is in your mind. There’s no other definition of it. —F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

Our perceptions determine, to an incredibly large degree, what we are and are not capable of. In many ways, they determine reality itself. When we believe in the obstacle more than in the goal, which will inevitably triumph?

A clearer head makes for steadier hands. And then those hands must be put to work. Good use.

We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out. —THEODORE ROOSEVELT

In fact, on the side of her plane she painted the words, “Always think with your stick forward.”

“You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.”

energy is an asset we can always find more of. It’s a renewable resource.

Our capacity to try, try, try is inextricably linked with our ability and tolerance to fail, fail, fail.

There’s a saying about how the Irish ship captain located all the rocks in the harbor—using the bottom of his boat. Whatever works, right?

Under the comb the tangle and the straight path are the same.

How you do anything is how you can do everything.

People are getting a little desperate. People might not show their best elements to you. You must never lower yourself to being a person you don’t like.