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

by Ryan Holiday

Whatever we face, we have a choice: Will we be blocked by obstacles, or will we advance through and over them?

Most of us are paralyzed. Whatever our individual goals, most of us sit frozen before the many obstacles that lie ahead of us.

Every obstacle is unique to each of us. But the responses they elicit are the same: Fear. Frustration. Confusion. Helplessness. Depression. Anger.

“be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.

Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself. —PUBLILIUS SYRUS

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.

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.

How often do we see what we think is there or should be there, instead of what actually is there?

Take what you’re afraid of—when fear strikes you—and break it apart.

Where the head goes, the body follows. Perception precedes action. Right action follows the right perspective.

We forget: In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.

When failure does come, ask: What went wrong here? What can be improved? What am I missing?

Failure puts you in corners you have to think your way out of. It is a source of breakthroughs.

Failure shows us the way—by showing us what isn’t the way.

Being trapped is just a position, not a fate. You get out of it by addressing and eliminating each part of that position through small, deliberate actions—not by trying (and failing) to push it away with superhuman strength.

Everything is a chance to do and be your best. Only self-absorbed assholes think they are too good for whatever their current station requires.