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?

This can’t harm me—I might not have wanted it to happen, but I decide how it will affect me. No one else has the right.

Our perceptions are the thing that we’re in complete control of.

There is always a countermove, always an escape or a way through, so there is no reason to get worked up. No one said it would be easy and, of course, the stakes are high, but the path is there for those ready to take it.

And that’s okay. It can be a good thing, even. Action and failure are two sides of the same coin. One doesn’t come without the other. What breaks this critical connection down is when people stop acting—because they’ve taken failure the wrong way.