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

by Ryan Holiday

When America raced to send the first men into space, they trained the astronauts in one skill more than in any other: the art of not panicking. 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. Welcome to the source of most of our problems down here on Earth. Everything is planned down to the letter, then something goes wrong and the first thing we do is trade in our plan for a good ol’ emotional freak-out. Some of us almost crave sounding the alarm, because it’s easier than dealing with whatever is staring us in the face. At 150 miles above Earth in a spaceship smaller than a VW, this is death. Panic is suicide. So panic has to be trained out. And it does not go easily.