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

Name: The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
Rating: 5 (19 reviews)
Author: Ryan Holiday
ISBN: 9781591846352

Ryan Holiday · 2014 · 201 pages

#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.

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recommended by 19 people

sourced from public statements

Chris Williamson
“Adversity, Inspiring Stories My favourite book from Ryan, I’d strongly recommend starting here if you’ve wanted to get into Stoicism. Learn how to see adversity and challenges as an opportunity not an obstacle. Great stories from history, sport, politics and more to explain and reinforce lessons from Stoic philosophy. Very easy read or listen through Audible as it’s narrative-based.”↗
Casey Neistat
“It's Ryan being like talking about, yeah, talking about Marcus Aurelius and like how you apply that to life. And it's like, these are sort of the ponderings, is that a word? The things that I pull from his books that I underline that mean so much to me. And now, he's delivering them to me in a medium that actually works better, which is these little clips, still read his books. I just mean it's better than underlining a chapter and trying to find that dog eared page. And that's been really brilliant.”↗
Mr. Beast
“Idk, here is what I’m lisenting to this week but I feel like my taste is a little niche. Just pick a topic that interests you and listen to a book written by someone who spent their whole lives studying that topic. pic.twitter.com/Sn73qAn53J”↗
George Raveling
“One of the books that I’ve given away the most lately.”↗
Chris Do
“Books on “doing the work” and why showing up each day matters. The ONE Thing (← this), The Dip (fastest), The Compound Effect (classic), The Obstacle is the Way (philosophical), and ReWork (the plan). You only need to read one, but I recommend them all.”↗
Keith McCullough
“One of my fav books”↗
Jeff Macke
“Not kidding on the philosophy of Rory. He's not selling anyone anything, just opening up a little on how he frames his world. "Rory Philosophy" is a useful Google, by summer Friday standards. One of Rory's best book reccos is The Obstacle is the Way which I just finished.”↗
Christopher Sommer
“I’m enjoying right now.”↗
Tim Ferriss
Derek Sivers
Patrick Bet-David
James Altucher
Aubrey Marcus
Matt D’Avella
Tom Bilyeu
Jordan Hughes
Joel Gascoigne
Rana el Kaliouby
Steven Pressfield