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Summary: The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday | Key Ideas in 1 Hour or Less
The #1 best-selling summary of The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday. Learn how to apply the main ideas and principles from the original book in a quick, easy read!
There have been countless books and lessons about achieving success, but no one has ever taught us how to overcome failure, how to think about obstacles, and how to treat and triumph over them when we are stuck. Therefore, on our way to success, many of us become disoriented, discouraged, reactive, and torn. As soon as we encounter unwanted situations, we have no idea what to do.
Well, this book is different. Originally published in 2014, The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday is one of the greatest self-help and personal development books written in our time period. It is a book of ruthless pragmatism. It aims to help you accomplish your goals by teaching you how to turn any kind of obstacle into an advantage and steal good fortune from misfortune.
The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring adversity and pain with resilience and persistence. The stoics focus exclusively on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every obstacle they face into an opportunity to get tougher, stronger, better. And after reading this summary, you will be able to do the same.
You will be able to overcome any kind of obstacle on your path to success. You will be cool under pressure, immune to insults and abuse. You will benefit from misfortune. You will see opportunity in tragedy. You will be able to act with persistence and energy. You will assume responsibility for yourself — teaching yourself, improving yourself, and pursuing your rightful calling and place in the world.
This summary seeks to highlight key ideas and capture important lessons found in the original book. Unessential information has been removed to save the reader time. If you’ve already read the original, this summary will serve as a reminder of main ideas and key concepts. If you haven’t, don’t worry, here you will find every bit of practical information without having to use so much time to read the original book.
( this summary is written and published by Millionaire Mind Publishing. It is not the original book and not written by the original author.)
Take action and get this Kindle book right now!
There have been countless books and lessons about achieving success, but no one has ever taught us how to overcome failure, how to think about obstacles, and how to treat and triumph over them when we are stuck. Therefore, on our way to success, many of us become disoriented, discouraged, reactive, and torn. As soon as we encounter unwanted situations, we have no idea what to do.
Well, this book is different. Originally published in 2014, The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday is one of the greatest self-help and personal development books written in our time period. It is a book of ruthless pragmatism. It aims to help you accomplish your goals by teaching you how to turn any kind of obstacle into an advantage and steal good fortune from misfortune.
The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring adversity and pain with resilience and persistence. The stoics focus exclusively on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every obstacle they face into an opportunity to get tougher, stronger, better. And after reading this summary, you will be able to do the same.
You will be able to overcome any kind of obstacle on your path to success. You will be cool under pressure, immune to insults and abuse. You will benefit from misfortune. You will see opportunity in tragedy. You will be able to act with persistence and energy. You will assume responsibility for yourself — teaching yourself, improving yourself, and pursuing your rightful calling and place in the world.
This summary seeks to highlight key ideas and capture important lessons found in the original book. Unessential information has been removed to save the reader time. If you’ve already read the original, this summary will serve as a reminder of main ideas and key concepts. If you haven’t, don’t worry, here you will find every bit of practical information without having to use so much time to read the original book.
( this summary is written and published by Millionaire Mind Publishing. It is not the original book and not written by the original author.)
Take action and get this Kindle book right now!
52 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 25, 2016
20 people are currently reading
291 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 30, 2022
I only read about half of this book. The basic concepts, based upon the principles of stoic philosophy, were definitely interesting. It convinces us to try to endure adversity with resilience and optimism: turning every obstacle into an opportunity, to become stronger and to get better. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." (Marcus Aurelius)
However, after the first few chapters I found most of what followed to be rather trite. I think this is a good book to dip into every now and then, when motivation is lacking, but I don’t think the messages were particularly profound. And I didn’t enjoy the style of writing itself.
Objectively I reckon this is an interesting and motivating read, but for whatever reason I didn’t enjoy it at all.
However, after the first few chapters I found most of what followed to be rather trite. I think this is a good book to dip into every now and then, when motivation is lacking, but I don’t think the messages were particularly profound. And I didn’t enjoy the style of writing itself.
Objectively I reckon this is an interesting and motivating read, but for whatever reason I didn’t enjoy it at all.
November 6, 2016
"In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune's habit of behaving just as she pleases."
-Seneca
This is not a review, but rather my personal notes for future reference:
Ordinary people fear and shy away from negative situations, just as they do with failure. They struggle to avoid trouble. What great people do is the opposite. They are at their best in these crisis situations. They turn personal tragedy or misfortune to their advantage.
Burdens and blessings are not mutually exclusive. Utilize your abilities to change and direct that which is within your power, and learn to embrace that which is not.
Being physically and mentally loose is called recklessness. Being physically and mentally tight is called anxiety. But being mentally tight and physically loose? That is a powerful balance one should strive for.
Failure can be an asset if what you're trying to do is learn, improve or do something new. It's feedback giving you precise instructions on how to improve.
Focus your energy and efforts on solving problems directly and efficiently, rather than merely reacting to them. Dismantle obstacles into smaller steps which you can achieve.
And lastly:
Reminding yourself each day that you will die helps to treat your time as a gift.
-Seneca
This is not a review, but rather my personal notes for future reference:
Ordinary people fear and shy away from negative situations, just as they do with failure. They struggle to avoid trouble. What great people do is the opposite. They are at their best in these crisis situations. They turn personal tragedy or misfortune to their advantage.
Burdens and blessings are not mutually exclusive. Utilize your abilities to change and direct that which is within your power, and learn to embrace that which is not.
Being physically and mentally loose is called recklessness. Being physically and mentally tight is called anxiety. But being mentally tight and physically loose? That is a powerful balance one should strive for.
Failure can be an asset if what you're trying to do is learn, improve or do something new. It's feedback giving you precise instructions on how to improve.
Focus your energy and efforts on solving problems directly and efficiently, rather than merely reacting to them. Dismantle obstacles into smaller steps which you can achieve.
And lastly:
Reminding yourself each day that you will die helps to treat your time as a gift.
August 19, 2018
In my times of mountaineering I always looked for the simplest ways to reach the top of the mountains that I climbed. On one occasion I invited a friend, and let her guide me. I always chose the most difficult path. I remember that I said: Why do you always choose the most difficult path? That's why you're doing badly and you do not get what you want ... and she promised to change it.
Today she has spent 25 years and is an area director in an important brokerage house, she travels constantly, she has studied master's degrees and even a PhD ... and she asked me how did she do it?
This book gave me very good clues as to why her success ...
In the book he proposes that obstacles are those that teach us and help us to be better ... for three things:
1) If we perceive obstacles as insurmountable and difficulties as impossible, they will always slow us down. We all have obstacles in life, and we must learn to see them in their own dimension and know how to avoid them. Only the obstacles teach you.
2) Do: when you have an obstacle there is not only to see it but to do things. Putting to work only occurs when you have obstacles, not when you are asleep on your laurels or when you think that the problems are impassable.
3) Will is what makes us continue and persevere. If we do not have obstacles, the will does not develop. Like a child who learns to walk, he does not give up and keeps trying until he succeeds.
A good book to reflect.
Today she has spent 25 years and is an area director in an important brokerage house, she travels constantly, she has studied master's degrees and even a PhD ... and she asked me how did she do it?
This book gave me very good clues as to why her success ...
In the book he proposes that obstacles are those that teach us and help us to be better ... for three things:
1) If we perceive obstacles as insurmountable and difficulties as impossible, they will always slow us down. We all have obstacles in life, and we must learn to see them in their own dimension and know how to avoid them. Only the obstacles teach you.
2) Do: when you have an obstacle there is not only to see it but to do things. Putting to work only occurs when you have obstacles, not when you are asleep on your laurels or when you think that the problems are impassable.
3) Will is what makes us continue and persevere. If we do not have obstacles, the will does not develop. Like a child who learns to walk, he does not give up and keeps trying until he succeeds.
A good book to reflect.
March 28, 2020
The Obstacle Is The Way is inspired by Stoic philosophy and how to apply it to daily life. The book is centred around the belief that even though we may have no control over everything that life throws at us, we certainly have control over how we ourselves respond to the obstacles we face. It’s about turning every negative into a positive.
As previously put by Marcus Aurelius in his book Meditations, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Whereas we may have a specific idea of how we would like things to pan out or a specific plan on how to achieve our goals, it is important to understand that sometimes what may appear as a derailing could actually turn out to be an opportunity for us to find the valuable life lessons that are meant for us. We should not focus so much on the end goal but rather on the process.
One key takeaway we got from this book is that there are a lot of people who found themselves in a much worse situation than yours but still made it - and that is because they were willing to keep going and do what they needed to do by any means necessary.
_
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As previously put by Marcus Aurelius in his book Meditations, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Whereas we may have a specific idea of how we would like things to pan out or a specific plan on how to achieve our goals, it is important to understand that sometimes what may appear as a derailing could actually turn out to be an opportunity for us to find the valuable life lessons that are meant for us. We should not focus so much on the end goal but rather on the process.
One key takeaway we got from this book is that there are a lot of people who found themselves in a much worse situation than yours but still made it - and that is because they were willing to keep going and do what they needed to do by any means necessary.
_
Follow us on Instagram for more book reviews!
www.instagram.com/selftitledclub.ldn
April 29, 2023
This book was recommended to me by an old colleague and very good friend. It has certainly made me think and inspired me to further explore the philosophy of Stoicism in the face of challenges. There are a lot of brilliant examples of resilience in what appeared to be the most hopeless of situations which greatly appealed to me: “The Obstacle is the Way”.
Having said that, at times I still felt I was simply being lectured by a rather irritating old academic. Some of the examples given as obvious things which it was implied should apply to everyone do not apply to me. For example, I struggle with deadlines. They only very rarely invigorate and motivate me - in general, they make me panic and, as a bit of a perfectionist, I almost never feel, “Well, I could have done a little more, but I did what I could”.
Having said that, at times I still felt I was simply being lectured by a rather irritating old academic. Some of the examples given as obvious things which it was implied should apply to everyone do not apply to me. For example, I struggle with deadlines. They only very rarely invigorate and motivate me - in general, they make me panic and, as a bit of a perfectionist, I almost never feel, “Well, I could have done a little more, but I did what I could”.
January 12, 2019
I find this book changing my way of thinking. The book give good example of many famous people that we now know for today and whatever they face and how long the hardship takes like a big mountain blocking your path to success, many would turn the other way but not them, no they see other opportunities and this book tells a great story on how they successed. The only downside for me was the use of many difficult words, but the upside is that I learned many new words.
July 17, 2017
Nice Summary
Very nice summary and concise. A lot of information that can be used everyday. I may end getting the book and explore further. Overall a good experience. 4 stars instead of 5 because it was not perfect with "annoying" grammatical, punctuation, and typos. A quick proof reading would have solved this and landed the 5th star.
Very nice summary and concise. A lot of information that can be used everyday. I may end getting the book and explore further. Overall a good experience. 4 stars instead of 5 because it was not perfect with "annoying" grammatical, punctuation, and typos. A quick proof reading would have solved this and landed the 5th star.
September 19, 2023
The author introduces one into modern day stoicism, perseverance with everyday practical situations. One of the powerful quotes from this book: "Perseverance is something larger, it's the longing, it's what happens not just in round 1 but in round 2 and every round after'. It is a book I will pick again.
July 5, 2025
Going through a rough itch of my life now which isn’t really ending. This book helps you tap into those internal resources which are always there when you need them. Good for personal development. A good book to go back to when you need to rest your internal compass to the next direction towards self mastery.
May 25, 2017
Love this book. Very encouraging, it shows you how to have the right view of those obstacles and challenges that we face.
August 26, 2019
Recommend!
August 24, 2023
Tiene algunos puntos interesantes pero siento que se repite mucho en clichés y en muchas metáforas bélicas que a mi personalmente me sacan totalmente del tema.
August 13, 2017
Very good book on how to tackle obstacles in life
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January 5, 2019Must-read!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews