The Obstacle Is The Way

Ryan Holiday

📚 GENRE: Personal Development

📃 PAGES: 224

✅ COMPLETED: July 14, 2020

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

Ryan Holiday explains how to use obstacles to your advantage. The Obstacle Is The Way draws 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. 

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Embrace Obstacles — Every obstacle or challenge is a chance to test yourself and work on your skills. Whether it’s a skill or a personal quality, there’s always something you can work on and develop when an obstacle pops up. This is how you should look at challenges, as opposed to complaining and whining. See every obstacle as a chance to work on yourself and improve your skillset and resolve. 

2️⃣ Keep It In Perspective — Perspective is key. It’s important to keep your focus on what you have rather than what you don’t have. Keep obstacles in the right perspective — regardless of the challenge, it can always be worse. 

3️⃣ Control What You Can Control — You can’t control what other people think or do. All you can do is control what you think, what you do, and the standards you set for yourself. Stay focused on your goals and what you’re doing. Prevent distractions that you have no control over from impeding your progress.

Favorite Quote

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

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • Every great or successful person has something in common: They don’t shy away from obstacles. Instead they embrace them and use them to improve.
  • Our problem is our attitude and approach to obstacles, not the obstacle itself.
    • Obstacles fuel successful people. They look forward to challenges and opportunities to grow.
  • “The things that hurt, instruct.” — Ben Franklin.
    • The things you fear the most and are most uncomfortable with are the things that are going to benefit you more than anything else. 
      • Face your fears!
  • Overcoming obstacles comes down to three steps:
    1. Attitude — How we look at the problem
    2. Action — The energy we use to break the problem down and use it to improve
    3. Will — Development of an inner will that allows us to handle difficulty and defeat.
  • Look at obstacles as a way to test yourself and improve your abilities.

Chapter 1

  • Our perception of things is key. It takes discipline to have a good perception of obstacles.
  • Your reaction to obstacles is critical.
    • Problem + Reaction = Result
  • Don’t give into negative perceptions about the problem. You get to choose your reaction.
  • You have to control your emotions and choose to see the good in everything that happens. There’s always a positive you can take from anything.
    • It takes discipline. It takes a disciplined approach to pick out the positives in tough situations.

Chapter 2

  • We have complete control over our perception and reaction to things.
    • The same circumstance can be viewed as good or bad by two different people. It’s how you choose to see it.
    • Situations are situations. We are the ones that place judgement on our situations.

Chapter 3

  • Be courageous. Hold your nerve in tough situations.

Chapter 4

  • Focus on what you can control and what you can change.
    • Hold steady regardless of what obstacle comes up.
    • Obstacles try to get you emotional. Don’t buy into your emotions.
      • You are in control.

Chapter 5

  • See things as they are, not how you judge them.
    • This is called being objective. See the situation for what it is, nothing more.
      • It’s when you attach your negative emotions, thoughts, and perceptions to a situation that things go wrong.
        • Ex. You see somebody clapping for you. It’s just a person clapping. We like to attach emotion to ordinary things. 

Chapter 6

  • When an obstacle arises, the obstacle is there and you need to accept it immediately and begin looking for a solution.
    • Accept it and control your reaction to it. The last thing you want to do is start complaining and whining. That zaps your energy and focus. 
  • A big part of controlling your attitude is perspective. You have to keep things in the right perspective.
    • Ex. A small job interview is not the same as being on Shark Tank pitching your company to the investors on national TV.
    • Ex. No matter what your problem is, you could be in the hospital dealing with medical problems or something else. Maintain the right perspective on your problems and be grateful for what you have. 

Chapter 7

  • Focus on the present moment. Don’t get so caught up on the past or future.
    • Practicing meditation is very helpful to this. 

Chapter 8

  • Never doubt yourself or your skills and abilities.

Chapter 9

  • Find the positive in everything that happens. Make this a habit.

Chapter 10

  • You’ve got to take action.

Chapter 11

  • Be courageous and take action, especially with things that you’re afraid of.

Chapter 12

  • Be persistent. Push through obstacles. Don’t quit.

Chapter 13

  • Failure is just a setback that gives you feedback.
    • Failure is actually a good thing.
    • Success doesn’t come without failure.
    • Failure gets you closer to success.
    • Learn from failure

Chapter 14

  • Break your goals or a big project into pieces. Focus on knocking out each piece.

Chapter 15

  • Hold yourself to a high standard, no matter what you’re doing.
    • How do you do one thing is how you do anything.
  • Work hard. Try to outwork the room.
  • Do the right thing, always.

Chapter 16

  • Do your best in every scenario you’re placed in. When you honestly do the best you can, you can live with the results, good or bad. 

Chapter 17

  • Successful people thrive in disasters. They don’t shy away from the possibility of failure.
  • Successful people find a positive in every situation.

Chapter 18

  • Love everything that happens to you.
    • Instead of looking at unpleasant things and saying, “I have to do this”, say, “I get to do this.”
  • Be cheerful in all situations. Have a love for all situations.
  • You don’t get to choose what happens to you, but you do get to choose how you feel about it.

Chapter 19

  • Don’t complain and whine. Just deal with it, whatever the situation is. Find a solution. 
  • Keep pushing. Keep grinding.
  • Don’t be your own worst enemy. Be you’re No. 1 fan. 
    • Love yourself. 
    • Encourage yourself. 

Chapter 20

  • Care about others. Help other people.
  • It’s not about you. It’s about others. It’s about serving other people.
    • Make this approach part of your personal mentality and philosophy.

Chapter 21

  • We are all going to die at some point. You aren’t guaranteed a single second more on this earth. Anything can happen to you.
    • Every second is precious and life is the ultimate gift from God.
    • You never know when God will call your number.
      • So enjoy life, help others, work hard, become the best you can be, and be thankful. There’s no reason to let little things get you down. Life is such a gift, and you never know when it will be over.
        • Understanding this reality puts everything in perspective.

Chapter 22

  • Every opportunity, challenge, or obstacle is a test. It’s a way for you to practice something to get better and improve yourself.
    • With every challenge you face, look for the quality or skill that is being tested and that you can work on to overcome the challenge.
      • Always take this approach rather than whine or complain, which is what a lot of people tend to do.