Book Bearings
The Obstacle is the Way
- 224 pages · about 4 hours
- First published 2014
- 13 editions
Bookshop.org links may earn us a commission. It supports independent bookstores and costs you nothing.
1 About this book
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph, published in 2014, is Ryan Holiday's book on dealing with difficulty, inspired by Stoic philosophy. The title comes from a line in the Meditations of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius: what stands in the way becomes the way. Holiday's theme is that how we respond to obstacles is what defines us, and he offers a framework for turning them into opportunities, beginning with perception, the way a problem is seen. He illustrates it with stories of people who turned setbacks to advantage.
- Personal growth
- Motivation (Psychology)
- Self-help
- Business & economics
- Philosophy
- Success in business
- Self Concept
2 What to expect
A short, motivational book built on one idea from Stoic philosophy: obstacles can be turned into opportunities by how you see them and act on them. Brief chapters illustrate each point with a story from history, business or sport, and with quotations from Marcus Aurelius. It is brisk and quotable, closer to a pep talk than to philosophy, and it covers ground similar to the author's Ego Is the Enemy.
Good for readers who want: practical Stoicism, motivation in hard times, and short chapters.
3 About Ryan Holiday
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 More by Ryan Holiday
5 Similar books
- Rising Strong by Brené Brown
- Tools of Titans by Timothy Ferriss
- Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
- The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson
- Grit by Angela Duckworth
- Drive by Daniel H. Pink
- Dare to Lead by Brené Brown