Table Of Content

E FOR THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY “Ryan brings philosophy out from the classroom and thrusts it back where it belongs, in our daily tives, helping anyone approaching any problem address it with equanimity and poise. A kind of user's manual for life, you will turn to it time and time again and learn to tear through any obstacle and resolve any conflict, An absolute must-read.” JIMMY SONi, managing editor of ‘The Huffington Post, author of Rome's Last Citizen “First came Marcus Aurelius, then Frederick the Great... and now there’s you. This surprising book shows you how to crafta life of wonder by embracing obstacles and challenge.” —CHRIS GUILLEBEAU, author of The $100 Startup “A book for the bedside of every future—and current— Jeader in the world.” —RORBFRT GREENE, author of The 48 Laws of Power and Mastery “In this Gght, engaging book, Ryan Holiday shines a bright, powerful light on the path to living and leading well. By showing us how to turn failuce, obstacles, and plain old every- day frustration to our advantage, he offers up a host of easy-to-use tactics that each of us can put to work to follow our dreams. Read it, learn from it, and get cracking!” NANCY F. KOEHN, historian and leadership expert, Harvard Business School “My life has been beset with obstacles. [t takes practice (and pain) to surmount them and achieve success. Ryan's book is a how-to guide for just that.” JAMES ALTUGHER, investor and author of Choose Yourself “If there's such a thing as a cargo-pocket handbook for Jedi knights, this is it. Ryan Holiday's The Obstacle is the Waydecants in concentrated form the timeless techniques for self mastery as employed to world-conquering effect by philosophers and men of action from Alexander the Great to Marcus Aurelius to Steve Jobs. Follow these precepts and you will revolutionize your life, As Mr. Holiday writes, ‘Te’s simple, it’s just not easy: Read this book!” —STEVEN PRESSFLELD, author of The War of Art and Gates of Fire “Beautifully crafted. Anyone who wants ta be better should read this.” —KAMAL RAVIKANT author of Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It and Live Your fruth spired by Marcus Aurelius and concepts of Stoicism, Ryan Holiday has written a brilliant and engaging book, well be- yond his years, teaching us how to deal with life’s adversities and to turn negatives into positives. It is invaluable.” —Hlonorable Frederic Block, judge, U.S. District Court “Ryan [Holiday teaches us how to summon our best sclves. Most of us spend our lives dodging the hard stuff. Holiday exposes the tragic fallacy of this approach to living and offers us instead the philosophy of the Stoics, whose timeless lessons lead us out of fear, difficulty, and paralysis to tr umph.” — Sharon Lebell, author of The Art of Living THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY RYAN HOLUDAY isa media strategist for clients such as ‘Tucker Max and Dov Charney, and worked on the publicity campaign for Tim Ferciss’s The 4-Hour Work Week. After dropping out of college at nineteen, he went on to advise bestselling authors and multi-platinum musicians. He is the Director of Marketing at American Apparel and his strategies are used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube and Google. His first book, Trust Me I'm Lying was a Wall Strect Journal best- seller. He currently lives in New Orlcans. THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY THE ANCIENT ART OF TURNING ADVERSITY TO ADVANTAGE Ryan Holiday First published in Great Bri PROFILE BOOKS LTD 34 Exmouth House Pine Street London uci op ane profitevooks.com ‘nin 2014 by First published in the Linited States of America in 2014 by Portfolio/enguin, a member of the Penguin Group Copyright © Ryan Holiday, 2014. woh 7 oR 4520 Set in ITG New Baskerville Std Designed by E. J. Strongin, Neuwirth Associates, Inc. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays, Bungay, Suffolk ‘The moral right of the author has been asserted, All sights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (clectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or atherwise), without (he prior written peemission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. ACIP catalogue record for this hook is available from the British Library. ISBN 978 1 78125 1485 ISBN 978 78283.005, 4 ‘The paper this book is printed on is certified by he © 1996 Forest Stewardship Council A.G, (FSC). Itis ancient-forest friendly. The printer holds FSC chain of custody SGS- COC-2081 CONTENTS Paface xiti tntrnduction 1 PART I: PERCEPTION (118, DISCIPLINE OF PERCEPTION 13 RECOGNIZE YOUR POWER 9 STEADY YOUR NERVES 24 CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS 27 PRACTICE OBJECTIVITY 32 ALVER YOUR PERSPECTIVE 36 ISTE UP TO YOU? 40 LIVE LN THE PRESENT MOMENT 45 THINK DIFFERENTLY 49 FINDING THE OPPORTUNITY 53 PREPARE. TO ACT 60