Philosophy
by Ryan Holiday
What if the problem is the path?
His argument is that almost every setback contains something you can use. The book teaches three disciplines for finding it, which he calls perception, action and will.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Perception, Holiday's first discipline, means stripping off the story you tell about a problem and describing only what happened. George Clooney kept failing auditions until he stopped seeing them as begging for a part. He started treating himself as the answer to the producers' problem, and began getting work.
Action is the second discipline, and Holiday wants it persistent. Ulysses S. Grant spent months trying to take Vicksburg, digging canals and trying one route after another, before a plan finally worked. A problem that won't give way to the first attempt often gives way to the fifth.
When a problem feels too big, Holiday points to the football coach Nick Saban, who tells his players to forget the championship and the scoreboard. Do the next small thing properly, then the one after that. A huge obstacle becomes a series of jobs you can do today.
Will is the third discipline, for what no action can fix. Holiday borrows the image of an inner citadel, a fortress you build before trouble arrives. Part of the building is premeditatio malorum, the Stoic habit of picturing what could go wrong so it can't catch you off guard.
Perception
What happens to you is fixed. How you choose to see it is up to you.
Steady nerves
Keep calm when things go wrong. Panic only makes a hard problem harder.
Control
Sort what you can change from what you can't, and spend your effort on the first.
Keep going
Once you see the problem clearly, start moving and keep chipping away at it.
Practice
Every setback is a chance to practise something, like patience or courage.
A story from the book
In December 1914, fire swept through Thomas Edison's factory in New Jersey. Edison, then 67, told his son to fetch his mother and her friends, because they'd never see a fire like it again. Then he started rebuilding. Holiday's point is to accept, even welcome, what can't be undone.
One thing to try
Take the problem bothering you most and write what happened in one sentence, with no adjectives. Underneath, split it into what's up to you and what isn't. Take one action from the first list today.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. The Obstacle Is the Way comes with a Spot the Trap case to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWhat if the problem is the path? His argument is that almost every setback contains something you can use. The book teaches three disciplines for finding it, which he calls perception, action and will.
First, see it plainly; Then keep moving; Follow the process; Build the inner citadel.
Take the problem bothering you most and write what happened in one sentence, with no adjectives. Underneath, split it into what's up to you and what isn't. Take one action from the first list today.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from The Obstacle Is the Way in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Spot the Trap case to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
Man's Search for MeaningViktor E. FranklPut your effort into what's yours to control, your response.