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945 reviews for:
The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
Ryan Holiday
3.86 AVERAGE
945 reviews for:
The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
Ryan Holiday
3.86 AVERAGE
I had always thought of Stoicism as more of a synonym for "tough" than an actual set of strategies for eliminating negative emotions, but The Obstacle Is the Way has shown me just how relevant this ancient philosophy really is.
One of the most impactful lessons from Stoicism in my life is the idea that you have a limited amount of energy to use, and wasting it on frustration over things you don't control won't help you nearly as much as focusing on what you can. It's much harder to be stressed over something if you know you did everything you could to begin with.
The book is well written, and the examples do a good job of illustrating the topics being covered. Each chapter consists of actual behaviors & exercises you can immediately apply to your life.
One of the most impactful lessons from Stoicism in my life is the idea that you have a limited amount of energy to use, and wasting it on frustration over things you don't control won't help you nearly as much as focusing on what you can. It's much harder to be stressed over something if you know you did everything you could to begin with.
The book is well written, and the examples do a good job of illustrating the topics being covered. Each chapter consists of actual behaviors & exercises you can immediately apply to your life.
dnf-d halfway through - if you read the first 10 pages, you kind of get the idea of the book.
This book is largely a self-help motivational type of read - if you're somewhere in life where you're feeling down and need something to give you a kick in the butt, this book might be a motivational boost. But for everyone else, there isn't really a lot in this book that you haven't heard elsewhere. The historical examples the author uses gloss over important historical context and largely just present a picture of individuals that "picked themselves up by their bootstraps" - kinda does a disservice to history. Rounding up to 2/5 because I can't give 1.5.
This book is largely a self-help motivational type of read - if you're somewhere in life where you're feeling down and need something to give you a kick in the butt, this book might be a motivational boost. But for everyone else, there isn't really a lot in this book that you haven't heard elsewhere. The historical examples the author uses gloss over important historical context and largely just present a picture of individuals that "picked themselves up by their bootstraps" - kinda does a disservice to history. Rounding up to 2/5 because I can't give 1.5.
Simply said, a book that will change your perspective about all the negative things that have happened to you and most probably will happen.
A great read and a book that is getting a lot of buzz lately. Ryan takes the work from the great stoics and creates a read that helps the reader understand that obstacles are to be expected and are part of the journey. I enjoyed this book and wrote down many great ideas. However, it did not suck me in and some parts I read faster than others. A worthy read, but not one that I would probably read again.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Definitely a book I'm gonna re-read! Love its bite-sized chapters that can be easily digested and applied into daily life.
This book was assigned to me by my BBQ pitmaster, who thought it might hold a bunch of lessons that our team might employ as we approach the 2015 competition BBQ season.
Trust me, I realize how weird that first sentence is.
While this book was an excellent primer on Stoic concepts and lessons, I sometimes felt like I was reading a collection of somebody's LiveJournal essays. Key tenets of the philosophy were boiled down into easily digestible chapters (no more than 6 pages, often just 3 or 4). Each tenet was usually anchored by an example featuring a key public figure -- your Steve Jobs, Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, and John D. Rockefellers of the world.
I don't read a lot of books aimed at the "learned executive," but I get the sense the aforementioned structure is something that is pretty standard. And while I can see the advantages, I'm not sure it's quite what I want out of a paper book.
This book did point me to other books by Seneca and Marcus Aurelius -- underlying texts, if you will -- that I look forward to digesting.
It's a good introduction to Stoicism, although I feel like its attempt to be actionable and immediately relevant resulted in a fairly shallow substance.
Trust me, I realize how weird that first sentence is.
While this book was an excellent primer on Stoic concepts and lessons, I sometimes felt like I was reading a collection of somebody's LiveJournal essays. Key tenets of the philosophy were boiled down into easily digestible chapters (no more than 6 pages, often just 3 or 4). Each tenet was usually anchored by an example featuring a key public figure -- your Steve Jobs, Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, and John D. Rockefellers of the world.
I don't read a lot of books aimed at the "learned executive," but I get the sense the aforementioned structure is something that is pretty standard. And while I can see the advantages, I'm not sure it's quite what I want out of a paper book.
This book did point me to other books by Seneca and Marcus Aurelius -- underlying texts, if you will -- that I look forward to digesting.
It's a good introduction to Stoicism, although I feel like its attempt to be actionable and immediately relevant resulted in a fairly shallow substance.
Really liked this one. Easy to come back to, pick up and open randomly and get value or of it. Really solid and valuable as a treat from cover to cover. I'm hoping to apply a bunch of this, and then I'll come back and revisit it, maybe in 6months or so, to decide what parts to focus on applying next.
Recommending to my kids also.
Recommending to my kids also.
fast-paced
kind of a stocism 101, a bit simple and I did expect better going in. However, still worth the read