Each time, you’ll develop strength, wisdom, and perspective. But we’re ready for that. You’re not wasting your energy in battles driven by ego and pride rather than tactical advantage. All these issues are solvable. Resistance is futile. After some analysis, I could classify my barriers; It takes skill and discipline to bat away the pests of bad perceptions, to separate reliable signals from deceptive ones, to filter out prejudice, expectation, and fear. Your world is ruled by external factors. But perseverance is something larger. The process is order, it keeps our perceptions in check and our actions in sync. That’s the next step: ramming your feet into the stirrups and really going for it. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Because these things will happen to you. He recovered and replied to the Obstacle in spectacular fashion. You’re not pressing ahead. Well, I might as well be happy about it. How much more quickly and dispassionately could you size up the scenario and its options? The unordered mind loses track of what’s in front of it and gets distracted by thoughts of the future. Perhaps you’re stuck in bed recovering. Let it envelop you. We can and always should act with those three traits—no matter the obstacle. How often do we see what we think is there or should be there, instead of what actually is there? Life is a process of breaking through these impediments—a series of fortified lines that we must break through. Decide to tackle what stands in your way—not because you’re a gambler defying the odds but because you’ve calculated them and boldly embraced the risk. If we’re starting from scratch and the established players have had time to build up their defenses, there is just no way we are going to beat them on their strengths. Or, like Rockefeller, choose not to. See it for what it is and do the best you can. Choices that more often than not, do nothing to get us across the finish line. Indifference and acceptance are certainly better than disappointment or rage. Those are the attributes of right and effective action. Now the things that other people avoid, or flinch away from, we’re thankful for. Instead of giving in to frustration, we can put it to good use. — EPICTETUS. More important, you must keep them all in real perspective. In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune’s habit of behaving just as she pleases. Promises aren’t kept. We’re not special or unique simply by virtue of being. And you will discover, time and time again, that what matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure. But this takes strength. The only guarantee, ever, is that things will go wrong. We all have our own constraints to deal with—rules and social norms we’re required to observe that we’d rather not. Sometimes you overcome obstacles not by attacking them but by withdrawing and letting them attack you. That they cracked the problem with pure genius. No, really think. So go ahead, feel it. It’s far better to seem like a downer than to be blindsided or caught off guard. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport challenges the hypothesis: Do what you love and the money will follow. How can we salvage some good out of this? Our capacity to try, try, try is inextricably linked with our ability and tolerance to fail, fail, fail. Life can be frustrating. Or air? Ignore what it “represents” or it “means” or “why it happened to you. Read this The Obstacle Is the Way summary to review takeaways and lessons from the book. Don’t let the negativity in, don’t let those emotions even get started. It requires acceptance. Where the head goes, the body follows. As Francis Bacon once said, nature, in order to be commanded, must be obeyed. Just say: No, thank you. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”, “The Things which hurt,” Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Instruct.”. And then we atrophy from there. The book’s title is a paraphrase of a maxim from the Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who said, “The impediment to action advances action. Stop looking for an epiphany, and start looking for weak points. Often when we are just starting out, our first jobs “introduce us to the broom,” as Andrew Carnegie famously put it. But… No. Which is to say, we are never completely powerless. Or will you exercise will and get up and fight? By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change at any instant. Simply do what you need to do right now. Does uncertainty bother you? Winners, in fact, quit all the time, but they do it very strategically. Willing and able to continue, even during the unthinkable, even when our worst nightmares have come true. It’s a muscle that must be developed. There’s no need to sweat this or feel rushed. We can question that impulse. Iron? In fact, if we have our wits fully about us, we can step back and remember that situations, by themselves, cannot be good or bad. It’s funny, you should try it the next time someone intimidates you or makes you feel insecure. In the beginning, we all start…, Read More The Art of Following Through – Book SummaryContinue, Share This with Someone Who Needs to See ThisThe Premise of the book is this: The Authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan state that the surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results is not by doing a collection of things right, but just one thing, and doing that One Thing to the best of your ability…, Read More The One Thing: The One Book That Can Probably Change Your LifeContinue, Share This with Someone Who Needs to See ThisIkigai translates to life’s purpose. Rather, everything guides them on the way. You can’t be serious. The Stoics have a beautiful name for this attitude. Our job is simply to answer well. The impediment to action advances action. Sam Thomas Davies Do yourself a favor and run down the list of businesses started during depressions or economic crises. Is there something I can do? “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.” Zig Ziglar. You always planned to do something. How much easier would it be for you to know what to do? He grew up in rural poverty, lost his mother while he was still a child, had to educate himself, teach himself the law, then just as things were turning good his fiancé died, had a nervous breakdown, and lost in 8 elections. concepts. Think progress, not perfection. We assume that the way we’re born is the way we simply are, that our disadvantages are permanent. In Marcus’s words is the secret to an art known as turning obstacles upside down. But that’s how he conducted himself on the tennis court. Rather, they have unlocked something that is very much within each and every person. That’s our motto. This too shall pass was Lincoln’s favorite saying. According to Ryan Holiday, author of the new book The Obstacle is the Way, the ancient Stoics argued the same thing. Jan 17, 2021 by Rabbi Philip Moskowitz. How we approach, view, and contextualize an obstacle, and what we tell ourselves it means, determines how daunting and trying it will be to overcome. When really, it’s all fair game, and every situation is an opportunity for us to act. I am not going to die from this. In fact, it was the slow pressure, repeated from many different angles, the elimination of so many other more promising options, that slowly and surely churned the solution to the top of the pile. That’s awful, but now you can travel unencumbered. Even though they did not always overcome it in the way they intended or expected, each individual emerged better, stronger. Like any good school, learning from failure isn’t free. Eventually we snap. Certain things in life will cut you open like a knife. Amor Fati – Love everything that happens. Exhale. While others are excited or afraid, we will remain calm and imperturbable. We will see things simply and straightforwardly, as they truly are—neither good nor bad. Under its influence, we needn’t panic. We are A-to-Z thinkers, fretting about A, obsessing over Z, yet forgetting all about B through Y. You lost your job or a relationship? Nonaction can be action. During the good times, we need to strengthen our minds and bodies so that during the difficult times we can depend on them to protect us. In doing so, we might end up creating a new venture that replaces our insufficient income entirely. This is what we’ve got to do. To whatever we face, our job is to respond with: You should never have to ask yourself, But what am I supposed to do now? Will is our internal power, which can never be affected by the outside world. Learning not to kick and scream about matters we can’t control is one thing. When we want things too badly we can be our own worst enemy. And that’s the final part: Stay moving, always. You can use the actions of others against themselves instead of acting yourself. Finishing blocks. The obstacles were in my way. Nothing but education; nothing but the first steps to something better. Launch a movement. We have no control over what happens to us, but we can control how we react to it. Arthur Ashe was a tennis player who was a contradiction to his contemporaries. Genius often really is just persistence in disguise. Of course you’d want to avoid something negative if you could. Pragmatism is not so much realism as flexibility. The more you try it, the better you get at it. We can think, act, and finally adjust to a world that is inherently unpredictable. Everything about our animalistic brains tries to compress the space between impression and perception. The obstacle is the way best quotes “No one said you can’t ever cry. Conserve your energy. They think we’re toying with them. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given. How does pressure feel? The process is a set of small deliberate actions that keeps our perceptions in check and our actions in sync. It is an exhilarating thought. While others obsess with observing the rules, we’re subtly undermining them and subverting them to our advantage. Anyone sentient can do that. The difference between the right and wrong perspective is everything. They had a job they wanted to do, a great idea they believed in or a product they thought they could sell. I’m not going to get excited or upset. It tells us to come to a stop here. It means iterating, failing, and improving. Take what you’re afraid of—when fear strikes you—and break it apart. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become the next moment. We decide whether we’ll assent or reject. We tell ourselves that we’ll get started once the conditions are right, or once we’re sure we can trust this or that. So what if this method isn’t as “scientific” or “proper” as others? What stands in the way becomes the way. As in: the strength to endure, contextualize, and derive meaning from the obstacles we cannot simply overcome (which, as it happens, is the way of flipping the unflippable). It does not happen on its own. No, I suppose not. We protect our inner fortress so it may protect us. author. Depend on it. Delivered. Or to try another route. Don’t focus on that. It is also the most difficult of all the disciplines. Don’t waste a second looking back at your expectations. Are you comfortable with challenges? Placed in some situation that seems unchangeable and undeniably negative, we can turn it into a learning experience, a humbling experience, a chance to provide comfort to others. 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