Takeaways: The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday

   Struggle, frustration, hardship, obstacles are the things that are not unfamiliar to us, and most of us regularly face them in our daily life. They block us doing what we want to do and make us angry, frustrated, and depressed, and get stuck us not to know how to move forward by paralyzing our mind. Those struggles create two choices that either we quit or pass through them. We can pass through them with immense benefits if we could correctly perceive and act.

  'Obstacles is a way' talks about transforming challenges into solutions, obstacles into opportunities, and adversities into prosperities through the ancient wisdom (mainly stoic) and lives of great people who dealt with tremendous hardships. Perception, Action, and Will are the main topics of the book.

Here are the quick lessons from the book.

Perception:

1. It is us to label the things as a good or a bad through our perception.
2. Emotion does not change the situation, thus control it, try to avoid panicking.
3. Be objective when you deal with problems. Identify a real threat first, then act accordingly. Haphazard reaction to the situation may cause another fatal outcome. Look at your target by stripping out all the association in it.
4. Change your perspective, look at the problem from another angle. We may alter the story by looking at it from a right standpoint.
5. Focus on what you can change. The things that are not in your control accept them as they are.
6. Search opportunities in every adversity that you face by thinking differently.

It is an excellent book, and I recommend it to everyone.