The Obstacle is the Way
In 2014, Ryan Holiday released a book titled “The Obstacle is the Way.” The title of the book was drawn from a quote by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor, in his collection of personal writings: “Meditations.” The quote goes as such: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
The general message of this book is that obstacles don’t inhibit success, rather they create it and the only way to achieve this success, is to see “through the negative, past its underside, and into its corollary: the positive.”
Most of us are programmed to protest, and struggle against the negatives that pop up in our daily lives. Take yourself for instance, when on your way to work and traffic is terrible, your mood most likely spoils. When you’re at work, and a colleague is rude to you, your default reaction is usually to reply or become vindictive. Basically, like most people, it never occurs to you, that there might be alternatives to negative events other than the defaults you’re used to and rightly so. It’s hard to see the options when you’re angry or steeped in emotion. Yet, if you’re to grow, you have to learn to stay aware when your emotions come, and look for the opportunities they present.
The concept behind seeing the obstacle as the way, comes from the philosophy of stoicism, which can be summarized as such: our focus should be on what we can control, such as: our actions, our choices, and how we interpret the things that happen to us; everything else – traffic conditions, the behavior of others, world events and so on – is out of our control, and should not cause us worry.”
In practice, this looks like choosing to see the traffic you loath, as an opportunity to exercise patience, or observe the world around you. It looks like choosing to see the affront from your colleague as an opportunity to practice forgiveness, or inquire about his or her well-being. It looks like choosing to see challenges as an opportunity to display creativity and so on. I could go on and on, but I think you get the message. There is an untouchability that comes when you understand where your power lies, and choose to focus on it alone.
It won’t be easy, you’ll be tempted to return to old habits, and you’ll most likely fail a lot. But, then failure itself is an opportunity to practice, to learn about yourself, see how you act, and make reality-based plans to do better next time. Life is stressful, and career related issues, constitute a huge part of life’s stressors. Learning to take this stress and use it to your advantage, is a skill that will set you apart from the majority, and give you peace in life, make sure you seize it.
