“The Obstacles Way” (Commentary & Review)
Philosophy by many is an esoteric set of doctrine that is reserved almost exclusively for the abstract thinkers. To a certain extent, this statement may actually be true. The differentiating factor from stoicism and other more elusive-based versions of philosophy is that stoicism can very easily be ready directly from the source and suffer almost no error in translation. Stoicism could be read as if the work was created just years ago for more modern economics. Individuals like Seneca helped carve the current state of stoicism while others like Marcus Aurelius solidified the position.
The premise of the book is to educate the reader that the obstacle, the insurmountable obstacle presented in front of you — physically, mentally, or both — can actually be an opportunity for you to grow, develop new skills or at the minimum practice mindfulness and humility.
Therefore the obstacle is the way.
Analysis
The summary could be condensed down to one main purpose. The book is a template for learning how to problem-solve objectively when exposed to unexpected misfortune.
Part 1 — Perception
Chapter 1: Discipline Of Perception
Our reality is determined by our perception. We have the ability to change our reality if we choose to obtain the discipline needed to change our perception. Our perception can be a strength or weakness, and your ability to decide is the determining factor.
When attempting to practice stoicism you must remain objective — attempting to follow evidence-based models alone. Emotions are responsive reactions created to help us in our pursuit of survival. Nevertheless, the emotional brain contains multiple flaws, such as post-hoc fabrications. Learn to control the emotions, or they will control you.
Remember, everything is neutral, neither positive or negative if you are objective. Yet, we are seeking happiness as well so in unfavorable circumstances choose to focus on the positive and keep things in perspective (relative to your life and others).
Using meditational practices (prayer) you can revert to the present and practice continual mental development by attempting to curb control on your emotions.
“Seeing opportunities in obstacles does not come naturally: it’s a skill and an attitude you must train with self-discipline.”
Chapter 2: Perspective: Your Power
Appending onto the last chapter, events — the obstacle — is neither good nor bad; it just is. Your response and reaction determine the valence of the outcome. What if you decided to choose the positive version of the event — the obstacle?
The power of perspective is that you can define the outcome and your emotions that follow. I am currently struggling in this at a higher frequency as I become increasingly more aware of my reactions to situations. The micro-habits are what make the difference. Check in with me in a year.
Adding on to the thought of perspective constructing our reality, the book “Mans Search for Meaning” blew my mind with the way Frankle endured 4 freaking internment camps.
Chapter 3: Steady Nerves And Control Emotions
Apathea. This is the Greek word used to define the loss of negative feelings (not feeling altogether, we are not trying to be robots, damnit).
Here we learned the significance of controlling emotions. Remember the rider and the elephant? The book describes our emotional brain really well, and its authoritative force over us (logic & reasoning).
Perception is everything, and if your nerves hold, nothing really happened.
When panic rears its ugly head, say “no thank you, I can’t afford to panic”, and go back to focusing on what you can control.
Ask yourself this:
Does what happened to keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness?
No? Then get back to work.
Calm and collected, ready and prepared to throw your best at it.
Chapter 4: Practice Objectivity
I want you to do a simple mental exercise with me. We are merely recalling a memory of an action that each one of us has performed once. Do you remember giving advice to someone, and the advice is relatively sound with the ability to seriously remedy a problem in life, a negative event? There is a high probability that you were observing the personal situation with the observing eye, empirically perceiving. Consequently, you create a neutral perception of reality. Imagine if you could see problems and solutions as clearly for yourself as you can with others’. It is easy to demand that you start viewing life objectively, and that’s the goal, but not the method for achievement. The best method for viewing life objectively is to simply consider that the problems are not yours. Imagine you are giving your friends advice for the same problems. You are a doctor searching for problems through symptoms, and formulating cures — solutions to problems.
Build the mental muscle to see through your observing eye. Like any training continual repetition will result in the attainment of mastery.
Chapter 5: Is It Up To You?
I challenge that you attempt to focus on what matters most: all that which you can control.
Holiday creates analogies for this part and alludes that emotions are the playing field. We can do as needed to subdue the emotions and that which you cannot control is the law — rules of the game. He recommends that we do not waste time or emotional energy on that which we have no control over.
Chapter 6: Live In The Present Moment
This chapter starts to deconstruct the obstacles’ outcome. Holiday proposes that the outcome whether good or bad (primarily bad) is merely theoretical. The important element of like to place emphasis on is the now, the present moment. Consider that thought for a moment. I implore you to take a movement and think about that. If the past is fixed and the future is theoretical (open to interpretation and manipulation) then all that genuinely matters is the NOW.
Regardless of the state of your current circumstances, the economy can be in severe depressions or euphoric prosperity all that you must care about is the now. This portion of the book was rather interesting to me because Holiday gave insight from his personal experience and interactions with the silicone valley titans. Many Fortune 500 corporations were documented starting in moments of SEVERE depressions throughout history. When thousands of companies were failing these stoic entrepreneurs found opportunity in the obstacle and terraformed an environment to thrive in. The future is theoretical and manipulatable. You decide the future by living n the present moment.
Chapter 7: Think Differently
You have the ability to decide the outcome of an obstacle. You can determine if you are capable or not capable of conquering the obstacle. If you have self-doubt and believe that the obstacle is more powerful than your goal and desires than you have decided your outcome. You are the designer of your life as Dalio suggests, so you decide if you submit to the obstacle or achieve your goal.
In “Man’s Search for Meaning” (next weeks book) we learn that the obstacle can be conquered through other methods aside of stoicism. Stoicism states the obstacle if a hidden opportunity and with discipline or mental shift you can conquer the obstacle and discover the obstacle hidden within. Victor also prescribes assigning meaning and purpose to the obstacle or suffering to make the action easier and more pleasurable. No one hates pointless suffering, finding the why in the suffering is the difference between being defeated or becoming victorious. You can decide.
Chapter 8: Finding The Opportunity
The premise of the chapter is the culmination of Part One. After you learned how to control your emotions the goal now is to unveil the opportunity hidden in misfortune. The Opportunity contributes to your ability to grow. Struggle and challenge is the catalyst for personal development. It is no mystery as to why we shy away from discomfort. This is merely a result of thousands of years of evolution to find the route with least resistance. Existing with mentality is simply that, existing; rather than living. The purpose for life as suggested by many significant figures like the Dalai Lama and Jordan Peterson is the pursuit of interest, exploration, and development. All of which require the ability to not only endure but thrive in misfortune and discomfort.
Many individuals are documented “bouncing back” from life-threatening injuries in varying levels of misfortune. Posttraumatic Growth is a documented anomaly that occurs from strengthening from traumatic events (physical or emotional).
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” — Nietzsche
Chapter 9: Prepare To Act
The Dalai Lama argued that internal development without action is not a productive action. The goal is to implement those lessons are trials of mental discipline — act and teach. Next section talks about exactly that. Now that you can think positively and control your emotions you are ready to be proactive rather than continue to stay reactive.
Part 2 — Action
Action is common, the right action is not. Your action must be directed, unrelenting and focused.
Chapter 10: The Discipline Of Action
Jordan Peterson talks about masking your problems, avoiding them or ignoring them altogether. He mentioned that “What’s done in the dark will find a way to shine”. In other words, what you are suppressing will eventually manifest and usually by a factor of 10 compared to how it would be had you addressed it initially.
What happened to you does not matter. What is of more significance is what you do with what happens to you equipped with the things you have. Using your past (good or bad) is to your advantage and only when you use that history will you be able to accomplish significant things.
Jocko Willink, a surprisingly amazing stoic, has a book titled “Discipline = Freedom”. The book emphasizes performing tasks with discipline so that you can cultivate a future of freedom. In life, you will be introduced with scenarios that may be daunting or terrifying to confront but I promise you that conquering the dragon — so to speak — head-on will provide fruits in your life that are unimaginable.
Chapter 12: Get Moving
Take action and figure out the rest later. The purpose of stoicism is not to become docile, defeated or debilitated. You must take action whether you are ready to or not. Regardless of erroneous circumstances you must take action and get moving!
Chapter 13: Practice Persistence
Holiday remarks to Edison’s success with the lightbulb, and many other inventions. The romanticized ideology of triumphant victories manifesting on a single attempt is a toxic thought. The truth is that constant external pressures persisted yet that didn’t intimidate Edison form feverishly exhausting every option through the process of elimination. The result of each failure moved the promising solution closer to success. The persistence allowed for success and any form of resistance was a futile and destructive move.
Chapter 14: Iterate
In computer engineering, we have methods that iterate objects. In computer science, we use iteration in machine learning to build conditioned reinforcement trained models. The objective is to reduce errors and increase the rate of the desired success. Life is a form of action and the “plan of action” demands continuous corrective feedback to improve the current model. This requires failing (exposure to chaos) and exposure to the unknown (anomaly). Since you are practicing stoicism you are the machine learning program that is receiving continuous feedback. As the programs synthesize the feedback you start correcting your model. Each set of feedback data you receive is further instruction on how to operate when encountered with similar events in the future.
The feedback is both positive and negative. The outcome delivers both a positive or negative reward, relative to the feedback.
Chapter 15: Follow The Process
So once again in computer engineering, we have one monolithic goal that needs to be completed. Coding that goal topdown tends to be an overly cumbersome process, therefore, we have a tendency to break the objective into smaller functions — units rather. The goal is to focus on the present now and accomplish that goal with great intensity then move on to the next objective.
Gary Vee is recorded encouraging others to “fall in love with the process” because the process is the only way that you can successfully achieve the desired objective. Pursue the process, not the prize.
“As they say, a journey of a thousand mile starts with a step.” — Lao Tzu.
Chapter 16: Do Your Job, Do It Right
Only self-absorbed assholes think they are too good for whatever their current station requires.
The proposition of this chapter is that we will be appointed many titles (for work) throughout life. Some of those titles may be prestigious while other less so. The promising nature of stoicism states that regardless of the work the demand still required exhaustive effort and integrity to the best of our abilities. Do your job and do it right.
When action is our priority, vanity falls away.
Chapter 17: What’s Right Is What Works
Many transcendent thought leaders of history have been remarked on the distinguishing differences of progress versus perfection. The attainment of perfection almost extinguishes motivation and intoxicated the person with a transient feeling of success. The feeling quickly dissipates yet the motivation for progressing is still suffocated.
We are attempting to be hyperrealistic. You are training to become a radical pragmatist. You will progressively learn to balance the dichotomies of ambitions but practical grounded possibilities. I’m much more delusional in the sense that my ambitions greatly exceeds my ability to believe that I constrained by “grounded possibilities”.
Chapter 18: In Praise Of The Flank Attack
This particular chapter resonated well with me as Holiday analogously discussed the advantage of being disadvantaged, specifically in business. Massive corporation contrast greatly in the small startup which is outnumbered possesses low operating capital and lacks relevant connections.
This intimidating encounter may actually be a blessing in disguise. You have the ability to think creatively, efficiently and do so with the ego on standby. Your former disadvantages now become your strengths. You now can manoeuver quicker, intuitive efficiency, and innate desire to win.
Remember, a castle can be a scary and impenetrable fortress, or it can be a prison when surrounded.
Chapter 19: Channel Your Energy
Remember when I mentioned that we are not attempting to become an emotionless robot. This chapter educated you on how to channel your negative emotions into powerful energy.
Emotions have the ability to fortify our actions when used correctly. He kinda mentions that in this chapter but doesn’t necessarily prescribe a method to master and convert the elusive emotions into energy.
You are an unstoppable force, you’re a tide: slow and steady, there’s nowhere to run for your opponent. External factors will influence the path, but not the direction: onward and upward.
Chapter 20: Seize The Offensive
This chapter eloquently describes the victorious mentality. During a war, there may be a point of mutual exhaustion in which both opposing forces are equally defeated and fatigued. Yet, “It’s the one who raises the next morning after a long day of fighting and rallies, instead of retreating who will carry victory home.”
The obstacle is now your chance of winning.
Chapter 21: Prepare For None Of It To Work
In “Anything You Want” Sivers was told to prepare for multiple erroneous circumstances to transpire, then for complete failure. This mental exercise was to prepare you for the unpredictable nature of the world. We can barely control ourselves much less the world at whole. So do not be discouraged when encountered with failure.
Here Holiday advises us to practice new virtues in instances of total failure: humility and acceptance.
Failure is expected, so do not be shaken up by that which you are expecting. Use it constructively (see Chapter 14) fail forward and move on.
Part 3 — Will
What is will?
Will is our internal power. Will can never be affected by the outside world. When all action fails, a will is our final trump card.
Chapter 22: The Discipline Of Will
The true definition of will is misguided by tales of desires and ambition. The combination of the two will seldom create the perseverance needed to persist under immense amounts of pressure derived by the obstacle. Will can be interpreted as humility, resilience, & flexibility. Despite your current circumstances, your ability to be at peace with reality is the advancement towards higher wisdom.
Will
/wil/
noun
- The faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action.
Making the decision to desire something is part of the equation of success. You must, with laser focus accuracy, determine the direction of your sail. Yet, without action, the desire is wasted. Will allows you to remain collected with unpredictable misfortunes ruin your desired plan of action. Will allows you to face anything at any time no matter what is happening to you or around you.
Chapter 23: Build Your Inner Citadel
Have you watched Game of Thrones yet? If so, then this may trigger you! If not then think back to the Dalai Lama and even Christion euphemisms. Your body (by extension the mind) is a temple.
Great cathedrals have endured hundreds of years of erosion and war to still remain with countless years before completion. Your temple — your Inner Citadel — is constructed brick by brick like any other great temple. Persistence patience is integral for developing a great will through adversity.
Chapter 24: Anticipation (Thinking Negatively)
We often like to make the assumption that people are inherently evil, its why things like innate sin exist in religion (specifically Christianity). When you know that people are generally self-interested with a self-serving mentality, why do you become discouraged by the oppressive ruthlessness afflicted onto you by others whose primary objective is to tear you down? Why suffer through experiencing negative emotions like anger, fear, or anxiety from situations that you should already come to expect?
This is where Holiday brings up a great approach to remedying negatively afflicted situations. He suggests that others use a tool of stoicism called anticipation.
an·tic·i·pa·tion
/anˌtisəˈpāSH(ə)n/
noun
- the action of anticipating something; expectation or prediction.
You can now with your observing eye view the range of potential outcomes with anticipation. Now that you anticipate (with a catch-all) various outcomes you are unmoved by situations as they are mental models you have thought through already. No need to be in a panic-induced state of neurosis. You are confident with your ability to accommodate yourself regardless of the outcome, even if it all goes disastrously wrong. You’ll stand up, brush your shoulder off, and be okay.
Chapter 25: The Art Of Acquiescence
I was unaware that I was unintentionally building a mini-dictionary. Sorry guys but this one word is integral for the chapter.
ac·qui·es·cence
/ˌakwēˈesəns/
noun
- the reluctant acceptance of something without protest.
We often fall victim to life’s egregious signs of disappointment. Typically, the person in life would believe and accept with much reluctance to obstacles delivered by life without any considerable opposition. The reality is that you have the ability to take events as they come and have the capacity to move around them. “It’s only a bump along your road.”
Everything we could think of has been done, the troops are fit and everybody is doing his best. The answer is in the lap of the gods.
Holiday affixed his opinions to the quote above by stating that these men were not “hoping for the best” rather understood fully what could and probably happen.
Chapter 26: Love Everything That Happens: Amor Fati
The presupposition of the book is that things happen that are out of our control, good or bad. We must be willing to accept those things and genuinely grow to love that truth. The Dalai Lama talks about this mental exercise always. Attempt to find happiness — the joy — in situations regardless of the outcome. At the minimum, you fall in love with the humility that it may provide in an instance of complete failure.
We don’t get to choose what happens to us, but we can always choose how we feel about it. — G.S. Jennsen, Starshine: Aurora Rising Book One
Chapter 27: Perseverance
per·se·ver·ance
/ˌpərsəˈvirəns/
noun
- persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
per·sist·ence
/pərˈsistəns/
noun
- firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.
After observing the two words we can conclude that perseverance is built on persistence. Perseverance is derived by the will to accomplish a goal regardless of the difficulty. Believing there will be a success despite defying circumstances.
Chapter 28: Something Bigger Than Yourself
Stop thinking of yourself all the time, and putting “I” in front of all the events. “I did very well but..”, “I deserve better than this..”.
No wonder you take losses so personally!
And stop pretending what you’re going through is somehow special or unfair.
Hundreds and thousands before you felt the same and had the same thoughts. They had no idea that you would exist, and a century from now, someone will be in your exact same position.
Embrace the power of being part of a larger whole, it’s an exhilarating thought.
And do something helpful, think instead: if I can’t solve it for myself, how can I at least make it better for others?
This new shift in perception will immediately shift your thinking into a new gear. All of a sudden you’re thinking like a leader, and you’re a person who takes care of others.
Be strong for others, and it will make you stronger.
Chapter 29: Meditate On Your Mortality
Mortality is finite, and accepting that reality will help keep life in perspective. We are all diagnosed with the fatal disease called eternal sleep, death.
Each day you live your probability for death increases as well.
I suggest that you visit an old-folks home, visit your older relatives and those who know about their impending fate. Observe their regrets. Knowing that life is finite will help you keep emotions in check as life and its’ situations are unpredictable and transient.
Instead of denying — or worse, fearing — our mortality, we can embrace it.
Chapter 30: Prepare To Start Again
Obstacles tend to be like a hydra. Once one is conquered one or more may rise in its place. Peterson and the Dalai Lama alike believe that the pursuit of challenge and interest is the purpose or meaning of life. We are exploratory beings with an innate curiosity. That curiosity to pursue the unknown, interests, the meaning is an instinct that keeps us alive. Life is filled with countless trials and tribulations. Your objective is to remain objective and persevere so that you can discover the opportunity in the obstacle — until you realize that the obstacle IS the way.
Conclusion
The purpose of the book is to create the ability and/or improve the capacity to objectively observing the world consisting of unpredictable components and their properties.
Let's break it up into actionable steps. The goal is to have you thinking like a well-learned stoic with years of experience in 90 days or less.
Step One: Adherence.
I think I will use this a reusable object in the writings. I’d like to make this the default initial first step as well unless otherwise changed. If you cannot adhere to something, then you are unable to perform it over time with the intensity or frequency required to form a new behavioral change, and thus it’s habits. Use a method that you can repeat daily.
Step Two: Perceive
Part one taught us the reality is simply perception. Your perspective constructs reality through perception. Semantics don't matter too much, all you need to know is that you can control your life by deciding the direction of your perspective.
Curb your instinctual habit to dive into action through emotional impulsion. Don't be a robot and not feel joy, and don't deny anxiety when threatening events arise. Outcomes and emotions are neither negative or positive, they just are. Your perceptions constitute the direction of your reality and the affected attributes assigned as a result. Control your emotions or they will control you.
Step Three: Be Objective & Create Opportunity
The past is fixed (something to learn from) the future is theoretical (manipulatable & open to interpretation). All that matters is the NOW, the present. Practice that mental exercise with the objective lens. Nothing is good or bad it just is! With an objective view, you are a scientist immersed in a clever study being conducting called life.
The objective observing eye is necessary for step five. Make sure you practice your ability to perceive life objectively. See step one for more help.
No one desires pointless suffering. Assign meaning or purpose to your suffering as prescribed by Victor Frankel. Peterson suggests that life is eternal suffering. Therefore assigning meaning to life is the antidote for the tragedy that is expected or otherwise unpredictable. Now that you can observe objectively (empirically without emotional bias) and know that suffering has a meaning you can now create opportunity in the obstacle.
Discover how the obstacle can benefit you. Look at the daunting challenge as a vehicle for improvement, even if its merely learning humility from failure.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” — Nietzsche
Step Five: Take Action & Iterate with Persistence
You are an effective scientist at the moment who can observe life through an objective lens. You take action after developing the hypothesis, the “theoretical plan of action” used to obtain the desired outcome. Failure occurs but you are unphased because as a scientist you use the failure as a tool to improve the machine that is your “plan of action”. You iterate the process, following the system, with relentless persistence. Once failure arises (because it will, you will feed that into the machine to correct the model that is your “plan of action”. Learning while executing is the most effective method for developing mastery.
Failure is inevitable, therefore your perspective of failure and thus your perception determines the emotional valence that it will be assigned. Practice worse case scenarios (absolute worse case scenarios) to not be in a panic-induced state from anxiety when your “plan of action” fails (which it probably will many time moreover).
Step Six: Discipline Your Will
Develop and strengthen your will. Will is your ability to persevere through adversity with the faith that you will succeed, regardless of the defying circumstances.
We addressed that life is filled with tragic moments and failure is abundant. Falling in love with the bad (often the process) will allow you to not only endure the unpredictable nature of life but also enjoy it, regardless of the outcome.
We don’t get to choose what happens to us, but we can always choose how we feel about it. — G.S. Jennsen, Starshine: Aurora Rising Book One
We are all dying eventually. Each one of us possesses a timestamped date for fate to strip us of our mortality.
Instead of denying — or worse, fearing — our mortality, we can embrace it.
Step Seven: Celebrate & Iterate
You have conquered the obstacle. You first endured and grew to love its misfortune and came out more adept as a result. Celebrate your ability to practice and implement stoicism in adversity. You are a critical thinking problem solver who can observe life objectively when needed and enjoy life regardless of the circumstances.
Life is abundant in adversity, so I command that you iterate this function called stoicism on every problem that you encounter in life. The more practice you get the greater level of mastery you can achieve.
