How To Think About Obstacles
The Daily Stoic10 Jun 2019

How To Think About Obstacles

We can think of hardship many ways: As failure. As unfairness. As the end of the conversation. Clearly, this was not meant to be, we can say. They don’t want me to succeed, so what’s the point of trying?

Or, we can choose—we can train ourselves—to see it a better way: As grist for the mill. As a chance to learn about endurance, patience, resilience, struggle. As an opportunity to prove our mettle. As a way of learning about people or situations or actions or things.

Marcus Aurelius believed in the latter approach. As he wrote:

“Our inward power, when it obeys nature, reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces—to what is possible. It needs no specific material. It pursues its own aims as circumstances allow; it turns obstacles into fuel. As a fire overwhelms what would have quenched a lamp. What’s thrown on top of the conflagration is absorbed, consumed by it—and makes it burn still higher.”

It’s not about accepting hardship then, or resigning ourselves to it. Rather, it’s a matter of agreeing to work with it. To decide to make the most of it. To see hardship as an opportunity, not an obstacle. In this way, we can turn what happens to us into fuel.

We can be made better and brighter by everything that happens.

P.S. The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday is $1.99 on Amazon right now for a very limited time! If you want to check it out, or give it as a gift, it’ll never be cheaper than that.

You can also check out our brand new The Obstacle Is The Way pendant, as well as The Obstacle is the Way medallion which is inspired by the same insights from Marcus Aurelius and is awesome for carrying with you everywhere you go.




See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(2901)

The Complete Stoic Playbook To MASTER Your Emotions

The Complete Stoic Playbook To MASTER Your Emotions

Do your emotions ever get the best of you? Someone says one thing and it ruins your whole day. A small frustration turns into a big deal. Travel anxiety spirals. Jealousy or irritation shows up before...

7 Mar 30min

Will You Face This Truth?

Will You Face This Truth?

Even though we can’t control time or slow it down, even though we can’t control external forces and external events—we can control ourselves, so we can control how we use our time. SPECIAL OFFER exclu...

6 Mar 2min

Jordan Klepper: How Mob Thinking Takes Over | PT. 2

Jordan Klepper: How Mob Thinking Takes Over | PT. 2

When does belonging start to matter more than being right? In Part 2 of Ryan’s conversation with Jordan Klepper, they dive into how mob thinking takes over, how cultural permission shifts what feels a...

6 Mar 41min

Use This As Practice | 3 Stoic Exercises For Your Best Month Yet

Use This As Practice | 3 Stoic Exercises For Your Best Month Yet

Get your reps in…because none of us have any idea what life has in store for us in the future.SPECIAL OFFER exclusively for podcast listeners 👉 Go to dailystoic.com/spring and enter code DSPOD20 at c...

5 Mar 9min

Jordan Klepper: How to Talk to People You Disagree With (Without Losing It) | PT. 1

Jordan Klepper: How to Talk to People You Disagree With (Without Losing It) | PT. 1

What do you do when someone says something you completely disagree with or something that sounds totally detached from reality? Jordan Klepper, correspondent and host at The Daily Show, is known for w...

4 Mar 40min

Now Is The Time

Now Is The Time

It’s been a long winter. But now? Now you can feel something is in the air. 💡 Go to dailystoic.com/spring and enter code DSPOD20 at checkout to get 20% off the Spring Forward Challenge! Challenge you...

4 Mar 2min

You Can’t Forget What You Don’t Put Off | (Dis)integration

You Can’t Forget What You Don’t Put Off | (Dis)integration

We plan to do it. We mean to do it. We just tell ourselves that we’ll do it tomorrow. The problem, as the Stoics remind us, is that we don’t control tomorrow.👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into ...

3 Mar 8min

They’re Not Wrong (They’re Just Cut Off From Truth) | What Expensive Things Cost

They’re Not Wrong (They’re Just Cut Off From Truth) | What Expensive Things Cost

Haven’t you been wrong before? Haven’t you done stuff that in retrospect seems dumb or weird? Of course you have.📚 Books Mentioned: Great Gatsby: 100th Anniversary Deluxe EditionMeditations by Marcus...

2 Mar 7min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
finansredaksjonen
pengesnakk
pengepodden-2
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
rss-sunn-okonomi
utbytte
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
rss-markedspuls-2
lederpodden
liberal-halvtime
rss-politisk-preik
okonomiamatorene