This is something that we need to learn – to act. Finally, though, one of his ideas clicked, and he successfully invaded the city of Vicksburg. He tried methods for a substantial amount of time as the press chewed him out for his failures. He planned several methods of invading Vicksburg. Continuing with the example of General Grant, we see that the general was a man of action. Ryan mentions just how important that last piece is: we have to act. He mentions that while planning is important, sometimes we plan far too much and forget to act. The second technique that Ryan suggests is acting on the information that we have received through changing our perception. This is the attitude that we need to maintain. He besieged Vicksburg and looked at several possible weaknesses of Vicksburg before developing a plan. General Grant was tasked with taking the city of Vicksburg, which was a prominent riverside Confederate city. You need to think – Why did I fail? How can I fix this? Not – Well, I failed, I give up.Ī great example from the book is an anecdote about General Ulysses S. It could be worse.Īfter you tell yourself that, you need to start thinking about how to bounce right back. But what you should think in this example is I lost money, not my arm.

In fact, this approach simply gives up on the startup and looks for a way to make the problem seem a bit better. But no problem, because I have experience and can find a higher-paying job if I sell my company! This doesn’t solve the problem, nor does it find a way to get around it. Glass-half-empty versus glass-half-full would mean looking at the brighter side of the problem and thinking along the lines of ‘Hey, I lost a lot of money here’. Here’s an example, using my startup scenario from earlier: He is talking about a complete change in perception. He’s not talking about glass-half-empty versus glass-half-full here.

Well, the first technique that Ryan recommends is changing our perception of the challenge that we are facing. But fear not, because I have read TOITW and know exactly what to do. Obviously, I’m very down, but I have to overcome this problem. Let’s say that I have lost a million dollars on a startup that has crashed. I’ll break this down for you using a common example: losing money. Ryan points out that they all used three common techniques: perception, action, and will. He uses several examples and anecdotes of famous people to explain how they all overcame obstacles. In his book, Ryan Holiday uses Stoic techniques to show the method of turning obstacles into springboards for the future. Hi! Recently, I read The Obstacle Is The Way (TOITW) by Ryan Holiday.

Obstacle on the way