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This book has 16 recommendations

Steven Pressfield (Author/The War of Art)

Follow these precepts and you will revolutionise your life.

Jimmy Soni (Managing Editor/Huffington Post)

An absolute must-read... Learn to tear through any obstacle and resolve any conflict.

Chris Guillebeau (Author/The $100 Startup)

First came Marcus Aurelius, then Frederick the Great... and now there's you. This surprising book shows you how to craft a life of wonder by embracing obstacles and challenge.

Nancy F. Koehn (Historian and leadership expert/Harvard Business School)

In this tight, engaging book, Ryan Holiday shines a bright, powerful light on the path to living and leading well. By showing us how to turn failure, obstacles and plain old every-day frustration to our advantage, he offers up a host of easy-to-use tactics that each of us can put to work to follow our dreams. Read it, learn from it, and get cracking!

James Altucher (Author/Choose Yourself)

My life has been beset with obstacles. It takes practice (and pain) to surmount them and achieve success. Ryan's book is a how-to guide for just that.

Marvin Liao (Partner/500 Startups)

My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian).

AnneMarie Schindler (Founder/Small Wins Consulting)

I suggest these [books] because they really open up 'how' you think about life and in turn work, success/challenges/setbacks, and in general, yourself. I believe that the more you can understand yourself and broaden your approach to work, the easier it will be to find work that energizes you. Finally, I'm a team player at heart, and love working with others to achieve a huge goal so a portion of these deal with team composition and performance too.

Chris Oliver (Founder/GoRails)

I remember reading The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday on a road trip one time. It was during a time that I was feeling particularly frustrated with my business and was just having an all around hard time. The idea of the book is that if you recognize things are hard, you should keep going. It teaches you to seek out the obstacles because few people even try and even fewer make it past the obstacles. When I got home from my trip, I remember sitting down and realizing I was being stubborn and not doing the work I needed to do. Immediately, I could tell things were heading in a much better direction.

Marin Gerov (Co-Founder/DULO)

The Obstacle is the Way is another one of his creations that is more related to Stoic philosophy.

Cliff Hartono (CEO/Jasri Partners)

One of my favourite business books is probably The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. Taking inspiration from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and other historical figures, he successfully gives the reader actionable steps that apply Stoicism in a modern context.

Garrett Moon (CEO & Co-Founder/CoSchedule)

Ryan Holiday’s book, The Obstacle is the Way is a great read for any entrepreneur feeling frustrated with time and process. The reality is that the hardship and roadblocks that take 10 years to get through are the payment for success. You have to learn to embrace the process, not the outcome.

David McCammon (Photographer)

This book is great for anyone who cares to take a good look in the mirror and own your stuff. Early on Ryan states, “The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.” Holiday consistency challenges the reader to look at problems from a different perspective. A great read for entrepreneurs and those in pursuit of personal growth alike.

Cody McLain (CEO/SupportNinja)

This book introduced me to the concept of Stoicism and how we can choose to be happy instead of always vying for something in the future. This book teaches one that when faced with a challenge or obstacle, one should continue to pursue the goal as that is the way towards success, happiness and fulfillment.

Anant Jain (Co-Founder/CommonLounge)

It’s an excellent, modern-day recap of the Stoicism Philosophy, and I highly recommend it.

Chris Goward (Founder/WiderFunnel & GO Group Digital)

Here are some of the books that have been very impactful for me, or taught me a new way of thinking: [...] The Obstacle is the Way.

Jeremy Boudinet (Marketing Manager/Nextiva)

The Obstacle is the Way is another great book that challenges conventional wisdom and outlines the virtues of stoicism in the face of adversity and how to apply stoic principles in your own life.

Amazon description

We give up too easily. With a simple change of attitude, what seem like insurmountable obstacles become once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Ryan Holiday, who dropped out of college at nineteen to serve as an apprentice to bestselling 'modern Machiavelli' Robert Greene and is now a media consultant for billion-dollar brands, draws on the philosophy of the Stoics to guide you in every situation, showing that what blocks our path actually opens one that is new and better.

If the competition threatens you, it's time to be fearless, to display your courage. An impossible deadline becomes a chance to show how dedicated you are. And as Ryan discovered as Director of Marketing for American Apparel, if your brand is generating controversy - it's also potentially generating publicity.

The Stoic philosophy - that what is in the way, is the way - can be applied to any problem: it's a formula invented more than 2,000 years ago, whose effectiveness has been proven in battles and board rooms ever since. From Barack Obama's ability to overcome obstacles in his election races, to the design of the iPhone, the stoic philosophy has helped its users become world-beaters.

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See more books recommended by

Steven Pressfield, Jimmy Soni, Chris Guillebeau, Nancy F. Koehn, James Altucher, Marvin Liao, AnneMarie Schindler, Chris Oliver, Marin Gerov, Cliff Hartono, Garrett Moon, David McCammon, Cody McLain, Anant Jain, Chris Goward, Jeremy Boudinet

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Ryan Holiday

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