--- product_id: 48712083 title: "The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage" price: "€ 23.42" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/48712083-the-obstacle-is-the-way-the-ancient-art-of-turning store_origin: HR region: Croatia --- # #1 WSJ Bestseller 2M+ copies sold 3-part stoic framework The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage **Price:** € 23.42 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🔥 Turn every obstacle into your next breakthrough! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage - **How much does it cost?** € 23.42 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hr](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/48712083-the-obstacle-is-the-way-the-ancient-art-of-turning) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Enduring Relevance:** A must-have bedside manual for navigating challenges today and for decades to come. - • **Cult Classic Status:** Join a global community of high achievers who swear by this life-changing guide. - • **Actionable Framework:** Master perception, action, and will with concise, practical chapters. - • **Timeless Stoic Wisdom:** Harness ancient philosophy to transform adversity into your greatest advantage. - • **Proven Success Formula:** Endorsed by leaders, athletes, and icons who embody resilience and grit. ## Overview The Obstacle is the Way is a #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller with over two million copies sold, offering a practical, stoic philosophy-based guide to turning adversity into advantage. Drawing on historical examples from leaders like Marcus Aurelius and modern icons, it breaks down resilience into perception, action, and will—empowering professionals to thrive in any challenge. ## Description OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller 'Follow these precepts and you will revolutionize your life.' Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art 'A book for the bedside of every future - and current - leader in the world.' - Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power The Obstacle is the Way has become a cult classic, beloved by men and women around the world who apply its wisdom to become more successful at whatever they do. The book's many fans include a former governor and movie star (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a hip hop icon (LL Cool J), an Irish tennis pro (James McGee), the World Number 1 golfer (Rory McIlroy) and the coaches and players of winning teams like English Rugby National Team, the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and Chicago Cubs. The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. As Marcus Aurelius put it nearly 2000 years ago: 'The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.' Ryan Holiday shows us how some of the most successful people in history-from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs-have applied stoicism to overcome difficult or even impossible situations. Their embrace of these principles ultimately mattered more than their natural intelligence, talents, or luck. If you're feeling frustrated, demoralized, or stuck in a rut, this book can help you turn your problems into your biggest advantages. And along the way it will inspire you with dozens of true stories of the greats from every age and era. Review: A practical guide to dealing with anything life can throw at you - Philosophy is a discipline often viewed by people (myself included) as academic, stilted, and irrelevant to real life. But stoicism, the central theme of this book, is not that sort of philosophy. Ryan has written a book that cuts through all of that and goes straight to the heart of everyday problems. This is not your average business or self-help book: this is a manual to turn to in troubling times. It's infinitely practical and applicable in your life now, tomorrow, and for the next 50 years. The title The Obstacle Is The Way refers to a quote by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, who in the second century AD wrote "The impediment to action advances action. What's in the way becomes the way." A perfect metaphor for this is a raging fire: whatever is put in its way becomes fuel for the fire. This book shows you how to do that. The book is split into 3 sections: - perception - action - will Each section has 8-12 short chapters filled with historical stories from Ulysses S. Grant to Marcus Aurelius, from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart. Ryan has previously been a researcher on Robert Greene's books, and it shows, both in the depth and breadth of his research for this book - the bibliography alone is probably as useful as the book itself. Ryan is also clearly influenced by both Robert Greene and Marcus Aurelius in terms of his writing style for this book - it is simple, clear, direct and practical. I found myself highlighting and marking numerous passages which I will turn to again and again in the future. Some choice quotes from the book: Perception: "what matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure...this reaction determines how successful we will be in overcoming - or possibly thriving because of - them." Action: "No one is saying you can't take a minute to think, Dammit, this sucks. By all means, vent. Exhale. Take stock. Just don't take too long. Because you have to get back to work." Will: "Certain things in life will cut you open like a knife. When that happens...the world gets a glimpse of what's truly inside you. So what will be revealed when you're sliced open by tension and pressure? Iron? Or air?" Even if you've read Marcus Aurelius, Seneca or Epictetus, you will find something useful in here. This is an excellent book that I will be keeping close to me, reading and re-reading at every opportunity. Review: Great book !!! - Loved it !! Read it twice ! Love Ryan’s hooray books their are all very motivating and inspiring ## Features - New Store Stock ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | 3,334 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 7 in Advertising (Books) 48 in Business Careers (Books) 515 in Health, Family & Lifestyle Self Help | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 24,310 Reviews | ## Images ![The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81aRj4UCGSL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A practical guide to dealing with anything life can throw at you *by A***H on 10 May 2014* Philosophy is a discipline often viewed by people (myself included) as academic, stilted, and irrelevant to real life. But stoicism, the central theme of this book, is not that sort of philosophy. Ryan has written a book that cuts through all of that and goes straight to the heart of everyday problems. This is not your average business or self-help book: this is a manual to turn to in troubling times. It's infinitely practical and applicable in your life now, tomorrow, and for the next 50 years. The title The Obstacle Is The Way refers to a quote by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, who in the second century AD wrote "The impediment to action advances action. What's in the way becomes the way." A perfect metaphor for this is a raging fire: whatever is put in its way becomes fuel for the fire. This book shows you how to do that. The book is split into 3 sections: - perception - action - will Each section has 8-12 short chapters filled with historical stories from Ulysses S. Grant to Marcus Aurelius, from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart. Ryan has previously been a researcher on Robert Greene's books, and it shows, both in the depth and breadth of his research for this book - the bibliography alone is probably as useful as the book itself. Ryan is also clearly influenced by both Robert Greene and Marcus Aurelius in terms of his writing style for this book - it is simple, clear, direct and practical. I found myself highlighting and marking numerous passages which I will turn to again and again in the future. Some choice quotes from the book: Perception: "what matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure...this reaction determines how successful we will be in overcoming - or possibly thriving because of - them." Action: "No one is saying you can't take a minute to think, Dammit, this sucks. By all means, vent. Exhale. Take stock. Just don't take too long. Because you have to get back to work." Will: "Certain things in life will cut you open like a knife. When that happens...the world gets a glimpse of what's truly inside you. So what will be revealed when you're sliced open by tension and pressure? Iron? Or air?" Even if you've read Marcus Aurelius, Seneca or Epictetus, you will find something useful in here. This is an excellent book that I will be keeping close to me, reading and re-reading at every opportunity. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book !!! *by C***D on 17 May 2026* Loved it !! Read it twice ! Love Ryan’s hooray books their are all very motivating and inspiring ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good *by R***A on 27 May 2021* In the bibliography, at the end of this book, the author mentions the Essays of Montaigne, but rather than the unabridged work, the edition cited is that of the "selected essays". This is an odd choice for a book on writers - the fact that we are not recommended the full version of one of the best books ever written, but a mere selection of its content. Yet it fits with the author's goal: this is an introduction to stoicism, a long essay itself for those starting with the Greeks (or with philosophy). And it is its biggest sin. The book is well written, even if in some parts it slips and let the reader down with some all too vulgar expressions: "the Greeks were smart". It works as a guide for stoicism (on-and-off in vogue for a long time already). It doesn't pontify nor speak from above, which is good. It tries to make accessible a whole ancient school of thought, and pass the test. Some stories used as examples are too vague - Rockefeller deciding on oil deals, Edison on how to react before a fire in a factory. It somehow reduces to a caricature indeed big men. It should have stayed more to what it claims is the true greatness of the said school: its written works. The books, the words, of Virgil, Aurelius, Cato, et al., have been seldom surpassed, yet we do not see them here as much as we expect. So the book looks for a younger audience and, thus, it has most unnecessary lowered the bar (and the version of Montaigne Essays it recommends). Fair enough. To repeat, a good book which seeks too much to gain the reader's attention - it should have stayed at another, higher, level, following the maxim that a writer should not give its readers what they want - they deserve better. ## Frequently Bought Together - Obstacle Is The Way - Meditations - The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living: Featuring new translations of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.hr/products/48712083-the-obstacle-is-the-way-the-ancient-art-of-turning](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/48712083-the-obstacle-is-the-way-the-ancient-art-of-turning) --- *Product available on Desertcart Croatia* *Store origin: HR* *Last updated: 2026-06-23*