This was the obstacle that I wanted to find my way over.Ībout a third of the way through The Obstacle is the Way, I started to see the light. I didn’t even like to bring up money in conversations about IWearYourShirt because I felt such shame about the financial situation I (and really, the business) had gotten into. Sure, the business had generated over $1,200,000 during its 5-year tenure, but I didn’t have any of that money left in fact, I was over $100,000 in debt (which we got out of last year!). After hanging up my final t-shirt in 2013, a dark cloud hovered over any thought or discussion involving my IWearYourShirt business. It becomes especially more difficult to detach from the negative thoughts and memories. When you do something for five years and pour your heart, soul, and nearly every waking hour into it, it’s not an easy thing to detach from. And I didn’t have interest in becoming more like any of the people in the book as much as I wanted to overcome a big obstacle in my life that was holding me back: Thinking of my IWearYourShirt business as a failure. The author, Ryan Holiday, walks you through stories of stoicism as they relate to business owners, the über-successful, and war heroes-they weren’t emotionless robots, either. I want to be clear that I haven’t become an emotionless robot because I read this book. Google tells me the definition of stoicism is: The endurance of pain or hardship without a display of feelings and without complaint. The Obstacle is the Way introduced me to stoicism. And it has definitely made me a better business owner. The Obstacle Is the Way has made me a better person. This book, unlike any in the Harry Potter series (ahh, who am I kidding-I haven’t read more than a handful of pages in any of those books), has changed my life.

That said, I can unequivocally state with absolute fact that the most important book I’ve ever read is Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle Is the Way. Things aren’t usually as cut and dry and people make them out to be, and absolutes make us lose perspective on what’s actually happening. But it’s something that drives me nuts because absolutes stretch the reality of the situation. Most people don’t actually mean it when they speak in absolutes. It’s something I try not to do in my own life, and it can cause me cringe-worthy feelings when other people do it. Speaking in absolutes is one of my least favorite things. There’s no doubt in my mind that reading “The Obstacle Is The Way” will change the way you think and live.

The obstacle is the way review