The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday

 

• brashness : effronterie
• predicament : situation embarassante
• to dally : lambiner
• strife : querelle
• to be slighted : manquer de respect
• ramming : fourrer
• stirrups : étriers
• to barrel forward : foncer
• the stampede : la débandade
• scorching : brûlant
• to chisel : buriner
• to peg away : bosser
• pertinacity : obstination
• weary : las
• to outlast : survivre
• chops : coups
• to slog through : trimer dur
• impediment : obstacle
• untrodden : jamais emprunté
• spurred : stimulé
• underdog : outsider
• wedded : lié
• to plead : supplier 
• tangle : emmêler
• ordeal : épreuve
• rousing : passionné
• scramble : brouillé
• jumble : fouillis
• blips : mauvais moments
• bossy : autoritaire
• heckler : perturbateur
• janitor : gardien
• stomp : marcher d'un pas lourd
• eagerness : enthousiasme
• broom : balai
• raking in money : bien gagner
• stuffy : étouffant
• deed : acte
• cunning : malin
• brambles : ronces
• waffling : bla bla
• lore : tradition
• repelling : repoussant
• wily : rusé
• pinprick : petite contrariété
• stalemate : impasse
• wit : esprit
• to barge : débarquer
• deft : habile
• wickedly : vachement
• sheer : pur
• to be bucked off : être désarçonner
• to fizzle out : se tarir
• jousting : joute
• eagerness : enthousiasme
• strip : se déshabiller
• screw : vis
• solace : réconfort
• jarred : secoué
• unavoidably : inévitablement
• loose : desserré
• tight : serré
• dove : plonger
• tantrum : colère
• glower : regard noir
• slam : claquement
• chips : éclat
• steely : d’acier
• recklessness : témérité
• streak : tendance
• to stir up : susciter
• besieged : assiégé
• sentient : sensible
• seemingly : apparemment
• shirking : esquiver
• trump : atout
• agency : pouvoir d'action
• bluster : fanfaronnade
• debilitating : affaiblir
• bawdy : paillard
• bout : quinte, accès
• prodding : encouragement
• petty : insignifiant
• onerous : pénible
• to gird : se préparer
• woe : malheur
• poise : élégance
• snap : se casser net
• forbearance : tolérance
• to marshal : mobiliser
• fortitude : courage
• bear and forbear : supporter et attendre
• wilt : s'épuiser
• to wrest : arracher
• frail : fragile
• to despise : mépriser
• streneous : éprouvant
• to partake : participer
• caveat : mise en garde
• to shirk : esquiver
• to portend : présager
• downer : situation déprimante
• cheerfulness : gaieté
• to bemoan : se lamenter
• to roar : rugir
• blaze : incendie
• begrudgingly : à contrecoeur
• to mope : se morfondre
• to peddle : faire du porte à porte
• toil : labeur
• selfless : altruiste
• limp : boitant
• flimsily : fragilement
• looming : imminent
• imprevious : imperméable
• vile : horrible
• to chide : réprimander
• to indulge : faire plaisir
• worthy : méritant

PREFACE

• Our actions can be impeded...but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting.
• The impediment to action advances action.
• What stands in the way becomes the way.

INTRODUCTION

• Every obstacle is unique to us.
• One thing is at fault: our attitude and approach.
• It was a relentless drive to improve himself through action and practice.
• The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our conditions.
• Marc Aurèle : 
• Objective judgment, now at this very moment.
• Unselfish action, now at this very moment.
• Willing acceptance - now at this very moment - of all external events.
• That's all you need.
• Perception, Action and Will.
• The Obstacle Is the Way

PART 1 - PERCEPTION

THE DISCIPLINE OF PERCEPTION

RECOGNIZE YOUR POWER

• Your mind remains your own (if you're lucky, you have books) and you have time - lots of time.

STEADY YOUR NERVES

CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS

• Does getting upset provide you with more options?

PRACTICE OBJECTIVITY

ALTER YOUR PERSPECTIVE

• Perspective is everything. When you can break apart something, or look at it from some new angle, it loses its power over you.
• Right action follows the right perspective.

IS IT UP TO YOU?

• So what if you focused on what you can change?

LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT

• Focus on the moment.

FINDING THE OPPORTUNITY

• But after you have controlled your emotions, and you can see objectively and stand steadily, the next step becomes possible: a mental flip, so you're looking not at the obstacle but at the opportunity within it.
• Every situation is an opportunity for us to act.
• That which doesn't kill makes me stronger.
• The obstacle is an advantage, not adversity. The enemy is any perception that prevents us from seeing this.

PREPARE TO ACT

• Problems are rarely as bad as we think - or rather, they are precisely as bad as we think.

PART II - PREFACE

• We must be sure to act with deliberation, boldness, and persistence.

THE DISCIPLINE OF ACTION

• When our worst instincts are in control, we dally (lambiner)

GET MOVING

• They don't care if the conditions are perfect or if they're being slighted.
• Life can be frustrating. Oftentimes we know what our problems are. We may even know what to do about them. But we fear that taking action is too risky, that we don't have the experience or that it's not how we pictured it or because it's too expensive, because it's too soon, because we think something better might come along, because it might not work. And you know what happens as a result? Nothing. We do nothing.
• Those who attack problems and life with the most initiative and energy usually win.
• If you want momentum, you'll have to create it yourself, right now, by getting up and getting started.

PRACTICE PERSISTENCE

• No way out but through.
• We will not be stopped by failure, we will not be rushed or distracted by external noise.
• In applying the entirety of his physical and mental energy.
• Persist in your efforts. Resist giving in to distraction, discouragement, or disorder.
• When setbacks come, we respond by working twice as hard.

ITERATE

FOLLOW THE PROCESS

• Existing in the present, taking one step at a time, not getting distracted by anything else.

WHAT'S RIGHT IS WHAT WORKS

• Not deploying the tactics you learned in school but adapting them to fit each and every situation. Any way that works - that's the motto.
• How far are you willing to go? What are you willing to do about it?
• All that matters is that you accomplish it.
• But so many of us spend so much time looking for the perfect solution that we pass up what's right in front of us.
• Do the best with what you've got.
• Think progress, not perfection.
• Under this kind of force, obstacles break apart. They have no choice. Since you're going around them or making irrelevant, there is nothing for them to resist. 

IN PRAISE OF THE FLANCK ATTACK

• The art of the side-door strategy is a vast, creative space.
• Indirect communication.
• You don't convince people by challenging their longest and most firmly held opinions.

USE OBSTACLES AGAINST THEMSELVES

• We get so consumed with moving forward that we forget that there are other ways to get where we are heading.
• Don’t just do something, stand there!
• Use the impediment as an opportunity to explore a new direction.

CHANNEL YOUR ENERGY

• Physical looseness combined with mental restraint? That is powerful.

SEIZE THE OFFENSIVE

• A crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before.
• Seize this moment to deploy the plan that has long sat dormant in your head.

PREPARE FOR NONE OF IT TO WORK

• Perceptions can be managed. Actions can be directed. We can always think clearly, respond creatively. Look for opportunity, seize the initiative.

PART III - Will

• True will is quiet humility, resilience and flexibility.

THE DISCIPLINE OF THE WILL

• He was patient because he knew that difficult things took time.

BUILD YOUR INNER CITADEL

• Strengthening his upper body.
• Training he kept it every day.
• We craft our spiritual strength through physical exercise, and our physical hardiness through mental practice. (mens sana in corpore sano - sound mind in a strong body)
• The brain is a muscle like any other active tissue.
• The inner citadel, that fortress inside of us that no external adversity can ever break down.

ANTICIPATION (THINKING NEGATIVELY)

• The person who has rehearsed in their mind what could go wrong will not be caught by surprise.

THE ART OF ACQUIESCENCE

LOVE EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS: AMOR FATI

• Indifference and acceptance are certainly better than disappointment or rage.
• We don't get to choose what happens to us, but we can always choose how we feel about it.
• There is always some good - even if barely perceptible at first - contained within the bad.

PERSEVERANCE

• Creativity, craftiness (habilieté), leadership, discipline and courage but above all: perseverance.
• Persistence. Everything directed at one problem, until it breaks.

SOMETHING BIGGER THAN YOURSELF

• If I can't solve this for myself, how can I at least make this better for other people.
• If not for me, then for my family or the others I'm leading or those who might later find themselves in a similar situation.
• You've inflated your own role and importance.
• Unity over Self. We're in this together.

MEDITATE ON YOUR MORTALITY

• Reminding ourselves each day that we will die helps us treat our time as a gift.

PREPARE TO START AGAIN

• Behind mountains are more mountains.
• Knowing that life is a marathon and not a sprint is important.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• First, see clearly. Next, act correctly. Finally, endure and accept the world as it is.
• Nassim Nicholas Taleb: "Transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation and desire into undertaking."
• We gather strength as we go.