Life is full of silver linings, I realize, as I sit in my office. Not my home office, not my employer's office - they forced us outta that and closed shop. But, a majestic place that seems to scientifically enable focus, where ideas crystallize in ways they never do at home, where distractions dissolve the moment I sit down. And in this office sits a book I carry around regularly, reading passages that remind me: ancient philosophers faced far graver trials than anything thrown at me today - and yet, they found their way through.
I actually can't remember how I learned about it, or maybe I do. My brother kept insisting I read it, and that it would change my life. It turns out he was right, as he often is.
As I read passages from the book, I could vividly identify truths of the book happening in my life, right in front of my eyes in real time. Whether it be the challenges I'm facing, the behavior of those around me, or the feeling that the problem I'm facing is the culmination of everything. that it's the worst I could possibly face - and how untrue that was.
They were obstacles, and the obstacles carve paths forward towards what destiny has in store for you. Do you bail or to you plow through?
The Obstacle is the Way - that's the book, and that's the way.
Timing is everything and I'm not sure that this book would have landed had I been told about it a year earlier or later. Books are not only information, or educational - but rather, they are companions. This one's a life companion. The teacher magically appears when you're ready to learn.
"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. " - Marcus Aurelius
The payoff of this book? I've advanced in roles at hypersonic speeds. I've been broke, very broke and turned things around by a factor of over 400,000%. I've seen my health go down, way down. And I've also become the fittest I've ever been. All of this in the middle of sometimes unsurmountable adversity. I've also purposely dialed it back and switched roles in my career, trading ambition for purpose - no one around me thought I knew what I was doing, except my significant other.
"To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you will have to make a decision" - Ryan Holiday, about U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd
Why am I sharing this? For the passionate, for the focused, for the believer and the inspired, for the hungry - there could be immense change one book away.
I actually can't remember how I learned about it, or maybe I do. My brother kept insisting I read it, and that it would change my life. It turns out he was right, as he often is.
As I read passages from the book, I could vividly identify truths of the book happening in my life, right in front of my eyes in real time. Whether it be the challenges I'm facing, the behavior of those around me, or the feeling that the problem I'm facing is the culmination of everything. that it's the worst I could possibly face - and how untrue that was.
They were obstacles, and the obstacles carve paths forward towards what destiny has in store for you. Do you bail or to you plow through?
The Obstacle is the Way - that's the book, and that's the way.
Timing is everything and I'm not sure that this book would have landed had I been told about it a year earlier or later. Books are not only information, or educational - but rather, they are companions. This one's a life companion. The teacher magically appears when you're ready to learn.
"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. " - Marcus Aurelius
The payoff of this book? I've advanced in roles at hypersonic speeds. I've been broke, very broke and turned things around by a factor of over 400,000%. I've seen my health go down, way down. And I've also become the fittest I've ever been. All of this in the middle of sometimes unsurmountable adversity. I've also purposely dialed it back and switched roles in my career, trading ambition for purpose - no one around me thought I knew what I was doing, except my significant other.
"To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you will have to make a decision" - Ryan Holiday, about U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd
Why am I sharing this? For the passionate, for the focused, for the believer and the inspired, for the hungry - there could be immense change one book away.