This is a summary of a met read book 'The Obstacle is the way'

1. Summary by Anil Gaur
Highly recommended to read whole
book several times!

2. Overcoming obstacles is a discipline of three steps
• Perception : objective judgement ie our approach and attitude
towards problems
• Action: energy and creativity with which we actively break them
down
• Will : cultivating and maintaining an inner will that allows us to handle
defeat and difficulty

3. Part 1 - Perception

4. A. Discipline of perception
When faced with insurmountable obstacle, we must try to:
• Be objective
• Control emotions
• Choose to see the good in the situation
• Steady our nerves
• Ignore what disturbs or limits others
• Place things in perspective
Perception

5. B. Recognise your power
• We decide what we will make of each and every situation; whether
we will break or resist.
• Through our perceptions of events, we are complicit in the creation as
well as the destruction of each of our obstacles
• We decide what story to tell ourselves
Perception

6. C. Steady your nerves
• “I don’t agree to be intimidated”, “I don’t call it as failure”.
• Nerve is also a matter of acceptance e.g. It’s noty easy but the path is
there
• If your nerve holds then nothing really did happen - our perception
can ensure as if nothing of consequence happened
Perception

7. D. Control your emotions
• Practice Apatheria - loss of harmful, unhelpful thoughts. Just say “No thank
you, I cannot afford to panic.”
• When you worry, ask yourself – “what am I choosing to not see right now.”
• Always remind yourself: “I am in control, not my emotions. I see what’s
really going on here. I’m not going to get excited or upset.”
• Say to yourself over and over again whenever you feel the anxiety: “I’m not
going to die from it .”
Perception

8. E. Practice objectivity
• The phrase “this happened and it is bad” has 2 parts:
• 1. ‘this happened’ is objective .
• 2. “it is bad’ is subjective.
• Perception is the problem - gives us information we don’t need atthis
moment. Focus on what’s in front of us right now.
• Objectivity means removing ‘you’- the subjective part from the
equation.
Perception

9. F. Alter your perspective
• Perspective is everything.
• We CHOOSE how we look at things. We retain the ability to inject
perspective into the situation.
• How we approach, view and contextualise an obstacle and what we tell ourselves
it means, determines our ability to overcome it.
• Perspective has two definition and both matter:
• Context - Our larger sense of the world, not just current situation.
• Framing – Our unique way of looking at the world and interpret it’s events.
Perception

10. G. Is it up to you?
• Focussing exclusively on what’s in our power magnifies and enhances our
power. But focusing on things we can’t influence - erodes our power.
• Ask one question over and over again - is there a chance, do I have a shot,
is there something I can do. Looks for a yes, no matter how small the
chance.
• To argue, to complain, to just give up - these are choices, that do nothing to
get us across the finish line.
• Most critical perception question- is this in your control?
Perception

11. H. Live in the present moment
• Half of Fortune 500 companies started during a bear market/recession.
• Because the founders lived day by day, they lived in the present moment.
• How to pull yourself into the present moment:
• Exercise/unplug yourself to remind how good present is.
• Remember this moment is not your life, it is just a moment in your life. Focus on
what is in front of you right now. Ignore what it ‘represents’ or it ‘means’ or ‘why
it happened to you’
Perception

12. I. Think differently
• Be open. Question. - don’t listen too closely what others say. We will
accomplish nothing by that. ( Steve job’s reality distortion field).
• Normally, the first judgement and the objection that spring out of
people is always rooted in fear. So we need to challenge that.
Perception

13. J. Finding the opportunity
• Every situation is an opportunity for us to act.
• It is our pre-conceptions that are the problem. They tell us that things
should or need to be in a certain way. so when they’re not, we
naturally assume that we are at a disadvantage
• The struggle against an obstacle propels the fighter to a new level of
functioning. The extent of struggle determines the extent of the
growth. the obstacle is an advantage, not adversity.
Perception

14. Part 2 - Action

15. A. Discipline of Action
• Once you see the world as it is, you must act.
• Only we can solve our problems in achieving our goals.
• only one way to achieve our goals- meet problems with the right
action and with energy, persistence, pragmatism, etc
Action

16. B. Get moving
• All the greats we admire started by saying, yes, let’s go. And they
usually did it in less desirable circumstances then we will ever suffer
• Just because the conditions aren’t exactly to your liking or you don’t
feel ready, it doesn’t mean you get a pass
• If you want momentum, you will have to create it yourself, right now
by getting up and getting started
Action

17. C. Practice persistence
• Persist and Resist - persist in your efforts and resist temptations to get
into distraction, discouragement and disorder
• Thomas Edison tested 6000 filaments for the electric bulb. Proving
that genius is often persistence in disguise.
• It’s Supposed to be hard. Your first attempts aren’t going to work. It’s
going to take a lot out of you but energy is renewable resource. So
settle for long haul and keep trying possibilities.
Action

18. D. Iterate
• Treat yourself as start up who work on principle of MVP - minimum
viable product to introduce and then improve.
• That means we need to change our relationship with failure. It’s
means iterating, failing and improving.
• Treat every failure as feedback from the world i.e. the world is giving
your precise instruction on how to improve. is trying to teach you
something. So Listen to failures.
Action

19. E. Follow the process, not the prize.
• If you’ve got something very difficult to do, don’t focus on the whole.
Instead break it down into pieces.
• Simply do what you need to do right now. And do it well
• Then move onto the next thing
• The process is about doing the right things, right now. Not worrying
about what might happen later or the results or the whole picture
• The process is the voice that demands we take responsibility and
ownership. That prompts us to act even if only in a small way
Action

20. F. Do your job, do it right
• Don’t say – “it’s just a job, it isn’t who I am, it doesn’t matter.”
• Everything matters and is a chance to do and be your best. Only self
absorbed think they are too good for their current job.
• Where ever we are, whatever we are doing and where ever we are
going, we owe it to ourselves and to the world, to do it well. that’s
our primary duty and obligation.
• In every situation, life is asking us a question, and our actions are the
answer. Our job is simply to answer well.
Action

21. G. What is right is what works
• Reaching from point A to point B does not have to be a straight line. It
just need to get you where you need to go. But we spend so much
time looking for the perfect solution and miss the goal.
• Focus on results instead of pretty methods. Don’t spend lot of time
trying to make everything perfect before you could get started
• Better to focus on making do with what we’ve got.
Action

22. H. In praise of the flank attack
• When you are at your wits end and feel you may break down, Take a
step back. then go around the problem. Find some leverage.
• Can’t convince people by challenging the longest and most firmly held
opinions. Find common ground or you look for leverage to make them
listen
Action

23. I. Use obstacles against themselves
• When we want things too badly, we can be our own worst enemy. In
our eagerness, we may drag ourselves into a rut
• This approach required humility to accept that the way we are trying
to solve the problem is not right way
• Russians defeated Napoleon not by protecting their boarders but by
retreating into interiors and let the winter deal with
Action

24. J. Channel your energy
• Like the black athletes who were not able to show emotions or
celebrate so they used this energy to perfect their art
• So instead of feeling upset on projector not working, decide to do a
exciting talk without sides, or instead of gossiping with colleague,
decide to do something productive.
Action

25. K. Seize the offensive:
• It’s not enough to take advantage presented to you in life.
• We also need to learn how to press forward precisely when everyone
around you sees disaster.
• Like what Obama did when his election campaign faced a race scandal
aimed at breaking the thin bond between his black and white voters.
He took it head on, delivered ‘A more perfect union’ speech which
was a defining moment for his campaign
Action

26. Part 3 - Will
• Will is our internal power, never affected by outside world.
• Action is what we do when we have some control over situation. Will is what we use
when we lose that control.
• Will does not mean ambition at all cost, but acceptance

27. A. Discipline of Will
• Will is one thing we control completely and always. Whereas I can TRY
to perceive things right and give 100% of my energy to actions, those
attempted can be thwarted and inhibited. My will is within me and
only I control it.
• In every situation we can:
• Always prepare for more difficult times
• Always accept what we are unable to change
• Always manage our expectations
• Always learnt to love our fate
• Always remind ourselves of our mortality
Will

28. B. Build your inner citadel
• We assume our disadvantages are permanent- not best recipe for
life’s difficulties
• We need to build our own inner citadel- fortress inside us that no
external adversity can ever break down. We are not born with such
structure and need to build it.
• YOU WILL HAVE FAR BETTER LUCK TOUGHENING YOURSELF UP THAN
YOU EVER WILL TRYING TO TAKE TEETH OUT OF THE WORLD .
Will

29. C. Anticipation ( Thinking negatively)
• Use Pre-mortem: envision what could go wrong, before start
• Always prepare for disruption, build them into your plan.
• What if.....
• ( then I will.......)
• What if .....
• ( instead I will just....)
• What if......
• (no problem, we can always....)
• Why do it - because unexpected failure is discouraging.
• With anticipation, we have time to either prepare or at least be better conditioned to
recover from bad news.
Will

30. D. The art of Acquiescence (acceptance)
• It’s time to be humble and flexible enough to acknowledge that there
is always something or someone who can change our plan - man
proposes, God disposes
• Constraints in life can be good thing. Especially when we can accept
them and let them direct us. They push us to learn new skills or go in
new direction
• Constraints don’t change our goals, only the route we take.
Will

31. E. Love everything that happens
(Amor Fati - love ones fate)
• We don’t get to chose WHAT happens to us always, but we can always
chose HOW we feel about it
• E.g. Thomas Edison factory fire - he realised he could not do anything
so not only he accepted but it reinvigorate him to deliver record
profit.
Will

32. F. Perseverance
• Persistence - attempting to solve a problem with dogged determination
• Perseverance - it’s a larger game. Not just what happens in round 1 but in
every round, until the end.
• Life is not about ONE obstacle but MANY
• We can’t be short-sighted and focus on a single facet of a problem
(persistent) but we require determination that we WILL get to where we
need to go, somehow, someday, and nothing will stop us (perseverance).
• Persistence is one action, perseverance is a matter of Will. One is energy,
other is endurance
Will

33. G. Something bigger than yourself
• What we are going through, or holding us down, can be turned into
source of strength - by thinking of people other than yourself, as
cause bigger than your own
• Stop treating ourselves centre of universe. Help your fellow humans
thrive and survive before universe swallows you up. Be strong for
others and it will make you stronger
Will

34. H. Meditate on your mortality
• We need to be more conscious of our mortality. Deep down we act
and behave like we are invincible. We forget how light our grip on life
really is
• In the shadow of death, prioritisation becomes easier and so does
appreciation and principles. Everything falls in proper place
• So why fear, why cheat, why let others and yourself down, life will be
over soon.
Will

35. I. Prepare to start again
• Just when you think you’ve successfully navigated one obstacle,
another emerges. But that’s what keeps life interesting.
• Each time you will learn something. Each time you will develop
strength wisdom and perspective, each time a little more of
competition falls away, until all that is left is you - the best version of
you !
Will

36. End Note
• See things for what they are (Perceive)
• Do what we can (Action)
• Endure and beat what we must (Will)