Resenhas - The Obstacle Is the Way

abibliotecamr 07/02/2023

boa introdução ao estoicismo
A ideia central do livro é mostrar que as adversidades que enfrentamos, sejam elas quais forem, na verdade são nada mais que o próprio caminho da vida. Através de estudo e treino podemos transformar obstáculos em aprendizado, ao invés de baixarmos a cabeça e vermos tudo como dificuldade e impedimentos para nossos objetivos.

O livro passa a sua mensagem através de histórias de pessoas como Marco Aurélio, Demostenes, Theodore Roosevelt, Amelia Earhardt, John Rockefeller entre outros. O ponto é mostrar que podemos transformar os obstáculos que nos são apresentados pela vida no próprio caminho pelo qual nos guiamos. Alguns obstáculos são duros, difíceis, mas podemos colocá-los a nosso favor, ou pelo menos aprender com cada um deles para o nosso desenvolvimento pessoal.

Alguns obstáculos realmente são instransponíveis. Mas, entretanto, continuam sendo o caminho, uma vez que, a partir desse reconhecimento, nós passamos a trilhar um novo rumo, aprendendo e seguindo adiante em uma nova trilha.

As três partes em que o livro se divide são os guias para que possamos aprender e superar as dificuldades:
1. Percepção
2. Ação
3. Vontade
Essas disciplinas estão conectadas, uma não existe sem a outra.

Em minha opinião o livro é bem fundamentado, com uma leitura fluida. Não li a versão em português, mas não creio ser muito diferente da versão original.

É um bom livro introdutório para quem quiser se aprofundar mais na filosofia estoica, e, apesar de ser da opinião de que a leitura dos 3 livros é imprescindível, creio que ótimas lições podem ser tiradas da leitura isolada de O Obstáculo é o caminho.

site: http://abibliotecamr.com/2023/02/07/o-obstaculo-e-o-caminho/

Jessica Hellen 12/01/2023

Não é ruim, mas também não é bom??
Vou confessar que gosto muito do podcast desse autor (Daily Stoic), então eu tinha uma certa expectativa com esse livro. Mas como dito por outros leitores em algumas resenhas aqui no Skoob, é tudo bem repetitivo e cheio de anedotas da vida de grandes personalidades. Não gostei muito, mas também não é necessariamente ruim. Como o próprio autor diz: se você quer ler sobre Estoicismo, leia os clássicos (Marco Aurélio, Epiteto e Sêneca).

Moitta 25/06/2014

Pra julgar pela capa
"Our actions may 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."

"Every obstacle is unique to each of us. But the responses they elicit are the same: Fear. Frustration. Confusion. Helplessness. Depression. Anger."

"As it turns out, this one thing all great men and women of history have in common. Like oxygen to a fire, obstacles became fuel to the blaze that was their ambition."

"When you have a goal, obstacles are actually teaching you how to get where you want to go - carving you a path. "The Things which hurt," Benjamim Franklin wrote, "instruct"."

"We choose to give in to such feelings. Or, like Rockefeller, choose not to."

"Unhelpful perceptions can invade our minds - that sacred place of reason, action and will - and throw off our compass."

"In other words, through our perception of events, we are complicit in the creation - as well as the destruction - of every one of our obstacles."

"The Greeks had a word for this: apatheia. It's the kind of calm equanimity that comes with the absence of irrational or extreme emotions. Not the loss of feeling altogether, just the loss of the harmful, unhelpful kind."

"What important things are you missing because you chose worry over introspection, alertness or wisdom?"

"Logic is questions and statements. With enough of them, we get to root causes (which are always easier to deal with)."

"It's three interdependent, interconnected, and fluidly contingent disciplines: Perception, Action, and the Will."

"Don't let the force of an impression when it first hits you knock you off your feet; just say to it: Hold on a moment; let me see who you are and what you represent. Let me put you to test."

"Focusing exclusively on what is in our power magnifies and enhances our power."

"You can take the trouble you're dealing with and use it as an opportunity to focus on the present moment."

"Action is commonplace, right action is not. As a discipline, it's not any kind of action that will do, but directed action."

"Because they know that once they get started, if they can get some momentum, the can make it work."

"Working at it works. It's that simple. (But again, not easy.)"

"It's time you understand that the world is telling you something with each and every failure and action. It's feedback - giving you precise instructions on how to improve, it's trying to wake you up from your cluelessness. It's trying to teach you something. Listen."

"Failure shows us the way- by showing us what isn't the way."

"process provides us a way. It says: Okay, you've got to do something very difficult. Don't focus on that. Instead break it down into pieces. Simply do what you need to do right now. And do it well. And then move on to the next thing. Follow the process and not the prize."

"When it comes to our actions, disorder and distraction are death. The unordered mind loses track of what's in front of it - what matters - and gets distracted by thoughts of the future. The process is order, it keeps our perceptions in check and our actions in sync. It seems obvious, but we forget this when it matters the most."

"The process is about doing the right things, right now."

"To whatever we face, our job is to respond with: hard work, honesty, and helping others as best we can."

"but ambitious enough to get everything you need. Don't think small, but make distinction between the critical and the extra."

"Take a step back and than go around the problem. Fome some leverage. Approach from what is called the line of least expectation."

"The inertia of success makes it much harder to truly develop good technique. People or companies who have that size advantage never really have to learn the process when they've been able to coast on brute force."

"You don't convince people by challenging their longest and most firmly held opinions. You find common ground and work from there."

"can we see that this "problem" presents an opportunity for a solution that we have long been waiting for?"

"he could not find in his heart to hate like others would. His own experience with suffering drove his compassion to allay it in others. He was patient because he knew that difficult things took time." (Lincoln)

"Lincoln's words went to the people's hearts because they came from his, because he had access to a part of the human experience that many walled themselves off from."

"loving whatever happens to us and facing it with unfailing cheerfulness."

"Help your fellow humans thrive and survive, contribute your little bit to the universe before it swallows you up, and be happy with that."

"Something stands in someone's way. They stare it down, they aren't intimidated. Leaning into their problem or weakness or issue, they give everything they have, mentally and physically. Even though they did not always overcome it in the way they intended or expected, each individual emerged better, stronger."


O melhor do livro é o título. Uma excelente ideia, só que defendida de forma repetitiva. Talvez por ter lido depois de "The Art of Learning".

Há 3 partes. Percepção, Ação e Vontade (will).

Percepção é entender que tudo é neutro, nós é que damos significado às coisas. Os exemplos reais do livro são muito bons, os "criados" pelo autor são bem mais fracos.

Ação é ação. Tudo depende dela.

Vontade é o coração, a alma. Permite a perseverança.

Fernandon 27/05/2017

Uma grande bosta
O livro começa bem, falando sobre estoicismo, que foi o motivo o qual me fez lê-lo. Porém o autor logo transforma o livro em um auto-ajuda qualquer.

Oscar38 01/01/2022

The Obstacle is the Way
The message of this book is simple but not easy to practive. Carry this vivid reminder of Stoic principles with you always - so that in difficult situations you can reach in your pocket and remember- I can turn this into something. I can survive it. I can be made better because of it.

See things for what they are
Do what we can
Endure and bear what we must

What blocked the path now is a path
What once impeded action advances action.
The Obstacle is the Way

Kelly 29/08/2022

Primeiros passos para o estoicismo
Em capítulos curtos e concisos, o autor nos dá uma visão inicial do estoicismo e ferramentas para aplicá-lo na vida cotidiana.
Sem aquele viés de coach, ele mostra que os obstáculos da vida são parte do caminho, como o título diz, e não necessariamente algo impeditivo.

Vínia 20/03/2023

Wow, my first ever book in English!
Muito obrigada Ryan Holiday! Obrigada por essa bela introdução ao estoicismo e, principalmente, introdução à engrenagem da vida.
Me identifiquei muito com a parte de olhar apenas para as coisas ruins, deixando de olhar as coisas boas inseridas nelas.
Um belo livro para quem quer aprimorar o inglês e um livro perfeito para ter uma base nessa filosofia tão bonita!
"Philosophy was never what happened in the classroom. It was a set of lessons from the battlefield of life"