Cover

Date read: 29/06/2016

Summary
The book focuses on using obstacles to your advantage. Holiday does this using Stoic philosophy and case studies of famous people who have used adversity to their advantage.

Structure
It’s split into three main sections:

  • Perception (how we see problems)
  • Action (how we act)
  • Will (the internal power that drives us)

Quotes
“Where one person sees a crisis, another person sees an opportunity.” - p16

“Nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” - (Shakespeare) p21

“Perception precedes action. Right action follows the right perspective.” - p39

“Failure shows us the way - by showing us what isn’t the way.” - p86

“Think progress, not perfection.” - p102

“True will is quiet humility, resilience, and flexibility.” - p125

“This too will pass.” - (Abraham Lincoln) p129

“Things can always be worse.” - p147

“Behind mountains are more mountains.” - p172

A stoic is someone who “transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into intuition and desire into undertaking.” - p179

Key Takeaways

Maintain perspective (and objectivity)
Don’t lose sight of the wider context of the problems that you face. View things objectively, not subjectively, as much as possible. Everything is a learning opportunity.

Accept what you can’t change, control what you can
Obstacles are much easier to face if you aren’t fighting against things you can’t control. Accept these and focus on what you can.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
AA Serenity Prayer

Keep moving (follow the process)
Take it step by step, as long as you’re moving forwards you’re making progress. Do what you have to do right now, follow the process and not the prize. Obstacles won’t loom as large and you won’t suffer from analysis paralysis.

Fail to learn
Failure is an important part of the learning process. It teaches you what not to do, and narrows your options the next time you attempt something.

Convincing people
Find common ground, don’t challenge someones opinions head on, you’ll get nowhere.

Anticipating problems
Anticipate what will go wrong so you can put contingency plans in place, and more importantly accept that these things might happen. Nothing goes perfectly in life.