Obstacles are your life
While we shouldn’t intentionally run headlong into obstacles in our life, completely avoiding them might not be wise either. I’ve seen this pop up a few times in recent weeks, so I thought it was worth a closer look.
For a wide view of this idea, Ryan Holiday’s book “The Obstacle is the Way” is a great place to start. The central premise of the book is that obstacles and adversity aren’t necessarily bad things. Instead, they can be viewed as opportunities for growth and learning. It’s the idea that the obstacle in our path can become the way forward.
More recently, I heard Blair Enns talk about this on a recent episode of the 2Bobs podcast, where he said:
“Your reward for solving the problem in front of you is the problem behind it that was brought into existence by you solving the problem. That is the rest of your life. That is the rest of your business. That is the rest of the political economy, the country, the world.”
It’s a fascinating way to look at it; when you solve a problem, your reward is getting a new problem to solve. You’ll never solve them all, and that’s ok. As long as you keep that perspective in mind, you won’t be upset when the next problem arises.
Lastly, out of David Allen’s classic book “Making It All Work“, he shares this quote from Alfred Souza:
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin… . But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”
That quote from Souza feels very stoic, which kind of points back to Ryan Holiday and his book. Remember that the problems are coming, but don’t hold back your life until you get to the end of them — enjoy the journey along the way.