The Obstacle is The Way…
No doubt you have heard this phrase over the years. It was a favourite of Bruce Lee and of Eastern philosophies. But what does it mean and how does it apply to our modern western lives now more than ever?
The problem we have with western philosophy and what has been enshrined in our culture since the start of the 20th Century, is that we must achieve, we must have goals, and those that achieve are winners, and those that lose are losers. Simple.
But this thinking creates nothing but anxiety and fear of missing out (FOMO), and with that anxiety comes poor decision making that leads us further away from our goals. Social Media has exacerbated this problem when we see all the great stuff that other people are doing and achieving (we never see the bad stuff), and because there is so much information immediately to hand, we are left with a “I must have it NOW” mentality.
The paradox of this is that many of the successful people in the world apply the “Obstacle is The Way” approach, even though some of them don’t realise it. In its simplest form you have a goal, you do the best you can with what you have, where you are, and whatever the result is, you accept it. You then adjust your approach and try again. This constant try, fail, adjust and retry, is the basis of what the “Obstacle is The Way” is all about.
Understand that failure is part of life and successful people are not afraid to fail…the problem for the majority of people is that they are embarrassed to fail, they fear what “others” may say if they fail.
Stop thinking the goal is all there is…simply trying is all it takes.
