Like Grant, we can refuse to be intimidated, and use our steady calm to act boldly and overcome the obstacles that inevitably come our way. It is grace and poise, for they are the two attributes that give us the opportunity to reliably deploy any other skill in our arsenal.

This prevents us from acting with what the English call a “cool head,” or even acting at all. Regardless of how much actual danger we’re in, stress puts us at the mercy of our baser, fearful instincts for self-preservation. In our normal daily lives things are going to happen that catch us off guard-surprises are almost guaranteed. His choice-and make no mistake, it was a choice-to run toward the chaos was just one of many similar instances over the course of the greatest trial in American history in which he steadied himself with grace and poise in order to persevere. Grant’s nerve is an example of someone who has steadied himself with grace and poise to persevere through the trial that was the Civil War. Grant who, as the leader of the Union forces, was seen running toward the scene of the explosion. Everyone hit the dirt as debris and shells and even bodies rained down-everyone but Ulysses S. What follows are three examples of how to follow this formula in our own lives, to turn any and every obstacle we face into opportunity.ĭuring the Civil War, Union troops were unloading a steamboat near Union headquarters outside Richmond when it suddenly exploded. They all figured out how to turn obstacles upside down-how to turn what was in the path, into the path. Not to mention the countless (and nameless) brave men and women who served with and after them.

“The impediment to action advances action.Ī parade of military legends followed his example-Frederick the Great, George Washington, Ulysses S. Best articulated by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (who spent 17 years of a 19-year reign at war) with the simple line: It turns out that there is one philosophy-battle tested at the front-that shows us the way: Stoicism. What I set out to do with my latest book was study the traits that make this possible and how they can be applied to life, across disciplines. Impossible circumstances, unfavorable odds, somehow they still lead to almost miraculous triumphs. The history of war and combat is filled with stories of men (and women) snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Ryan holiday the obstacle