Pages: 185

Chapters: Three parts, 32 chapters

Time of Day to Read: Daylight hours

Format: Hardcover

First Print: 2014

I have been a fan of Ryan Holiday for years, having read Ego is the Enemy, listened to him on his and various others podcasts and receiving his reading list email for a number of years now. For me he stands out in the simplistic way in which he can convey hard to understand concepts from history. This book is no exception where he draws on his knowledge of stoicism and he is able to convey the message of doing hard things to get the best result.

Key Insights:

• Don’t think about winning the divisional championship. Don’t think about winning the national championship. Think about what you need to do in this drill, on this play in this moment. That’s the process: let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand. – Coach Nick Saban (University of Alabama Football)

• The inner citadel – during the good times, we strengthen ourselves and our bodies so that during the difficult times we can depend on it.

• The way to strengthen an arch is to put weight on it – because it binds the stones together and only with tension does it hold weight.

• As the Haitian proverb puts it: behind mountains are more mountains. Elysium is a myth. One does not overcome and obstacle to enter the land of no obstacles. On the contrary, the more you accomplish, the more things will stand in your way. There are always more obstacles.

For someone who always shies away from doing the hard thing for as long as possible. Then realises that it wasn’t so bad in the end. This is your book! It is short and punchy. You can pick it up when you have a spare five minutes or settle in and finish it in a day.