Books that Inspire Me #23: The Obstacle is the Way: It’s Supposed to be Hard so Empower Yourself

This is the 23rd in a series of posts in which I share thoughts on a book that has inspired me over the years. 

I was once in a business networking group and got to know an accountant. He told me the story of one of his clients. Every year at tax time, the client would complain that he could have made more money by shutting down his business and just getting a job with a big accounting firm.

But then, in his 25th year, the accountant sold his business for more money than he had made in the previous 25 years put together.

In his beautiful book The Last Lecture (more on this later), Randy Pausch wrote that brick walls are not there to stop you, they are there to make you prove how much you want something. The brick walls are not optional – letting them stop you is. It is, as Ryan Holiday says, supposed to be hard.

I am writing this on Friday. Today’s Promise of The Self Empowerment Pledge is Resilience, and it says: 

I will face rejection and failure with courage, awareness, and perseverance, making these experiences the platform for future acceptance and success.

In today’s world, rejection is The Red Badge of Courage. The only people who are ever rejected are those who had the courage to ask.

And failure is The Medal of Honor. The only people who ever fail are those who had the courage to try.

The Self Empowerment Pledge is just one of the many tools I share in my Culture of Ownership workshops. Drop me a line if you would like to learn more: [email protected]. 
Joe

 

---