Book recommendation: The Obstacle is the Way

Quick Silver

In my humble opinion, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday should be required reading for LSAT students:

The basic concept is not just about “overcoming obstacles,” but that THE Obstacle, the SPECIFIC Obstacle, is often the key to your solution/path/success.

During my own preparation for the LSAT, I remember having an epiphany about games. Those frustrating, or weird rules or elements of a game, could often be the very key to unlocking the game. You know the rules I'm talking about -- the annoying ones that may not lend themselves to basic diagramming or aren't exactly "user friendly." They're the ones that you maybe want to forget, but you do so at your peril because the game is built on every rule.

I eventually came to find that embracing these "obstacles" was often what unlocked a game for me. For example, it might have led to a key inference or perhaps a way of splitting the game board into scenarios/worlds that made the game click. This realization was instrumental to my growth on games, the LSAT overall, and it's a major element of how I teach my students.

The Obstacle is the Way expands on that theme and helps you create the mindset you need to harness obstacles like in logic games, and overall for the LSAT. (To be clear, it's not written specifically for the LSAT, but it's incredibly helpful and I wish I had it when I was prepping).

The book explains how to cultivate patience when we need it most. It also explains ways to ground yourself in logic and keep a cool head when circumstances can easily rattle most test takers -- as in logic games, time sync LR question, weird RC passages. etc.

I cannot think of a perspective more suited to the temperament an LSAT student needs to cultivate. I’ve read lots of books with similar aims but this is one of the few that both intuitively and practically explains how to stay grounded in crises/obstacles and use them to succeed.

Here's the audio version for convenience while studying:

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Obstacle-Is-the-Way-Audiobook/B00K252ET8