The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday is a book about Stoicism and has become increasingly popular amongst athletes.

“Stoicism as a philosophy is really about the mental game,” Holiday said. “It’s not a set of ethics or principles. It’s a collection of spiritual exercises designed to help people through the difficulty of life. To focus on managing emotion; specifically, non-helpful emotion.”

Michael Lombardi, an assistant with the New England Patriots, read the book and recommended it throughout the league.

John Schneider received one of those recommendations and he read it and preceded to give copies to his entire personnel staff.