Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Stillness Is the Key summary
Ryan Holiday
Timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy
Listen to the first key idea
Key idea 1 of 10
4.6 (1624 ratings)
32 mins
10 key ideas
Audio & text
What is Stillness Is the Key about?
Stillness Is the Key (2019) shows us the importance of stillness – the ability to think clearly, avoid distraction, conquer impulses, and find happiness. Drawing on wisdom from history’s greatest philosophers, and on the habits of outstanding athletes, leaders, and artists, these blinks show how achieving stillness is a powerful way to find contentedness and success in life.
About the Author
Ryan Holiday is an American author, media strategist, and bookstore owner. He’s also the host of the Daily Stoic podcast. His other books include Lives of the Stoics, Ego is the Enemy, and The Obstacle is the Way.
Table of Contents
Key idea 1 of 10
Finding stillness
One day in Rome, in the first century CE, the power broker, playwright, and philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca was trying to work.
It wasn’t easy. The noise in Seneca’s environment was unrelenting. Beneath his room was a gym, where athletes grunted and groaned, their weights banging and clanking. Out in the street, dogs barked and vendors shouted their wares.
As though this external ruckus weren’t enough, Seneca was also plagued by a cacophony of concerns. His finances were under threat, his enemies had pushed him out of political life, and he was losing favor with his patron, Emperor Nero. All in all, it was not a situation conducive to getting much done, let alone engaging in activities of intellectual value like deep thought, creativity, or decision-making.
Seneca’s problem – struggling to find stillness in a very unstill world – probably sounds familiar. In our time, things are even noisier. To the banging and barking of Seneca’s environment, we can add loud phone conversations, cars roaring by, planes overhead. Depending on where you live, there may not be so many vendors shouting their wares, but now we’ve got overflowing inboxes and unceasing social-media notifications, an eternal chorus of pinging and dinging and ringing.
So – what can you do? Seneca, for his part, found peace amid the noise by embracing stillness.
So what is stillness?
Have you ever concentrated so deeply that, as though from nowhere, like a bolt from the blue, a burst of insight suddenly struck you? That is stillness. Or have you stepped in front of an audience and poured months of practice into a single, powerful performance? That is stillness. Have you watched the slow rise of the morning sun and been warmed by the simple fact of being alive? That is stillness.
As the poet Rainer Maria Rilke puts it, in a state of stillness, we are “full, complete" – and “all the random and approximate [are] muted.” Seneca was able to find this stillness, to “mute” his inner and outer environments, and, though plagued by troubles and distractions, find the serenity to write incisive, powerful philosophical essays that have influenced millions and millions of people.
Seneca believed that if people could find peace within themselves, all else would be possible – thought, work, a good life – even if the world around them was at war.
Seneca lived thousands of years ago, but the power of stillness abides. Around the world, philosophers and religions have embraced stillness, calling it by many and various names: upekkha (Buddhists), aslama (Muslims), aequanimitas (Christians), apatheia (Stoics). (Apatheia, by the way, which is the root of the word apathy, doesn’t mean listless or apathetic or emotionless. It means to be undisturbed by passion – in a good way. Equanimity might be the best translation, a kind of emotional stillness.)
Point is, under different names, in different guises, stillness can be found all around the world, and all throughout history. In this Blink, we’ll explore how to find it for ourselves.
Want to see all full key ideas from Stillness Is the Key?
Key ideas in Stillness Is the Key
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
Who should read Stillness Is the Key
- Frazzled people seeking to escape the constant distractions of modern life
- Busy people who need more balance, calm, and focus
- Fast movers who want to slow down
Categories with Stillness Is the Key
Books like Stillness Is the Key
What our members say
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
Start growing with Blinkist now
25 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers