--- title: ‘The Struggle,’ According to Ben Horowitz description: "The Struggle is where we turn adversity into opportunity" canonical: https://time.com/3818203/ben-horowitz-the-struggle/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-20T11:00:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:21:22.865Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 'The Struggle,' According to Ben Horowitz og:description: "The Struggle is where we turn adversity into opportunity" og:url: https://time.com/3818203/ben-horowitz-the-struggle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d2a2e7be9796ece/6987eaa65f570f16adb1917f/ben-horowitz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ben Horowitz speaks at SXSW on March 9, 2014 in Austin, Texas. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'The Struggle,' According to Ben Horowitz twitter:description: "The Struggle is where we turn adversity into opportunity" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d2a2e7be9796ece/6987eaa65f570f16adb1917f/ben-horowitz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'The Struggle,' According to Ben Horowitz by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish May 20, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Ben Horowitz speaks at SXSW on March 9, 2014 in Austin, Texas. Ben Horowitz speaks at SXSW on March 9, 2014 in Austin, Texas.Travis P Ball—Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish May 20, 2015 11:00 AM UTC “Life is a struggle.” — Karl Marx In [The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062273205/farnamstreet-20), Ben Horowitz describes the struggle. --- > “” --- It’s at this point that you start to question things. This is when things get dark. Depression sets in. Options look narrow. You just want to hit snooze over and over again and hide under the covers. The Struggle, however, is also where greatness is born. --- > “” --- The Struggle is where we [turn adversity into opportunity](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/05/ryan-holiday-the-obstacle-is-the-way/). Ben offers some things that may help you through the struggle. --- > “” --- [The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062273205/farnamstreet-20) offers a piercing look into the hard choices that leaders must make. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/)**_._** **Join over 50,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3818203/ben-horowitz-the-struggle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3818203/ben-horowitz-the-struggle/"},"headline":"'The Struggle,' According to Ben Horowitz","datePublished":"2015-05-20T11:00:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:21:22.865Z","description":"\"The Struggle is where we turn adversity into opportunity\"","url":"https://time.com/3818203/ben-horowitz-the-struggle/","keywords":["Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d2a2e7be9796ece/6987eaa65f570f16adb1917f/ben-horowitz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d2a2e7be9796ece/6987eaa65f570f16adb1917f/ben-horowitz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ben Horowitz speaks at SXSW on March 9, 2014 in Austin, Texas.","caption":"Ben Horowitz speaks at SXSW on March 9, 2014 in Austin, Texas.","creditText":"Travis P Ball—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3818203/ben-horowitz-the-struggle/","name":"'The Struggle,' According to Ben Horowitz"}}]}] ```