Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance.
This second, we can sit down and do our work.~ Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art has been on my “must read” list for longer than I can remember. I’m not sure what took me so long to just buy the damn book and read it (Resistance, anyone?), but if, like me, you’ve been on the fence with this one, don’t wait. Just jump. Quick.
Far from the heavy tome I feared it would be, The War of Art is a little gem of a book. It’s short enough to be consumed in one long or a few not-so-long sittings, and divided into tiny, bite-sized “chapters” of no more than a couple of pages, and often as short as a couple of sentences.
In other words, totally non-intimidating.
It’s the kind of book you’ll want to keep within arm’s reach in your creative workspace, to flip open to a random page when you need a little boost. A little reminder of how freaking important your creative work is, and that you’re not alone, or crazy, for having maybe the teensiest bit of a hard time getting to said work.
That last phrase? Totally sarcastic.
The truth is, if you’re like 99.999% of us, you frequently have an excruciatingly painful feels-like-you’re-pushing-a-three-ton-boulder-up-a-hill hard time getting to said work.
Or getting said work to a state of done-ness.
And The War of Art? This deceptively brief, easy to approach little 165-page gift is a powerful tool to add to your arsenal (to borrow Pressfield’s war metaphor) against the stealthiest, sliest and most pernicious enemy to your creative life: Resistance.
The Truth About Resistance
Resistance, in its many shapes, is the focus of Book One, the first of three sections of The War of Art. Pressfield lifts the veil, exposing the ways Resistance keeps us from the work we’re meant to do, including some you may never have thought about.
Fear? Procrastination? It’s pretty easy to spot those manifestations of Resistance. But how about support and healing? How about the choice of a mate? These – and many other surprises – can be sneaky forms of Resistance too.
And have you ever thought about Resistance and love? Has it ever occurred to you that the more Resistance you feel, the more important your “unmanifested art / project / enterprise” is to you? Which means, of course, that when you feel the most Resistance, that’s precisely when you must fight the hardest against it.
You must play for keeps.
Which brings me to Book Two.
Turning Pro
In Book Two, Pressfield offers his thinking and instructions on how best to combat Resistance: by “Turning Pro.”
“Pro” in this sense doesn’t have anything to do with producing income (though it certainly can include that). It means taking yourself and your dreams seriously.
It means dedicating your life to your art / your project / your enterprise.
It means accepting that it is hard and painful to keep at it… and doing it anyway.
“The artist must be like [a] Marine,” says Pressfield:
He has to know how to be miserable. He has to take pride in being more miserable than any other soldier or swabbie or jet jockey. Because this is war, baby. And war is hell.
Turning Pro means showing up, no matter what, just like you do to collect your paycheck at your 9-5.
It means a lot of other stuff, too, which Book Two beautifully enumerates.
Pressman has made Turning Pro into an art in and of itself. He shares stories from his own life, when Resistance had him broken and beaten down, and in glimmering vignettes describes how a shift in consciousness – from “amateur” to “pro” – was what finally turned things around.
A guy who goes from broken, can’t-get-his-work-done-to-save-his-life, to international best-selling author is someone worth paying attention to.
The Higher Realm
If the militaristic message of Book Two sounds daunting, deep breath – we’re now on to Book Three, where Pressman looks at Inspiration, the Muses, the Authentic Self, and the allies and angels that keep us pressing on against Resistance.
When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.
Whether you believe in angels or read Book Three as pure metaphor, I can’t see how any reader could not be moved by it.
Do your work, is the essence of Pressman’s message, because you must. The last page sums it up eloquently:
If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet….
Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.
Amen.
If you’re ready to take your own creative life more seriously, and would like to use the power of a small group of like-minded, creative comrades-in-arms to push yourself forward, I’ve got one spot left in my upcoming daytime Creative Ignition Circle, which starts this Wednesday. What could YOU accomplish toward your big, creative dreams in the next two months, if you had other people to brainstorm, encourage, and (perhaps most importantly) hold your feet to the fire? I invite and challenge you to take that next step to bust past Resistance and find out. Click here for more information and to join.
So true. I just read “The War of Art” a few weeks ago and the message is powerfully bold.
Nobody said the work would be easy, but that’s what makes it gratifying in the end: knowing you made it through and having something (hopefully) to show for it.
Having something to show, rather than regret at never doing it at all, is what it’s all about. 🙂
I totally agree. This is one of my favorite books and it’s probably time to revisit it. The part about muses so inspired me that I researched the ancient muses and wrote an article about them.
Ooh! I’d love to read your article, Kim! I was trying to remember which Muse was associated with which art form. Terpsichore (dance) I know; the others I’m a little hazy on…
It’s just an overview, but I’ll bet you can identify with many of the muses.
http://www.squidoo.com/muses-nine
Delightful overview, Kim! Thanks!
Melissa – last September when you interviewed me I told you that this book changed my life – now I see it has rocked your world as well !!
I am so glad you have finally read it.
I’ve just ordered his follow up book to this one “Do The Work”. I can’t wait to read it.
Hi Fiona! I remember you talking about The War of Art. You might have been the first person who mentioned it to me — I can’t remember now. Amazing it took me so long to finally read it! I seriously envisioned it as a long, hard-to-plow-through tome. Not sure why… I was delighted when it arrived at my door and was such a slim little treasure.
I expect my copy — which already has a zillion post-its flagging pages — will be very dog-eared very soon. 🙂
I learned of Steven on Mark McGuinness’s blog, where I listened to an interview Mark did with him. After listening to it – I just had to get the book as it blew the doors wide open on a lot of stuff I was struggling with. As I told you it was such a relief to find out it wasn’t any beliefs I held that I had to work through, the resistance is a natural thing that we all have. Whew.
I have it as as audio book and I listen to it while I’m painting and the Resistance is particularly strong, which is usually every couple of months! I find it’s good to listen to it often, as I tend to forget it – I need the reinforcement.
Steven also has a really great blog which I subscribe to – it’s:
http://www.stevenpressfield.com/
I particularly like his Writing Wednesday posts.
I heard that interview too. Pressfield is referenced by so many creatives. Jonathan Fields referred to him in his talk about uncertainty at the World Domination Summit. (Watch for his book, Uncertainty, coming out soon!)
I love the idea of the audio book. I may have to invest in that!
Just subscribed to the blog, too.
This really is a great book. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, but I see it now, staring at me on my bookcase, and it’s thinner than the books around it. Might give it another spin.
I like that it’s the kind of book you can flip open to a random page, like the I Ching or something! You’ll get something useful from any page you land on. 🙂
I read Steven Pressfield’s book this spring and at first was quite blown away. But figuring out who or what Resistance is seemed kind of schizophrenic. And I kept returning uncomfortably to the feeling that I didn’t want to live my life in a war. Then – what to do with some obviously good ideas? Seth Godin’s latest, Linchpin, has helped me make further sense of Pressfield’s concept. Godin says that the oldest part of the human brain, the lizard brain, is the part that doesn’t want us to change anything. It’s the part that was designed so we’d keep our heads down, keep doing the same things the same way, and stay alive. Godin says that lizard brain is the part houses resistance. Lizard brain is afraid! He then says that the human forebrain, much newer, larger and weaker, is where creativity, empathy, and emotional growth live. That while lizard brain will always be instinctively stronger, the forebrain can be taught to quiet lizard brain so we can go do the work. How to teach it? Go do the work. I love the idea of quieting, doing, re-learning. Lizard brain, resistance, shhhh. Everything’s ok.
Laureen xo
I’m not keen on the war metaphor myself, Laureen (though some days it can feel that way to me!) Just ordered Linchpin AND Do the Work.
Love the lizard brain metaphor too. All of these metaphors have their place. As far as I’m concerned, the more ways we have to understand what gets us to do — or avoid — what most fulfills us, the better!