Steven Pressfield Quote on Creative Work and How To Overcome The Resistance To Express It

“Are you a born writer?  Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.  Do it or don’t do it.  It may help to think of it this way.  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.  You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.  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.”

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Beyond the Quote (189/365)

Don’t think that just because I write every day that it’s easy for me. Writing is always hard. Just like sprinting is always hard. Neither ever gets easier—you just get better. Just today, for example, I sat down to write and noticed—really felt—the potency of the resistance that I had to overcome in order to begin. Here’s what the start to my writing looked like:

1. I felt the anxiety of the blank page and quickly opened new internet tabs and surfed the web for a bit.
2. Then I came back to the blank screen and noticed a dirty dish on my desk and decided it was a good time to take it to the kitchen and get some water.
3. By the time I got back to my desk and looked again at my blank screen, I felt that my nails were getting too long and that my facial hair needed to be trimmed. I’m not making this up.
4. So, I went into the bathroom and trimmed my facial hair and started cutting my nails. It wasn’t until I was cutting my nails that I finally noticed and became conscious of what was going on—the resistance was in control.

The resistance is the repelling, distracting force you feel when you set out to do deep work. Deep work is the type of work that requires intense focus and deliberate effort. It’s the type of work that is outside of your comfort zone and usually entails critical thinking, problem solving, creative exploration, research, experimentation, etc. and is best done in a distraction free environment. Why? Because distractions are the antithesis of focus. And without focus, deep work can’t be done. And what’s the most distracting entity in our lives that’s going to stop us from doing our deep work?

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Good guess, but I’m actually not talking about your phone. It’s your brain! Your own mind is the ultimate distraction-making machine. Your mind is the one that’s being asked to buckle down and do this intensely focused work that’s outside of where it’s comfortable in order for it to be painfully expanded in growth—and it doesn’t like it! Your mind doesn’t want to be uncomfortable any more than your body doesn’t want to be uncomfortable.

This is why you’re always looking for the most comfortable couches, beds, chairs, recliners, and pillows. Your mind, in a similar attempt, finds comfort in doing easy, mindless stuff. Like, opening new internet tabs and browsing the web aimlessly. Or, arbitrarily tidying things up just because it keeps you busy and distracted from real work. Or, all-of-a-sudden pointing out the fact that your nails and facial hair need to be cut. It’s all a big ploy against you that’s being conspired by you so that you don’t have to do your most important work! Sounds crazy right? Now go ahead and think about it against your life and see if it’s true…

The resistance is no joke and it needs to be taken seriously. The resistance is what keeps your best work inside of you. The resistance is what stops you from realizing your full potential. The resistance is the reason graveyards are the richest places on earth—because it stops most people from ever manifesting the wealth that’s inside of them while they’re alive. It’s scary to think about—dying before you truly express the wealth that’s inside. But, it’s best to think about it now before, you know, it happens! So, what’s the move? How to overcome the resistance and produce, said, deep work?

The secret, according to best-selling author Steven Pressfield, is to Do The Work. Not a really fun secret, right? But, based on the fact that it’s usually the exact thing that most people avoid, it might as well be a secret. Doing the work is the only way to overcome the resistance. And you have to train yourself to do it day-in and day-out. You don’t overcome the resistance through mental negotiation. You don’t trick the resistance with motivational videos and pep talks. You don’t quiet the resistance by burying yourself in distractions. The only way to overcome it, is by buckling down and doing the damn work.

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You have to put your fingers on the damn keyboard and start typing. You have to get your pen and paper and start writing. You have to get out your canvas and paint and start stroking. It’s the only way. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that watching Gary Vee is an effective way to get your deep work done. You watching Gary Vee may be informative, but ultimately, if you already know what work needs to get done, then watching Gary Vee is nothing more than a distraction just like cutting my nails was for me.

How do I overcome the resistance and write every day? It’s not from daily pep talks. It’s by writing every day. That’s it. I eliminate the distractions, stare at the blank screen, and start with just one line of words—and I keep typing until I have something that I feel is worth sharing. I hope you will start taking the resistance seriously and start working to overcome it yourself. Not just for you, but for all of us so that we can see the wealth you have inside. What a shame if you took it all to your grave. Share it with us now, while you’re here, with us.

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For a more in-depth look at overcoming the resistance, check out Steven Pressfield’s book, Do The Work. It comes highly recommended.

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This post became the introduction for: 29 Must-Read Seth Godin Quotes from The Practice For All Creators

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