Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be [Book]
Book Overview: Are you losing your “war of art”? Are you being defeated by a tendency to procrastination, self-doubt, fear, distraction, and perfectionism? Are you self-sabotaging your loftiest artistic entrepreneurial dreams? The antidote is in nine words: Put your ass where your heart wants to be. Can you shift your artistic identity—your “ass”—from the shallow, fearful, superficial ego to the wise, loving, fearless self? Can you commit to your dream for the long haul and for keeps? In this book, best-selling author Steven Pressfield delivers the tough-love inspiration to help you make this life-altering transformation.
“I recently heard a story about a woman who asked her ‘inner critic’ to retire. The ‘inner critic’ being that self-critical voice that pipes up under the guise of protecting me from failure or pushing me to be better. Inspired by this idea, I bought my ‘inner critic’ a retirement gift — something tangible I can see or hold in my hands — so that when the doubting, perfectionist voice speaks up I can gently remind her she’s been retired, and show her the small of token of appreciation I bought as proof. Shifting my focus from anxiety to gratitude.”
Claudia Dawson
“I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung.”
Rabindranath Tagore, via Sunbeams (Page 148)
“When we stop worrying about whether we’ve done it perfectly, we can focus on the process instead. Saturday Night Live doesn’t go on at 11:30 p.m. because it’s ready. It goes on because it’s 11:30. We don’t ship because we’re creative. We’re creative because we ship. Take what you get and commit to a process to make it better.”
Seth Godin, The Practice (Page 171)
Alicia Keys Quote on Perfection and Being Okay With Our Imperfect Reality
“I tend to want every person to embody the best of humanity—for all of us to be givers and builders and dreamers. That’s not reality. At different seasons in life, we each fall into various categories. Even still, every one of us also has a strong behavioral tendency, and that is okay. I’m coming to terms with the fact that so-called perfection—this idea that everything should be beautiful and in order at all times—is just not going to happen.”
Alicia Keys, More Myself (Page 254)
Beyond the Quote (Day 386)
And as she says in her song, Authors of Forever, “Wherever you are, it’s alright / Whoever you are, it’s alright.” It’s okay to be who you are, where you are on your journey. None of us are perfect and we all lead imperfect lives. Expect perfection from someone—anyone—and you’ll always end up disappointed. Expect imperfection and you’ll at least be able to meet people where they are. Disappointment leads to emotional distancing and separation. Understanding leads to emotional advancing and connection.
Read More »Alicia Keys Quote on Perfection and Being Okay With Our Imperfect Reality“Believing ourselves to be possessors of absolute truth degrades us: we regard every person whose way of thinking is different from ours as a monster and a threat and by so doing turn our own selves into monsters and threats to our fellows.”
Octavio Paz, Sunbeams (Page 9)
Jill Churchill Quote on Focusing Less on Perfection and More on Doing Good
“There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.”
Jill Churchill
Beyond the Quote (128/365)
There’s too much pressure on being perfect. Mostly, pressure that we put on ourselves. We want to look perfect—not only in our eyes, but in the eyes of others. We want to act perfectly—to never make a mistake or do something that we might otherwise regret. We want to feel that perfection of inner balance and inner peace—to never lose ourselves emotionally or show any kind of weakness. The problem with this kind of perfection seeking behavior is in how it hinders us more than it helps us.
Read More »Jill Churchill Quote on Focusing Less on Perfection and More on Doing Good“None of us are perfect. We have biologies and pathologies that will inevitably trip us up. What we need then is a philosophy and a strong moral code—that sense of virtue—to help us resist what we can, and to give us the strength to pick ourselves back up when we fail and try to do and be better.”
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 117)
10 Empowering Brené Brown Quotes from The Gifts of Imperfection
Excerpt: Letting go of who you think you’re supposed to be and embracing who you are is hard. These quotes from The Gifts of Imperfection will help…
Read More »10 Empowering Brené Brown Quotes from The Gifts of Imperfection
Brené Brown Quote on Perfectionism and How It’s Unattainable and Self-Destructive
“Perfectionism is self-destructive simply because there is no such thing as perfect. Perfection is an unattainable goal. Additionally, perfectionism is more about perception – we want to be perceived as perfect. Again, this is unattainable – there is no way to control perception, regardless of how much time and energy we spend trying.”
Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
Beyond the Quote (58/365)
What a gift it would be if we were able to drop all of our desires for perfection. And I’m not just talking about some of our desires for perfection—I mean all of them. The desire to look perfect; to have perfect grades/ outcomes/ performances; to be perceived as perfect by others; to have perfect answers to questions; to be the perfect mother/ father/ spouse/ sibling; to have the perfect circumstances; to live the perfect life… Why? Because every single one of these desires creates suffering. They create unattainable, unrealistic goals that lead to constant disappointment, self-judgement, and less acceptance of your self and others. And in this world—in this reality—there is no such thing as perfect.
Read More »Brené Brown Quote on Perfectionism and How It’s Unattainable and Self-Destructive
“Even though you may not feel or look the part now, you must envision yourself in your ideal state, activating your personal power and living in alignment with your stand and purpose. I learned in the SEALs that there’s no such thing as perfection, only perfect effort. Through practicing a ‘perfect’ version of ourselves mentally, we’ll slowly become that person in real life.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal