Author - Steven Pressfield
Genre - Personal Development and Self-Help
Number of Pages - 165 pages (3 Chapters)
Reading time - (2 hours and 30 minutes as per Kindle suggestion)
My Ratings - 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Introduction
I read the Kindle edition of this book. It definitely is a good read. I'm sure, I will be going back to my notes and revisiting the highlights section again. Before you dive straight into the book, I would recommend you to check out the foreword written by Robert McKee in this book itself.
He's summarized the book so jovially well. I liked how Robert mentions that he is someone who holds Olympic records for procrastination and how the author Pressfield (that devil) knowing this asked him to write the foreword against a deadline.
The timing of this book is so great on a personal front. I, too, hold the Olympic records for not doing the work and plainly struggling most of the times to even make ends meet. What I learned from this book is to focus on defeating RESISTANCE, the enemy daily by doing the work no matter what.
In my previous book review, author Darius who wrote Do it Today! had suggested reading this book to understand the difference between a pro vs an amateur that's how I came to know about this book. Author Pressfield in this book says, 'The amateur-only works when inspiration strikes. While the pro sits down every day and puts in steady work. The key is steady. Not irregular or extreme.'
If you want to be a writer, then write daily; If you want to be a painter, then paint daily. What we call 'block' or I'll create/work when inspiration comes is actually fear or paralysis. According to the author, it's plain Resistance in its most seductive form telling us not to do the work.
Creative work is a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.
Main Takeaways
Resistance is evil and is the reason why we are not living a fruitful life that God intended for each one of us. The first chapter is wholly dedicated to defining Resistance and its characteristics being invisible, internal, always lying, universal, so, and so forth.
The author says, 'Fear doesn't go away because resistance never sleeps.' We need to battle it out anew every day. Our fear, in fact, acts as a fuel that keeps resistance alive. The more we fear, the more power we feed it. So, learn to master your fear and you will be able to take control of resistance.
Resistance is the enemy. The battle is inside our own heads. No matter what the professional cannot let resistance beat him. He is bulletproof. Nothing can touch him unless he lets it. The pro keeps working.
'Turning Pro' is how you cure your creative blocks and defeat resistance at its core. The author, Steven Pressfield, wisely points out, step-by-step method to becoming a professional. He says no excuses, no bull***t - endure and face your fears and failures by doing the work daily. We must be like the crab and make that leap for the rim of our bucket. Even our small steps can make great progress.
Resistance is the enemy of creativity. We can defeat it, provided, we sit down each day and do our work. Power concentrates around us...we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights create.
Chapter three was fun to read. The author suggests invoking the angels/muse by sitting down to do the work daily. He says when we do the work our angels start whispering in our ears what to create/write/paint and help us give birth to talent, beauty, and truth. To invoke the angels the author says a prayer that's taken from Homer's Odyssey - Invocation of the Muse.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin it now.
Ideas and Suggestions
Like any self-help book, the basic premise is that the reader makes an earnest effort to inculcate the ideas and suggestions in order to improve and change their life. Similarly, this book is no different it suggests the following:
Before I sit down to work, I say a prayer. I say it out loud, in absolute earnest. Only then do I get down to business.
Next put in the time and effort to do the work with all that you've got. Overcome resistance daily. It doesn't matter how many pages you wrote or if they are any good. What matters is you did the work for this day, this session, and defeated resistance.
Learn to delay gratification, exercise self-control, and avoid creating drama (victim mentality) in your life. As nobody gets anything done if they are surrounded by these characteristics instead discipline yourself to always Eat That Frog! and tackle that challenging task first.
A pro loves the game and pursues it full-time not as a sideline. Quit saying, I will work when inspiration strikes and start committing to your calling daily with all your heart and soul. Do the work out of love and free will not out of compulsion. Be invested in it wholeheartedly.
Delay gratification - Be the ant, not the grasshopper; or be the tortoise, not the hare. Be patient, conserve your energy for the long haul. Seek order. Eliminate clutter or chaos both outside and inside for the angel to enter and not soil her beautiful gown.
Awesome Quotes
Are you a writer who doesn't write, a painter who doesn't paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is. It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is RESISTANCE.
Master the fear and we conquer resistance. Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work.
The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come. He knows he has a right only to labor, not to count the fruits of his labor.
The professional prepares mentally to absorb blows and to deliver them. His goal is not victory (success will come by itself when it wants to) but to handle himself, his insides, as sturdily and steadily as he can.
The professional respects his craft. He does not consider himself superior to it. He dedicates himself to mastering the techniques. He wants to be in possession of the full arsenal of skills when inspiration does come.
The professional does not take failure (or success) personally. Because taking rejection personally is reinforcing Resistance again. Instead, she gives an ear to criticism, seeking to learn and grow from it. But never lets resistance to break her will and crack her dedication.
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