“Most of us have two lives,” writes Steven Pressfield in The War of Art. “The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
If you’re reading this blog, then chances are good that you’re trying to create something new in your life. If so, Pressfield’s statement above probably rings true. It does for me, and having just finished my annual reading of Pressfield’s magnificent manifesto on the psychology of creativity, I thought I’d encourage you to read it too.
Pressfield is no stranger to resistance. You don’t write a best-seller like The Legend of Bagger Vance without encountering some resistance along the way. Why? Because creating something is always a struggle. Most people don’t realize this, and even those of us who do frequently forget. We look at the shiny finished product of someone’s creative process (a book, a film, a businesses, an ultra-fit body) and forget that getting there was probably a struggle. The act of creating is not the problem—once you’re in the zone the words, images, business plans, and sit-ups come easily. It’s getting into the zone that’s tricky. It’s staying there. It’s returning.
“There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t.” says Pressfield. “It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.”
Pressfield’s experience may be as a writer, but his advice extends to virtually any creative endeavor. The War of Art is an exploration of resistance and the havoc it wreaks on our lives and dreams in the form of fear, procrastination, victimhood, unhappiness, criticism, self-doubt, and rationalization. It’s also a how-to manual on what to do about it.
The secret to overcoming resistance, says Pressfield, is understanding that art is war, that war is hell, and that professional creators know this fact and embrace it—while amateurs are easily defeated by it. Artists, he says, have to love being miserable. Which is not to say you have to love being miserable before you can create something. It means you have to cultivate that love in order to succeed in the endeavor.
The final section of the book explores the higher realms of creativity that lie beyond resistance. Woo woo stuff about callings, serendipity, the muse, the ego, and the Self. One of my favorite parts is a thought-provoking discussion of the differences between a hierarchical and territorial orientation to life, and why the former is fatal for an artist.
I can’t recommend The War of Art enough. Reading it is like a kick in the pants from a coach who “gets” me. If you have big dreams but are struggling to make them real, do yourself a favor and read it. Then read it again, at least once a year like I do.
After I re-read the book this last time I looked for some interviews with Pressfield online. I found a great one on a blog called The Accidental Creative. The blog itself was a serendipitous find too: “We exist to free up creatives and organizations to make great stuff.” To this end there’s plenty to read and listen to, as well as a community of like-minded creative types to interact with.
Ready to leap over the chasm between the life you live and your unlived life?
- Read The War of Art
- Listen to the interview with Steven Pressfield
- Check out The Accidental Creative
Resistance be damned!
