So, we’re at that time of the year. School is starting back, diets are starting (and probably already failing), exercise routines are revving up; all manner of personal growth regimen are beginning. Yet so many of us are defeated when we attempt to climb to our lofty goals.
Recently–and by recently I mean just today–I started reading a book entitled “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Creative Battles” by Steven Pressfield. Sounds like a writer’s block novel. Well, it is. And it’s an everyday procrastination novel. In fact, it encompasses all manner of personal growth that the “Resistance”–or, procrastination–campaigns to halt. In the some of the very first pages, it gives a profound statement: “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance.”
What this means is that everyone has a certain vision of themselves, but when we try to become that vision, Resistance gets in the way and beats us back into our corners of “never good enough” and “why bother trying.” In this way, the world is denied of the genius only the fallen person can grasp. The book goes on to describe the Resistance: invisible, impersonal, internal, insidious, universal, and many more things. It is human nature to procrastinate; but can it be beaten?
Obviously, by the vast array of works such as Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” or Steve Jobs’s success, or Thomas Edison’s invention of the lightbulb, Resistance is beatable. Pressfield writes about how one defeats Resistance–by something called “turning pro”–however I haven’t had the pleasure of reading that far. I surmise it means to take life by the reins, straighten your back (and maybe pull up your pants for the younger generation) and face your work, or your dreams, or just life in general with the confidence of a professional–you can do this, you can write this, you can paint this, you can do whatever it is you feel is your goal in life: you can defeat Resistance.
If you’re interested in checking out this book, here’s Pressfield’s website: https://stevenpressfield.com/
Finally, just in case someone finds it necessary–totally not because I know how to do this and like showing off–here’s a citation:
Pressfield, Steven. “The Unlived Life.” Preface. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, New York, Black Irish Entertainment, 2002.
Word Technician 