"Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles"

This is a classic book from Steven Pressfield which is often cited and referred to. At its core it's about our struggle with Resistance (capital R), not just a general procrastination towards something, but something deeper and more inherent holding us back from our goals.

The title is a play on words of the famous book called The Art of War by Sun Tzu. That was an ancient Chinese treatise on war written around the 5th century BC. It may well have filled its purpose back then, but it has also been used in the modern age in the world of business and personal development. As in, the principles can be applied and it is recommended reading for a lot of companies and institutions.

I don't know about all that, but I guess when it comes to art it is a bit of a war. Being a creative and getting your work out there takes some doing. Not so much the thing itself, but actually getting it done and getting it out there. And then sitting down and doing it all again!

What holds us back? And how can we break through and produce what we're capable of and share with the world?

This book dives into all this and more…

Top Takes! Great Quotes From the Book, Followed by My Additional Thoughts…

There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: 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.

What did I just say? That's the very essence right there. There's some strong force that affects our ability to take action and move forward. People have speculated over what that force is… whether in a religious or spiritual sense, or something much more pragmatic. Could it be some sort of fear and our subconscious keeping us 'safe'?

The point is to get in the chair (literally or figuratively) on a consistent basis and produce. Weave your magic. Sometimes you'll be 'feeling it' and sometimes not, but taking the action will yield results and take you places you won't be able to go without it.

Perhaps we'll learn more about this Resistance fellow throughout the book!

Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.

There's the potential we have and the heights we could reach. Abilities and possibilities galore. Then we have where we're at and how we live now. There's a chasm that needs to be breached between the two.

Is that what it takes? Do we have to stare death in the face to make us stand up and confront Resistance? Does Resistance have to cripple and disfigure our lives before we wake up to its existence? How many of us have become drunks and drug addicts, developed tumors and neuroses, succumbed to painkillers, gossip, and compulsive cell-phone use, simply because we don't do that thing that our hearts, our inner genius, is calling us to?

A lot of this stuff is a replacement for the things we should be doing and the person we should be becoming. They have their own individual reasons and impacts but behind it all could just be that resistance to facing our true selves.

If we're not becoming who we're supposed to be, that can well manifest in all sorts of undesirable ways. A method of masking and passing the time so we never face the reality. Quite shocking in a way but worth investigating and sorting if we can.

Source

If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink in the directory would be out of business. Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with the junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the medical profession from top to bottom. Domestic abuse would become extinct, as would addiction, obesity, migraine headaches, road rage, and dandruff.

If we conquered this our dear ol' medical profession may well go out of business… no more glorified drug dealing and pill popping! This paragraph could be an exaggeration but is it really? You would be less inclined to go in these directions thus removing the need for all these things. Everyone would be that much purer and not looking for distraction. They wouldn't be angry at themselves and the world and they would naturally radiate more love and light.

Hitler wanted to be an artist.

A more extreme example. There may well be a lot more to Hitler and his antics but if he had pursued and become successful in his early endeavours, much of history could have looked a little different.

it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.

Again, this may be hyperbole. However, not being able to deal with the canvas started him down another route. There are many other factors of course, and the war part is a bit on the the extreme side, but you get the point and it could affect many people to a less obvious extent.

Henry Fonda was still throwing up before each stage performance, even when he was seventy-five.

Nerves before performances are quite normal but affect some more than others. Some people actually to the extent of vomiting and feeling terrible until getting out there. Fonda was clearly affected his whole life and it didn't improve with age and experience.

The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.

It's never won. Just because you've conquered resistance (and anything else for that matter) that day, the next day you've got to do it all again. It's an ongoing process and must be faced every single day.

Attention Deficit Disorder, Seasonal Affect Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder. These aren't diseases, they're marketing ploys. Doctors didn't discover them, copywriters did. Marketing departments did. Drug companies did.

Probably a bit of both but some truth to it. Marketers took advantage and agitated the problem in order to sell products and services. The pharmaceutical industry is worth billions (and there are a lot of hands in the pie) and they don't care about you or I.

There are of course circumstances where drugs and the like could be necessary but usually they can be avoided with lifestyle changes and improving your mindset.

So these things may well exist (to a degree), but why do they exist? It all ties together.

The paradox seems to be, as Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.

To be truly free, you need to have control over yourself or others will do that for you. It's as simple as that.

He knows that any job, whether it's a novel or a kitchen remodel, takes twice as long as he thinks and costs twice as much.

A good rule of thumb. They always say that about travel too: take half the clothes and twice the money!

Thing is you haven't factored everything in. You were optimistic, which is great, but things tend to take a lot longer in reality and extra costs will always arise. Best to err on the side of caution and have time and money left over. Although that takes some skill and luck.

The Bhagavad-Gita tells us we have a right only to our labor, not to the fruits of our labor.

The seeds you sow are in your control, but what is reaped from those seeds is out of your hands. They could harvest a great crop or be ruined due to external conditions. Sow regardless, tend well and the cards will fall as they may. This will give you the best chance but you have no say in the outcome.

it's better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.

You're in the game, that's the point. You might be getting battered but you're competing and you're learning… and one day it may be your time in the sun. Not being in the arena means you'll get none of this plus feel a little bitter too.

Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders's film about angels among us? (City of Angels with Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage was the American version.)

Not sure why I highlighted this bit or the reference here, perhaps to check out the film… could be interesting.

The Self wishes to create, to evolve. The Ego likes things just the way they are.

The ego wants to keep you where you are as it's safe and it knows what's what. You may not be living a great life, but who's to say if things change at all, you could be worse off or die. That's the key - you're alive and well now.

But then there's the other part of you that wants to excel. So it's about allowing that to be and thrive.

Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.

Becoming who you are. Easier said than done as you have to figure it out and then become it. Your imagination of what's 'supposed to be' can be quite strong and that essence gets drowned out. But it's there and we can access it and bring it to the fore!

The Legend of Bagger Vance

Film referenced in the book. Will Smith is some sort of guardian angel in this so there are suggestions of muses and the like from the author.

Thanks Steven! Anything Else?

Pressfield has several books out there but I believe this is the most famous. It's fairly straightforward and not too long or heavy going. It keeps coming back to Resistance and how it affects the creative person and the expression of that creativity.

One of those must-reads if you're into this type of material as it should hopefully give a few nudges as to why things are as they are and ways you can push through and create.

What do you make of it all? Have you read this book, and what do you think of our old pal Resistance?

First image my own, second linked to source

Check out the others in the series…

BookBabble #36: "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield

Top Takes! Great Quotes From the Book, Followed by My Additional Thoughts…

Thanks Steven! Anything Else?