Odpor. Takhle se ten hajzlík jmenuje. Vystupuju před osmou z vlaku a hlášení zrovna recituje odjezd vlaku opačným směrem. Zatoužím do něj naskočit a za chvilku být doma, v peřinách, schovaná před světem. Bez povinností a zodpovědnosti. Ale zodpovědnost vyhrává, mám školení, čekají na mne účastníci. Odpor nemá šanci. I tak se hlásí dál. Doufá, že nikdo nedorazí. Že nastane nějaká nejasná katastrofická událost, která způsobí, že seminář nebude. Zmizí školící místnost, všichni naráz dostanou chřipku, nebo alespoň nebude fungovat elektřina. Slyším ho do chvíle, než se postavím před ostatní a přivítám je na školení. Jakmile začnu mluvit, Odpor ztichne.

Když zavolá firemní klient, jestli by bylo možné zítřejší seminář odložit, Odpor se raduje se mnou. Odpor si pohlídá, abych před každým napsaným článkem uklidila celý byt, nebo alespoň zhlédla celou sérii nějakého seriálu na Netflixu či HBO GO. Ale jakmile napíšu první větu, odchází. Kvůli Odporu jsem začala připravovat druhý ročník Social Media Akademie v listopadu, místo v září. A první ročník ohlásila doslova na poslední chvíli. Protože strach je nejsilnějším projevem Odporu. A Odpor si vždycky pohlídá, abych se dostatečně bála. Když ale rozpohybuju všechna potřebná kolečka, začínám se usmívat. Vím, že dělám skvělou věc a už stejně není cesty zpět.

Odpor potkávám každý den. Projevuje se prokrastinací a jeho mladší bratříček se jmenuje imposter syndrome. Kecají mi do práce, do studia, do vztahů, do jídla i necvičení. Ale když jsem otáčela poslední stránky knihy Válka umění, hruď mi sevřel adrenalin. Takové to pnutí kolem srdce, kdy se děsíte věcí příštích a u toho se usmíváte. Protože jsem si společně s Odporem v sobě uvědomila, že když teď vím jak na něj, začnu tyhle bitvy vyhnávat. A z toho jsem vyděšená k smrti

Part of me was extremely inspired by this book. Part of me had no idea what he was talking about(at certain points) and the writer in me wishes I'd written this wonderful book before the author did.

This is a classic work that anyone with the slightest desire to create anything should not only read but study. It tackles head on the biggest block to every creators journey toward self-expression through their work-the author calls it RESISTANCE. Not only will you nod your head in agreement as you read but you will be equipped with the tools you need to banish fear and procrastination forever and finally GET TO WORK !

We all experience a force that pushes us away from our creative endeavors. Whether it be a new diet or exercise regimen, a novel, a painting, a business venture, or a relationship, this force seems to appear every morning along with the sun. Call it what you will---the lizard brain, laziness, procrastination, writer's block, instant gratification---if we want to become the person we are meant to be, we must engage with it, and somehow, do our work anyway.

Steven Pressfield, in his magnificent book, The War of Art, calls it Resistance.

What Is Resistance?

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...

Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It's a repelling force. It's negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.

The way I choose to see Resistance is biological. Evolutionary.

My urge to create comes from the brain's frontal lobe, that human concoction that enables reasoning and abstract thinking. But Resistance comes from the amygdala, which we share with the "lower" animals (hence the lizard brain). It's the part of the brain that generates fear and the fight-or-flight reaction.

Thus Resistance is impersonal. It's not intending to sabotage me and my work. In fact, it's an essential part of me, whose purpose is to protect me from danger.

What kind of danger, though, is immaterial.

The problem is, we're not lizards anymore. Danger isn't always physical.

It's dangerous to create art and show it to the world---dangerous to our ego and our self-esteem.

What if our art is rejected? Then we feel rejected. We feel rejection as a primordial risk---the risk of being cast out from the tribe, ostracized and exiled.

But what does that mean? In hunter-gatherer times, it meant you were now on your own, wandering the savanna at the complete mercy of predators. At the mercy of death. The lioness picks off the loner; she doesn't mess with the herd.

There are no lions on the streets of New York. Standing out from the pack no longer means death. But Resistance doesn't know that.

Dancing With Resistance

We can use this. The stronger Resistance we feel toward our work, the riskier it must be. The bolder it must be. The more ground-breaking. Not ground-breaking in a worldly sense, but breaking new ground in our lives, in our souls. We are pushing ourselves farther than we think we can go. We are reaching our potential, expanding our capabilities:

The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.

Pressfield sees our relationship with Resistance as a war. Each day is a battle.

I've got a different view, which I developed in therapy. I learned that I could not dismiss or wish away my anxiety and my fear. No more than I could remove my amygdala and continue walking.

Instead, I taught myself how to live with it and how to listen to it. Because how could I fight something that is part of me?

And if Resistance is fear, then its presence is a good thing:

The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.

So don't knock yourself for being afraid. It's normal. It would be weird if you didn't feel it.

Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance...

The more Resistance you experience, the more important your unmanifested art/project/enterprise is to you -- and the more gratification you will feel when you finally do it.

Gratification is what it's all about. The feeling you get when you want to do something so badly that you can't do anything else. Resistance sees this as a challenge. It uses fear to beat you back.

But when you push ahead, through the fear, and complete your quest? That's the feeling that makes it all worth it.

The War of Art is a very inspirational book, and I think it would be a helpful read for all kind of creative people.

It explains what the Resistance is (no, nothing to do with Star Wars) and how it can be defeated.

The book is very dense, and it almost feels like a summary of a much bigger book, so I'm glad that the author synthesized it. It's a quick read so you can often read it to get more inspired. The Resistance got in my way, so I read this for several months. :D

Steven Pressfield's judgment in some places is a bit too much, and I can't entirely agree with all of it. Despite that, I enjoyed it a lot. The things he says make sense if you think about it.

The War of Art answers some questions like "What is the difference between a professional artist and an amateur?", "Do we do our job in a territorial or hierarchical manner?" - the latter is something specific to the context of the book (more can be read here)

There is this part in the book about "resistance and isolation" - it was very well received from me in the time of COVID isolation.

Fav quotes are too many, but some of them are these:

"Any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. Any of these will elicit Resistance."

"The working artist will not tolerate trouble in her life because she knows trouble prevents her from doing her work. The working artist banishes from her world all sources of trouble. She harnesses the urge for trouble and transforms it in her work."

"Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement. Watch yourself. Of all the manifestations of Resistance, most only harm ourselves. Criticism and cruelty harm others as well."

This book should definitely be re-read!

Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art is essentially an extended pep talk/motivational speech meant to pump the reader up into doing what they’re putting off doing, be it going for a new job, starting a new diet or whatever, though ostensibly it’s aimed at wannabe writers.

And it’s a bit too generic for my blood. I’ve read a few books like this – off the top of my dome, Stephen King’s On Writing, Benjamin Percy’s Thrill Me and Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck – all of which did it better than Pressfield.

This slim volume is made up of three sections. The first identifies Resistance (basically his all-encompassing label for procrastination/fear/laziness) and was overly long for describing such a simple concept; the second tells you how to tackle Resistance (answer: the Nike slogan – Just Do It!); and the third is full of woowoo with Pressfield going off the deep end, waffling on about angels(!) and divine destiny.

The book is fairly well written and I agree with most of what Pressfield has to say about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable in order to progress, knuckling down and getting on with it, creating a routine, being patient, fighting apathy, not listening to any negativity in your head, etc.

I wouldn’t say it was useful for anyone looking for practical advice on overcoming procrastination or writing though as Pressfield tends to generalise most of what he says, which is fluff about beating doubt and being the hero of your own story. And the repetitive and tedious nature of the content makes for a very uninteresting read. The advice is banal self-help stuff that’s been said a million times before and Pressfield’s personal anecdotes were uninspiring and dull.

I love the Joe Rogan Experience podcast but I have no idea what Joe sees in this one. And that’s what I’d recommend for inspiration/motivation instead of this book: Joe’s podcast, particularly the episodes with Jocko Willink and Jordan Peterson.

"more than make it great, make it live"

Ένας οδηγός επιβίωσης για τους φριλάνσερς και δημιουργούς. Όποτε δε μου δίνουν κίνητρο 2-3 σελίδες για να επιστρέψω μάχιμος στην εργασία, χτυπάω απλά ολόκληρο το βιβλίο στο κεφάλι μου για να συνέλθω, και συνεχίζω ακάθεκτος.

The first 2/3 of this book were exactly the inspiration, direction, correction, and kick in the butt every person doing creative work needs. The last 1/3 was much of the same but phrased as abject nonsense. It’s short and moves fast and is well worth reading.

a) jums ir jāzina atšķirība starp steidzamo un svarīgo;
b) vispirms jums jādara tas, kas ir svarīgs
(S. Presfīlds)

Šī ir grāmata par to, kā nepalaist garām svarīgo paša dzīvē; par ceļu uz savu potenciālu un tā īstenošanu. Spēriens pa pakaļu, kas iedvesmo aizdomāties par to, kas atšķir profesionāli no amatiera, kā arī to, kas mums traucē darīt svarīgo. Par pretestību sev pašam. Par to, ka māksla ir KATRU DIENU veicams darbs. Cita ceļa, kā tikt līdz rezultātam, nav.

“Don’t the best of them bleed it out/ While the rest of them peter out?” – Foo Fighters “My Hero”




A while back I was watching a documentary about the grunge band Nirvana. Towards the end of the film, a music journalist was comparing Kurt Cobain to Dave Grohl and said, “If Kurt Cobain is the artist, Dave Grohl is the craftsman.”

This kept coming to mind when reading “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. Cobain was the tormented artist, who couldn’t handle the stresses of his own success. Grohl stuck it out and has been part of two highly successful bands and contributes to several others, regardless of commercial response.

In this book Pressfield is hard on the artist. He points out art in and of itself doesn’t just happen “when the mood strikes”. Art requires dedication.

It requires discipline.

It requires detachment not only from the art itself, but also from how the world sees the product.

It requires knowing art cannot be measured by anything tangible.

In theory, this book is about the creative process. But really it's about anything which requires commitment and perseverance. Our ego wants it easy. In reality nothing worth doing is . . .

Some of the reviews use the word “bully” to describe Pressfield’s point of view. I disagree, and I believe Pressfield is correct in his attitude regarding success at any endeavor in that professionals are dedicated, hence the term “professional”. No one in this world gets a free ride for very long.

I’d recommend this book to anyone. It’s a book about dreaming big.

It’s about knowing the saying “when God closes a door he opens a window” is kinda lame. If a door is closed, it’s just closed.

Turn the freakin’ knob!

Or decide whatever is on the other side of it isn’t worth the energy. Regardless, make a decision and live it with no regrets.

Reading this book is like fishing through a landfill site for diamonds; they're there, just buried under mountains of crap.

The central thesis is that procrastination is often harmful to our long-term success, and of this point I have no disagreement. However the majority of the book is replete with superstition, thinly veiled proselytizing, bullshit facts, and other miscellaneous woo-woo including:
* Hitler was an artist that started WWII because he was procrastinating, and, as a result of this, nobody has seen his paintings. (Seriously, Google his art. He sucked at being a decent human being but was a pretty good artist!)
* Procrastination is the root of erectile dysfunction!
* Terminal and non-terminal cancer patients go into remission because they achieve some goal that makes them happy. (This is a particularly egregious assertion!)
* People that procrastinate develop tumors and mental illness.
* If people overcame procrastination, prisons would magically empty, nobody would get cosmetic surgery or drink alcohol, pharmaceutical companies would collapse, hospitals would close, and all doctors would be out of a job! Dandruff would even cease to exist!
* When you do something to better yourselves, other people may get sick. Indeed, you may allegedly get sick as a way to avoid bettering your life.
* The author makes an unsubstantiated claim that diseases such as ADHD, seasonal affective disorder, and social anxiety disorder are not real and were invented by marketing departments and drug companies to make a quick buck.
* 70-80% of people that go to the doctor aren't sick, but are just being dramatic.
* Professionals should without question ignore any and all criticism because all criticism from others is an act of envy, rather than a tool to improve. (Oops!)
* Some mystical bullshit was the driving force behind Hamlet, the Parthenon, and Nude Descending a Staircase, not actual people.

This book is very absolutist and extremist, and fails to take into account the occasions an internal resistance to doing something is not true procrastination, but the cornerstone of good judgment and sometimes even self-preservation. The author even goes so far to say that taking care of your eight month pregnant wife is a form of procrastination! It's almost as if the author hasn't debated the ideas in this book with himself or others, but just started uncritically penning all his unfiltered thoughts into this book.

This book earned its second star for being unintentionally funny in places and for the occasional nugget of crap-coated wisdom. If you read this book, find the wisdom (there's very little), clean it up, and make a note. Discard the rest. It's a short read especially as many of the pages are half, or even two thirds empty; just keep keep your critical thinking skills switched on.

How this book got so many glowing reviews and recommendations is beyond me.

Much in line with the tone of the book, the book itself is very short. I estimate it can be read in an afternoon, but I can't verify that fact since halfway through reading it I had to put the book down because I couldn't stand not following its advices.

There exists a strange world of creating work you value, fighting the resistant forces that work against you, and remembering you only have so much time and attention before you're dead. Merlin Mann's talks fall into this category, the entire being of Andrew W.K. falls into this category, and so does The War of Art.

If you're ever looking for a book to near-literally give you a kick in the ass to start working on what you love, this is that book. By no means is it self-help, this book is purely self-reliance.