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The War Of Art: Beyond Resistance – Higher Realm

17 Nov

We have already discussed the first 2 sections of the book, Resistance:Defining the Enemy and Combating Resistance: Turning Pro. This third and final section talks about the muses and identifies the cause of Resistance through the Self and the Ego. Muses, angels, demons, geniuses, an input from the collective unconsciousness, all these Pressfield calls our allies, “equal and opposite powers…counterpoised against [Resistance].” These allies join us when we make the shift from being an amateur to a professional.

In the second section, he heavily stresses professionalism. He states the most important thing about art is work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.

“When we sit down day after day and keep grinding…The muse takes note of our dedication. She approves…we becomes like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come.”

Following this simple but powerful truth, Pressfield talks about the day he finished his first book. He finally wrote, The End. He received this sage advice from his friend Paul: “Good for you. Start the next one today.” In my words: don’t stop now, you finally have a work ethic that is producing your art.

Now: Ego and Self, and the battle between the two. Resistance has its seat in Ego. The Ego is that part of the psyche that believes in material existence, is concerned with its own preservation and comfort, with stasis and the physical, material world. The Ego likes things the way they are. It likes to be in control.

The Self, according to Pressfield, is where we grow from. This is where our dreams and ideas come from. When we meditate or pray, this is the part of ourselves we are seeking. Self is our deepest being.

Why does the Ego hate the self? According to Pressfield, its …”…because when we seat our consciousness in the Self, we put the ego out of business.” The Ego hates it when the creator sits down to create, whether it’s a book, a painting or an exercise routine. Ego hates to lose control, and tries to cripple Self. It hates creators because they are pathfinders to the future.

Pressfield ends the book with a simple call to action: listen to your Self and take action in order to find out what you were meant to do. Once you figure it out, do it like a professional. If you don’t explore and utilize your gifts, you hurt yourself and everyone around you. If you do, great; you’re sharing your gifts with the world.

Pressfield uses humor and a confident, competent demeanor in what he shares. He’s been there and done this, and wants to share the rewarding fruit he has to show for it, to encourage us to seek that fruit for ourselves. He wants us to be able to overcome our enemy, Resistance, and flourish with our own muses.

We all encounter Resistance in one form or another (fear of failure, fear of success, procrastination, avoidance, distraction, etc.). This book is an extremely easy read, and was very encouraging to me personally. I would highly recommend it for anyone facing any new project in their life. You will be surprised by the things this book reveals to you, and you will also see yourself represented in more than one situation Pressfield shares. Steven Pressfield defines the enemy, offers a strategy for overcoming it and shows us the beautiful fruit we can have as a result of our labor: A completed work, a job well done. Eventually success. It all started for him when he was finally able to write: The End.

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The War Of Art: Combating Resistance – Turning Pro

16 Nov

Today we continue my review and discussion of Steven Pressman’s book, The War of Art. Yesterday we discussed Defining Our Enemy, Resistance. Today we discuss the attributes of a pro versus an amateur. According to Pressfield, there’s no mystery about turning pro. You just make the decision and by an act of your will it is so. By turning pro, Pressfield is talking about the ideal of becoming a professional, a mindset. You make a decision to sit down and do your craft, or exercise, or whatever, NO MATTER WHAT. No matter what tries to distract you and stop you, you keep going until the day is done. You are professional in your dedication and behavior. “An amateur plays for fun, a professional for keeps.” The amateur lets a cold or minor distractions stop him. The professional knows he needs to do the work, and then get better. The amateur thinks he can quit anytime it gets tough and go back to something else. The professional doesn’t want to quit every time he hits a problem, he has discipline and determination to steady him.

Turning pro means basically to prepare a work discipline and follow it. To paraphrase Pressfield’s definition: A pro shows up every day no matter what, stays on the job all day, and is in it for the long haul. For the pro, the stakes are high. Pros accept payment for their work (even if they don’t always make an income). Pros also master the technique of their work, have a sense of humor about their jobs, and receive real-world praise or blame. He explains the hangovers and colds and other things as excuses we use to deflect ourselves from our purpose and from fulfilling our call. An added benefit, if you really love what you do, you will be like a child who looks up from their activities to be surprised to find that it’s time for supper.

Also, Pressfield makes a point that we are not to get our identity from the thing we are trying to create. You are still you. Your work should be work, not you. Aside from your calling, your life’s work, you should have an identity that stands alone. If you only have an identity in whatever you are trying to create, you leave yourself vulnerable to the attacks that will come. You will take it all personally and it should never be that way. Your work is what is being attacked, and you should be able to stand back and defend it objectively. Do not over invest your emotional well being in your success or failure. I think this is a common mistake made.

You, Inc. – Pressman also brings up the benefits of making yourself a corporation. Even if you only think of yourself in this way it can reinforce the idea of professionalism in your work because it separates the artist-doing-the-work from the consciousness-running-the-show. I love his idea of having status meetings with himself. In corporate America, we have a status meeting every Monday morning, decide on a plan of action and who will take care of what part of that plan, then divvy out the assignments, type it up and distribute it to the various participants. He has one of those meetings with himself every Monday. He sits down and goes over his assignments, decides when to be responsible for what, and types it up and distributes it to himself. Sometimes as Joe-blow he is too intimidated to go out and pimp himself, but as Joe-blow Inc, he enjoys the pimping. He’s not him anymore. He’s Me, Inc.

Join me tomorrow for the final conclusions of the third portion of this book, Beyond Resistance – Higher Realm. Until then, Angela

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The War Of Art: Resistance – Defining the Enemy

15 Nov

I recently put a discussion of this book together for our networking group and will be sharing my notes and ideas over the next 3 days. So, with out further ado, let’s jump to it!

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu coined the famous phrase ‘know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.’

In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield launches into a similar discussion, In the first section we will discover our enemy: Resistance. The second section discusses our means for combat: Turning Pro. In the third and final section we will see that the battle is between our Self and our Ego.

Resistance – Defining the Enemy

This is the first of 3 sections Pressfield shares with us on what he considers to be the enemy of the creator. Resistance is an internal force, the ‘enemy within.’ Defined as self-sabotage, resistance usually manifests as avoidance, procrastination, or inaction caused by fear which creates paralysis. Resistance, according to Pressfield, is invisible, insidious, implacable, internal, impersonal and universal. He elaborates on each of these adjectives (and more), unafraid to use a clever metaphor or simile to illustrate a point. For example, in the section ‘Resistance is infallible, Pressfield writes:

“Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North-meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing.”

Pressfield goes on to point out Resistance in its many guises: the way peers may be recruited as allies of Resistance when an artist starts to conquer Resistance; the people around her “begin acting strange…they are trying to sabotage her” because they are experiencing Resistance of their own. They may begin to feel guilty for not trying to reach their own potential To make themselves feel better, they pressure her either directly or indirectly to backslide. In my case, I have a couple of people who point out how hard I work, don’t I need to take some me time? That sort of thing….

Resistance also encourages the artist’s tendency to quit at 99%, procrastinating work in order to not face completion of their work. Completion opens our work up to our peers for review and examination of others. He states that Resistance has no power of its own, only power it receives from our fear.

Any one reading it will be able to identify where Resistance has dug it’s claws in at one time or another with many of his examples and definitions.

I want to point out that nowhere in his book does Pressfield address the Resistance we also face via the internet, email, Facebook, etc. In one section he mentions completely missing Watergate because he was too busy writing. Apparently he is able to focus on his work so strongly these things that distract many of us have no appeal to him.

In tomorrow’s post we will be: Combating Resistance – Turning Pro. See you then! Angela

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Writing Wells Running Dry?

01 Oct

This is a review of a book I recently found, The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith. I have been looking for ideas and inspiration to help get me back in my posting groove. I found this book at the library, and thought I was checking out a book that might give me some ideas to use for posts, but what I found was much more useful. Marion Roach Smith has in my opinion written a very helpful how-to book. Writing a memoir is just the example she uses, but as she also points out her storytelling technique can be used for really any form of writing. I am intrigued. The following are a few excerpts and ideas that I have picked up so far.

The quotes shared really struck a note with me. Flannery O’Connor said that anyone who survives childhood has enough material to write for the rest of her life. You need to learn how to dig among your stuff to get what you need. I have been more of a raker than a digger. Reading this book makes digging sound a whole lot more interesting. William Maxwell, the fiction editor of the New Yorker for 40+ years, believed that to write, all you need is to remember the slam of your childhood home’s screen door. Write about what you know. It’s like Dorothy’s ruby-red shoes, you’ve had it on you all the time. It’s what you’re doing with those details that’s the problem. A memoir should not be a volume of facts about your life, you don’t need to share the color of the paint on the door that slams and whether or not it is a glass or screen door. Share the memory the slam triggers, not a description of the door.

Another point shared is what Ernest Hemingway taught us in the last century: what you leave out of the story is perhaps more important than what you put in. It does me no good to know someone’s height, weight and eye color if those details do not drive the story forward. Again, writing a memoir does not require studious and accurate facts.

To write with intent, the author adds that you must also, “Be hospitable.” You must create an atmosphere you can sit down and write in regularly. Prepare a clean writing area and use it, regularly. This is not the place for your past due taxes, bills or other distracting things that weigh on you. This is a place that is well lit, maybe with that cute little lamp you bought on Ebay. It is also, as stated before, to be clean. I have read this from several other tipsters as well, Darren Rowse from ProBlogger for one. Then, at a designated regular time each day, report for work. Create an environment that helps you write, not distracts you from it.

This is my new assignment. I have my lovely new sewing desk, but apparently this has not been the place for me to sit down to write. But I do have a nice nook beside it that if I clean it up and keep it clean I could use. I think I will be doing that shortly.

Marion Roach Smith also suggests a tip from her husband that I really like: buy a small pack of inexpensive spiral pocket notebooks. Start taking in your landscape, wherever you are, make a note of ideas while they are fresh in your mind. Turn the notebook sideways to jot down ideas about the why and where. Turn it vertically to report the who, what, when and where of a topic. These simple triggers help you connect with those screen door slams and childhood survival skills, they become your triggers to connect with the idea and bring it back to life in an article, blog post, etc. We have all had memory triggers hit us with various things: scents and smells, taste and touch. Maybe the way someone holds their head when they are speaking to us. Using the notebooks in the way described can trigger us when writing out the ideas as well.

Writing a memoir is about telling the truth. Whose truth? We won’t remember most things that happened to us the way our sister or our aunt will. Powerful phrases to use are: “Here’s how I see it,” or “Here’s how I felt,” or “Here’s how it happened to me.” Make no claim that yours is the only version of the truth. It is just your version. Roach Smith uses examples of Emily Dickinson’s poetry to explain her definition of writing your truth. Basically, tell your memoir from your point of view, not trying to claim that yours in the only view there is.

I would highly recommend this book. It has a way of jogging things loose and giving you ideas beyond what you would expect. I’ll let you know if I learn anything else.

On an unrelated side note, today is one of several binary calendar days we are having this year: 10/01/11. Since I am dating Binary Man, I thought I would mention it. Thanks, Angela