There’s nothing like a deadline to motivate a writer to get their work done. I added another 20,000 words to the manuscript since my last newsletter, and I’m pretty much done with the first draft of Blake Jordan #10 with a goal to release it by 12/31 this year.
I try to read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield every couple of years. But my favorite time to read it is when I’m at the very end of a novel I need to finish. If you’re a creative person, especially a writer, what Pressfield teaches about ‘Resistance’ is really helpful.
Resistance is what keeps us from doing what we long to do. It’s what convinces us that we’ll start that diet “tomorrow,” or write the great American novel “next year,” or start that business we always wanted to have “someday,” just not today. It’s self-sabotage.
And it’s evil. Because it keeps us from doing the thing we were really meant to do.
What’s interesting is how Resistance only kicks in when you decide to make progress towards the things you feel called to do. Big goals that can’t be accomplished in a day. The things you have to work on day after day, week after week, month after month.
Want to land a job as a telemarketer? Go for it. Resistance will let that one slide.
Want to land your dream job? Or get an MBA? Or write a book or lose 40 pounds?
Resistance will let you get started. But it won’t let you finish. Not without a fight…
None of us really know this. We think it’s us. We don’t have the discipline to do big things. We can’t focus long enough, or control our eating, or get organized enough. Nobody ever teaches us that we’re not the problem. Resistance is the problem. Not us.
The best way I’ve found to overcome Resistance is to trick it. Don’t tell yourself you’re writing a novel. Tell yourself you’re just going to write a thousand words today. For fun. You’re not starting a business. You’re just going to set up a business checking account. You’re not going to lose 40 pounds. You’re just going to drink your coffee black today.
Resistance will go back to sleep. Your goals are in check. You’re okay being mediocre. As long as Resistance thinks you’ve given up on your goals, he’ll give up on his, too.
But one day, Resistance will wake up to find our daily tasks built a thriving business… those daily health choices have helped you lose the weight… and those thousand words have added up and the novel is done. And Resistance will let you win this round.
He’ll go back to sleep and save his energy for the next big idea you come up with.
Know your enemy,
And know yourself,
And you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.
And it will take a hundred battles to accomplish anything big. But it’ll be worth it. -Ken