I recently read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and found it to be one of the most motivating books I have read. While many self-help and productivity books focus on multi-step systems or actionable frameworks (which I do appreciate as well), Pressfield’s book takes a different approach and keeps it simple by focusing on a single idea: overcoming resistance and doing the work.
Pressfield’s book is divided into three sections: Resistance: Defining the Enemy, Combating Resistance:Turning Pro, and Beyond Resistance: the Higher Realm. The war Pressfield describes is a war against resistance, described as a pernicious enemy that will do anything to prevent us from expressing our true selves. Within each of the three sections are short chapters, essentially mini-essays, that either tell a story or provide advice for overcoming resistance.
Resistance Defined
Pressfield characterizes resistance as a sneaky creature that will do anything to get in the way of our most important work. While the book focuses on writers, the concepts are useful to anyone who has a goal or dream but is struggling to take a step forward. For me, I had been writing posts and setting up my website, but was still hesitant to share my articles on LinkedIn. I was worried about how people in my work circles would perceive me and whether I even had the right to publish. In addition, I didn’t feel ready to face negative feedback. Pressfield helped me understand the ways resistance was trying to get in my way. Shortly after reading his book, I published my first article on LinkedIn.
With this new awareness, I now see resistance everywhere. Even prior to writing this review, I heard the whisper of resistance in my ear: Why write a review of this book? Who is going to read it? What is the purpose? Does this fit your blog? Resistance makes pursuing our goals difficult, showing itself as fear of criticism, fear of going public, or even minor discomforts that conveniently become excuses to avoid our most important work.
You Inc. and Professionalism
A chapter that particularly resonated with me was “You, Inc.” In this chapter, Pressfield recommends that we think of ourselves as a corporation in order to separate the creator (writer, blogger, artist) from the person. This not only encourages professionalism, but also removes ego from the equation. If we face criticism of our work, we can think of it as the corporation taking criticism, and as an employee of that corporation we don’t need to take it personally, just as we wouldn’t take it personally if we worked for an organization that was facing criticism. Pressfield encourages us to remember that our work does not define us as individuals, and we can put it out there on its own merits.
This is helpful when we identify too strongly with our work – having some separation can be a good thing. Considering that all of this fear is another form of resistance showing itself, I found the concept of You, Inc. to be powerful in overcoming resistance and moving forward.
Moving Forward
Reading The War of Art came at exactly the right time for me, as for a long time I had the unfulfilled goal of posting an article on LinkedIn and facing the criticism I was so afraid of. Sure enough, after writing my most recent article I did post it, knowing that the fear was just resistance getting to me. And everything turned out fine – no criticism, just a few kind comments about the article. If anything, now I want more people to read my work and I do not feel afraid of them pushing back on my ideas. I highly recommend this book for anyone who needs a push forward.
Scott Reindl 