In my experience, depth of work consists of two components. The first is recklessness; the second is discipline.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
More Steven Pressfield Quotes
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The professional tackles the project that will make him stretch. He takes on the assignment that will bear him into uncharted waters, compel him to explore unconscious parts of himself. Is he scared? Hell, yes. He’s petrified.
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Seeking support from friends and and family is like having people gathered around at your deathbed. It’s nice, but when the ship sails, all they can do is stand on the dock waving goodbye.
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Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experince it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential… Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.
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The amateur tweets. The pro works.
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When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own.
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The artist cannot look to others to validate his efforts or his calling. If you don’t believe me, ask Van Gogh, who produced masterpiece after masterpiece and never found a buyer in his whole life.
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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.
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Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
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The sign of the amateur is overglorification of and preoccupation with the mystery. The professional shuts up. She doesn’t talk about it. She does her work.
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The Spartans say that any army may win while it still has legs under it; the real test comes when all strength is fled and the men must produce victory on will alone.
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Defeating Resistance is like giving birth. It seems absolutely impossible until you remember that women have been pulling it off successfully, with support and without, for fifty million years.
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It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior’s life.
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Resistance is greatest just before the finish line.
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It’s one thing to lie to ourselves. It’s another thing to believe it.
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Don’t prepare, do. Don’t let Resistance sucker you into wasting months on background, foundation, planning. All that can come later.
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Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work.
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I wrote in the War of Art that I could divide my life neatly into two parts: before turning pro and after. After is better.
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Do you love your idea? Does it feel right on instinct? Are you willing to bleed for it?
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The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.
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The professional respects his craft. He does not consider himself superior to it. He recognizes the contributions of those who have gone before him. He apprentices himself to them.
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Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.
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Research can become Resistance. We want to work, not prepare to work.
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Playing the game for money produces the proper professional attitude. It inculcates the lunch-pail state of mind that shows up for work despite rain or snow or dark of night and slugs it out day after day.
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Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance.
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Don’t prepare. Begin. Our enemy is not lack of preparation. The enemy is resistance, our chattering brain producing excuses. Start before you are ready.
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What finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD