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It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.

Steven Pressfield

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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Amateur Glory Hereslf Mystery Occupation Professional Talk Work
Ignorance and arrogance are the artist’s and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.”
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Arrogant Artist Believe Difficult Enough Entrepreneur Herself Ignorance
Slay that dragon once, and he will never have power over you again.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Fantasy Fight Inspirational Win Yourself
The opposite of fear is love – love of the challenge, love of the work, the pure joyous passion to take a shot at our dream and see if we can pull it off.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Challenge Dreams Fear Joy Love Ourselves Passion See Work
We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we’re stuck with it.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Destiny Personal Stuck World
Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Imagination Job Life Ourselves Philosophy Time
The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Artist Believe Fear Freedom Professional Warrior Work
If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Cure Destroy Fusion Hurt Planet Symphony Writing Yourself
Figure out what scares you the most and do that first.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Act Brave Fear Inspirational Scare Yourself
The professional will not tolerate disorder… He wants the carpet vacuumed and the threshold swept, so the Muse may enter and not soil her gown.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Appearance Clothes Professional Tolerance
In my experience, depth of work consists of two components. The first is recklessness; the second is discipline.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Death Discipline Experience Work
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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Alone Army Legs Man Production Strength Victory Win
When we’re living as amateurs, we’re running away from our calling – meaning our work, our destiny, the obligation to become our truest and highest selves.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Amateur Call Live Meaning Run True Work
The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Confidence Death Reality Scare Wild
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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Enterprise Fear Feeling Growth Important Ourselves Soul
It’s one thing to lie to ourselves. It’s another thing to believe it.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Believe Lying Ourselves

It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.

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It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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