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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.

Steven Pressfield

The amateur tweets. The pro works.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Amateur Effort Master One Liner 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
Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Life Live Resistance Stand
We feed it [Resistance] with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Feed Food Resistance
Those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Government Master
A cavalryman’s horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be allowed to know this.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Animal Home Man Smart
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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Born Defeat Impossible Resistance Success Support Time
The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Call Scare Work
Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Resistance Work Yourself
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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Artist Believe Effort Inspirational Life Production
The professional does not wait for inspiration; he acts in anticipation of it.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Act Himself Inspirational Professional Wait
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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Exploration Himself Professional Project Water
To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Born Limitation Ourselves Resistance Spirit Worth
This man has conquered the world! What have you done?” The philosopher replied without an instant’s hesitation, “I have conquered the need to conquer the world.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Deep Hesitation Man Myself Need Philosophy World
Fear doesn’t go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Artist Battle Code Day Fear Live Necessary Warrior
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.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Act Attention Cheating Contribution Creativity Yourself
Resistance is greatest just before the finish line.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

End Greatness Inspirational Resistance Success
Do you love your idea? Does it feel right on instinct? Are you willing to bleed for it?
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Blood Feeling Ideas Inspirational Love Right Yourself
Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Genius Resistance Shadow Sun
When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Authentic Beginning Crazy Drive Live Ourselves See
What finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Happiness Myself Simplicity
Long-term, we must begin to build our internal strengths. It isn’t just skills like computer technology. It’s the old-fashioned basics of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-reinforcement, self-discipline, self-command.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Basic Build Computer Discipline Motivational Strength Technology
The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Artist Best Inspirational Service
Don’t prepare, do. Don’t let Resistance sucker you into wasting months on background, foundation, planning. All that can come later.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Foundation Preparation Resistance Wasted Time
Stay stupid. Follow your unconventional crazy heart.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Crazy Heart Stay Stupidity Yourself
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
Resistance by definition is self-sabotage.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD

Definition Destruction Myself Resistance

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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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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Popular Authors

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