Friday, February 26, 2021
Resistance with a capital R, that force of self-sabotage, will try to stop you as a writer or an artist or anybody from achieving your best work, from following your calling, will try to distract you, undermine your self-confidence, make you procrastinate, make you quit, make you give into fear, or, on the other hand, make you such a perfectionist that you spend all day on one paragraph and you accomplish nothing. The concept of little successes, or of a routine, is to help you overcome that Resistance.
— Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield (@SPressfield), a former Marine and graduate of Duke University, became an overnight success as a writer after 30 years of abject failure. Identifying the omnipresence of “Resistance,” the interior force of self-sabotage he described in The War of Art, has saved his own artistic life and has helped many others struggling to find their creative calling. Steven’s novels of the ancient world, including the nonfiction The Warrior Ethos, are required reading at West Point, Annapolis, and in the Marine Corps. He lives in Los Angeles.
His new book is A Man at Arms, an epic saga about a reluctant hero, the Roman Empire, and the rise of a new faith.
Please enjoy!
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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
Want to hear an episode with another prolific wordsmith? Lend an ear to my conversation with Joyce Carol Oates in which we discuss creative processes and obstacles, the joy of revision, the truth about “final” drafts, the relationship between quantity and enduring quality of one’s work, writing for contemporaries over posterity, and much more.
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
- Connect with Steven Pressfield:
Website | Twitter | Instagram
- A Man at Arms: A Novel by Steven Pressfield
- The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
- The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield
- The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life by Steven Pressfield
- Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: And Other Tough-Love Truths to Make You a Better Writer by Steven Pressfield
- The Artist’s Journey: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning by Steven Pressfield
- Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work by Steven Pressfield
- Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way by Steven Pressfield
- Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield
- Tides of War: A Novel of Alcibiades and the Peloponnesian War by Steven Pressfield
- The Afghan Campaign: A Novel by Steven Pressfield
- The Lion’s Gate: On the Front Lines of the Six-Day War by Steven Pressfield
- Mary Oliver Reads Her Beloved Poem “Wild Geese” | Brain Pickings
- Durham, NC
- Toddle House | Restaurant-ing Through History
- 4 Copywriting Lessons From John Caples’ Tested Advertising Methods | Maverick Words
- Benton & Bowles | Wikipedia
- The Power of Myth — The Hero’s Adventure with Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers | The Tim Ferriss Show
- How to Undertake the Artist’s Journey | Steven Pressfield, tim.blog
- Odyssey’s End?: The Search for Ancient Ithaca | Smithsonian Magazine
- Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr
- Star Wars: A New Hope | Prime Video
- Mapping Luke Skywalker’s Hero’s Journey | Fandom
- The Wizard of Oz | Prime Video
- Rocky | Prime Video
- Alien | Prime Video
- Jaws | Prime Video
- The Chestburster Scene in Alien (1979) | Illustrated Fiction
- Steven Pressfield on Writing Exercises, Muses, Lucky Charms, and Beating The Resistance | Writing Routines
- Stephen Curry Full Resistance Band Rehab Workout with Steve Nash | Basketball Pros Workouts
- Writing Wednesdays: “He’s a Winner” | Steven Pressfield
- Gold’s Gym | Venice, CA
- The Daily Routines of 12 Famous Writers | James Clear
- Russian Author Vladimir Nabokov Writing in His Car, Ithaca, New York | Getty Images
- Free Solo | Prime Video
- “I Only Write When Inspiration Strikes. Fortunately, It Strikes at Nine Every Morning.” | Quote Investigator
- The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp
- Maya Angelou’s Writing Process | Writers Write
- Hotel Vitale | San Francisco, CA
- Rationalist Aikido Trick | LessWrong
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
- Ernest Hemingway on Writing by Larry W. Phillips
- Henry Miller on Writing by Henry Miller
- The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne
- Story Grid
- Black Irish Books
- What It Takes: Genre Management by Shawn Coyne | Steven Pressfield
- Genre’s Five Leaf Clover | Story Grid
- 5-Bullet Friday | Tim Ferriss
- Harley Finkelstein — Tactics and Strategies from Shopify, the Future of Retail, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show
- An Urgent Plea to Users of Psychedelics: Let’s Consider a More Ethical Menu of Plants and Compounds | Tim Ferriss
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
- Writing Wednesdays: Self-Talk and Self-Sabotage | Steven Pressfield
- The Jungian Model of the Psyche | Journal Psyche
- The 4 Major Jungian Archetypes | Verywell Mind
- Jung and the Numinosum | Jungian Center for the Spiritual Sciences
- Self-Realization Fellowship
- Writing Wednesdays: Resistance Wakes Up With Me | Steven Pressfield
- The Bhagavad Gita | Philosophy in the Humanities
- Bhishma as a Symbol for the “Great Ego” | Symbolism in the Mahabharata Ep. 3 | Saiganesh Sairaman
- What an Ayahuasca Retreat Showed Me About My Life | Vox
- Writing Wednesdays: [Shadow Careers and] More From “Turning Pro” | Steven Pressfield
- Fear-Setting: The Most Valuable Exercise I Do Every Month | Tim Ferriss
- Premeditatio Malorum | Daily Stoic
- Original Manuscript for Gates of Fire | Steven Pressfield, Instagram
- Prayer to Overcome the Yetzer Hara | Hebrew for Christians
- The Sand Sea by Michael McClellan
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Tim Ferriss
SHOW NOTES
- During tough times, Steven lived behind a house for $15 a month and befriended a backwoods cat. How did this cat become his role model, and what circumstances led to their friendship? [07:27]
- Steven’s theory about halfway houses and the people you’ll find there (which for a time included him). [14:21]
- From a resume more eclectic than most, what job stands out as being especially formative for Steven’s eventual pivot to writer? [15:55]
- Common examples of Steven’s self-sabotage in the working world, and how a caring mentor helped him up and shook him out of this destructive pattern. [18:18]
- After 30 years of what Steven calls “abject failure,” Steven published his first novel when he was in his early 50s. Where did he pick up his wordsmithing skills, and how did make the transition from blue-collar truck driver to successful novelist? [23:11]
- What did Steven pick up from his time as a copywriter in the world of advertising? [26:25]
- How does the hero’s journey, as coined by Joseph Campbell, differ from what Steven considers to be the artist’s journey? [31:39]
- During his own hero’s journey, what did Steven’s refusal of the call look like compared to that of other notable figures from ancient and modern mythology? [37:16]
- How did Steven go from a refusal of the call that ended in an act of self-destruction and an unfinished novel to becoming a prolific writer? [41:07]
- Finishing a first novel is a major feat, but getting it published is another thing altogether. How did he make it happen? Like most modern literary adventures, there’s a detour through Hollywood. [43:52]
- How Steven’s morning routine gives him the momentum to write with what his friend Randy calls a “little successes” approach. [50:33]
- What does Steven’s exercise routine look like? [53:22]
- The writing process that works well for Joyce Carol Oates probably wouldn’t work at all for Steven. How should someone think about developing a routine for their own creative process? [54:15]
- Recommended books on the writing process — including one that integrates the editor’s mindset to keep things on track. [1:00:43]
- Steven’s advice for overcoming “Resistance with a capital R” when we feel like anything we create today will never match (let alone exceed) what we created yesterday. [1:05:24]
- Why does Steven believe Resistance with a capital R exists? What purpose could it possibly serve? [1:10:11]
- What is a shadow career, and what’s Steven’s advice to someone who finds themselves in one (and is willing to acknowledge it)? [1:15:43]
- What compelled Steven to write his latest work of historical fiction, A Man at Arms? For that matter, what compels Steven to write fiction? [1:23:10]
- What distinguishes the stories that come fast and easy from the hard slogs, and what might I gain from testing the waters of fiction writing? [1:28:13]
- Fear-setting from an Israeli fighter pilot’s perspective. [1:32:59]
- What is the yetzer hara? [1:34:22]
- How should I best prepare to “go big” as an aspiring fiction writer? [1:37:36]
- What would Steven’s billboard say? [1:44:25]
- Parting thoughts. [1:46:07]
PEOPLE MENTIONED
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