Rousing Review: The War of Art!
“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 & become it.” – Steven Pressfield
It’s the first in my monthly Rousing Reviews series! OK, it’s technically the second (I reviewed The Renaissance Soul in June of ‘09, so that totally counts, right?), but it’s the first on a consistent basis. Let’s face it, our lives sometimes get in the way, & it’s tough to sit down with a book that you know will do ya a world of good, both for yourself & your fans/readers/followers/clients. So yes, this series is absolutely a structure I set-up for myself to make me accountable to read the books that I’ve been tagging along the way. See, I life coach myself sometimes! And duh – obviously I do this for you kids, too (say it with me: “Awwwwww!”).
I wanted to start off the series with The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield because it’s really a hell of a title. What artist wouldn’t want to go into battle, break through their creative roadblocks, & emerge victorious with the Writer’s Block Vampire’s head on a stick? And while I’d like to say that that’s what this book does, I can’t. Not to say it won’t help slay that Vampire, but it’s more about discovering all the ways the Vampire’s likely to attack you & instilling yourself with the mojo to make it not only not bite you, but to get it to leave you the hell alone, at least until tomorrow.
Let me explain. The War of Art is split into three books: Resistance (Defining the Enemy) Combating Resistance (Turning Pro) & Beyond Resistance (Higher Realm). As you can tell, Resistance is the Vampire here. The long & short of it is that every single thing that causes a creative person to shelve their creativity – whether it’s perfectionism, addiction, procrastination, or the million other excuses a creative person gives themselves to not do – is a direct weapon of Resistance. For me, Book One was eye-opening, powerful, & worth the price of the book a few times over. When I flipped the page to Book Two, I may or may not have clutched it to my chest & said to myself, “You will be beaten & dog-eared when I’m through with you.” And then I may or may not have kissed it. I couldn’t help it – hearing about all the different Vampires that get in the way of making Art, why, it was a wonder that any Art exists at all! The whole reason Resistance exists is to “shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work” & “the more call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel towards pursuing it.” How evil is that? It’s so evil that the more we discover something that’s authentically us, that’s calling us to do it, the more it attempts to stop us! That is so, so evil that I not only wanted it’s head on a stick, I wanted to chop it up into pieces & then stomp it to double death! Seriously, it pissed me off.
I’m ready, then, to find my weapon. How do I stop this evil monster? I must need a gun, an axe, a dagger, a…..wait, what? The only thing I need to do is do my work every day? That’s it? And not worry about how good it’ll turn out to be, or how much of it will get done, or where it’s gonna take me….I just need to sit down & do it? And then the Resistance Vampire is dead, at least until tomorrow? Well, that’s pretty awesome. I thought I’d have to lift iron or something & get big Buffy muscles….
In Books Two & Three, the author (who wrote The Leggend of Bagger Vance, amongst other things) goes into what we should be doing to get our work done (show up every day, stay there all day, be committed in the long-term, make money from it), how to be a professional about it (be prepared, ask for help, don’t show off), & how the angels get called around us when we do our work to empower us (it’s written less hippy-dippy than that, but it’s still fairly hippy-dippy stuff). It’s totally valid & worthwhile & really good stuff. But what I wanted, both as a Creative & as a life coach, was more tangible stuff to do. I wanted homework! I wanted to read about exercises & things I could do to help me not only change my mindset (which Mr Pressfield already helped me do), but to break my bad habits & allow me to get to work, strong enough to slay a fresh Vampire daily & beat that big bitch, Resistance.
Since I am that life coach, I’ll take this into my own hands & offer you these exercises, whether you read the book or not (but seriously, read the book. It would be an extremely worthwhile afternoon for you, as the book takes about 2-3 hours to read cover to cover):
- If you’re having trouble self-motivating & want the support of being part of a group that vows to be creative every day, then join, uh, Creative Every Day! While mostly geared towards artists, you could also write around the topics that are suggested every month, or write songs about them, or dance to ‘em…you get the point. You can also make a commitment to blog every month by joining NaBloPoMo (join anytime!) or mark your calendars for November & resolve to write that novel that’s in your head by joining NaNoWriMo!
- Go easy on yourself. If being creative every day is too daunting (Mama’s gotta put food on the table, after all!), then let yourself off the hook & commit to X amount of time every week to your Art, even if it’s 15 minutes. I have a client who committed to doing 15-20 minutes of music each week, & when I asked her about how it went, she laughed at me. “15 minutes?! I did twice that the first day!” Yup, you might get swept away and/or find your groove & blow that number out of the water, but even if you don’t, you’re taking baby steps to get there. And even better – figure out a prize to give yourself every week that goal gets met. Kindergarden teachers have it right – those gold stars are really motivating!
- Answer this: How does Resistance work it’s evil way into your life? Write down all the weapons it throws at ya, & write down all the antidotes you can think of to slay it. Or draw what the Resistance Vampire looks like, labeling all of it’s evil bits & pieces, & then draw you, all Buffy-fied & kicking it’s ass. Sweet revenge.
- The author writes, “The years have taught me one skill: How to be miserable. I know how to shut up & keep humping.” Well, I write: “Screw that!” Make your creativity session as awesome as possible. Put on your favorite music. Light the orange ginger scented candle you love. Kiss that photo of your hot husband before you start. Seriously – you are not being tortured here! Find the fun & why you’re called to do this in the first place.
- On a sheet of paper, write “I am a ___________” 25 times, & then write “I’m meant to _______________” ten times. In a stream of consciousness exercise, fill in the blanks. No censoring! When every line is full, go through them one by one. If something doesn’t feel like it’s coming from you, or isn’t aligned with your values, strengths or passions, cross it out. What’s left? That’s a start to help you discover “who you are & become it”, like the quote at the top of the review says.
Have you read the book? If not, do you wanna? Do you agree with my Rousing Review, or should I go shove it? Please share your thoughts, insights, suggestions & awesomeness in the comments section. I’ll give you a topic: “Steven Pressfield is neither a printing press nor a field – discuss!”
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February 4th, 2010 at 4:37 am
Michelle, are you also awake at 4:37 AM, or is this a scheduled post? I want to feel less alone!
xo
February 4th, 2010 at 9:08 am
I love your review! And that is one of my favorite books. Reading it can be very inspiring and make you ready to run out and overcome Resistance. Thanks for the exercises – they are thought-provoking.
I agree with you that it’s best to go into creative sessions with the idea that they will hopefully be fun, and make them as fun as possible. I think what the author might be getting at though is that expecting them to be fun all the time can get in the way and easily turn into an excuse not to do the work.
I’ve worked with clients who want to know how to motivate themselves. I think part of truly getting things done is to move beyond the need for motivation sometimes and do important things because you promised yourself you would at a certain time, not because you feel like it just then. Not ALWAYS because that would be soul-killing and a sign that maybe you’re doing the wrong stuff or something else is wrong about your process, but sometimes… because if you expect it to always be fun, and wait to sit down until it feels like it *will* be fun, you probably won’t get the kind of consistent pattern going that trains the subconscious to get the creative energy welling up more consistently… which in the long run is part of what will make it not only fun, but fulfilling.
Also, sometimes creation is just hard. Sometimes it feels like pushing or struggling through a block or slogging in the rain. Sometimes you are learning new technical skills and going through a period where you seem to suck at them for a while. This kind of struggle brings its own fulfillment and joy, but it’s more subtle than the kind you get when in the throes of delighted inspiration. I think you have to sit with that discomfort over time to start to understand why it’s worthwhile to push through it and truly do your work each day (or week or whatever).
Hmm, I sense a blog post of my own coming up
February 4th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Great review! I might be a bit daft, but I thought you didn’t like this book (based on past convos)? It seems (but I might have the tone wrong) that you did like it in this review.
Either way, I haven’t read it personally, but the idea of “just keep doing the work” reminds me of the Elizabeth Gilbert speech on TED. Love. That. Speech.
Hope you are having a great day lady!
February 4th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
@Meggy – I feel like I should lie & say yes, but I wasn’t – I schedule these posts to go up early in the morning. I’d like to say that I’m a morning person/early riser, but that would be the biggest lie. I LOVE my sleep!
@Thekla – So much great insight today! I totally see your point about not-having-the-work-be-fun leading to not-doing-the-work, & the author saying, “Suck it up & do it anyway! No excuse!” but that still doesn’t sit exactly right with me. In that case, I’d say to set a timer & torture yourself to work for just 15 minutes, or just 30 minutes – & if you don’t find your groove, then you have the OK to move on with your day (but come back tomorrow)!. That is sort of the opposite of what the author says, but I can’t imagine that torturing yourself is going to lead to any sort of enlightened creativity. And YES, I think you do need to figure out the “why” of it all (Why did I commit to this? What does it give me?) before you can commit to the “how.”
@Jess LC – I know I mentioned the book during our Spring taping, & now that I remember what you said I could see where you would think that. There’s a part of the book where the author says that you don’t need support to succeed – that on your deathbed there’s really no use for all the people huddling around, waving at you. I understand what he means – that you can only rely on yourself – but I really disagree that being unsupported is not a hindrance to success. Not to say that it’s impossible to succeed without the support of others, but I think it makes it exponentially harder. I would recommend the book for the first part alone, though. Loved those first 30-someodd pages! And YES I love that speech too! Book 3 of The War of Art touches on muses & the like, so there’s a very similar way of thinking there. (Any readers who haven’t seen the video, stop reading now & go!)
February 5th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Michelle, that makes a lot of sense to me. It’s another of those areas where there’s a balance to be struck – disciplining yourself to do the work, but to a certain point. I agree that forcing it to the point of torturing yourself isn’t likely to be useful. Rousing though the book is, I always hesitated to adopt its philosophies fully because I don’t see resistance as the enemy. It’s a part of me that I try to love just as I try to love other dark parts of me, even when it’s not convenient. That doesn’t mean I always do what the resistance wants, but it doesn’t mean I always force it to do what I want, either.
Resistance to me is more like my inner child acting out, rebelling or having a tantrum. Sometimes the best response is to force that inner child to do what it needs to do anyway because it’s important, but sometimes that voice needs to be soothed or listened to instead, or needs you to find a better way to work with it. And a pattern of too much acting out all the time that goes on for long periods would suggest an underlying problem that needs to be addressed. Pushing back on resistance is often necessary, but I totally agree that the tactic has limits.
February 5th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Love this book. I’ve read it through a few times, and plan to keep in on permanent rotation in the stack by the bed. I think what I like so much was not on having my eyes opened about what is resistance, but being able to give myself permission to just not engage in Resistance particularly when it’s coming from other (well-meaning) people.
February 6th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Michelle,
This book, seriously, changed my life. It got me through Grad School as Resistance was kicking my ass to the point of tears. It got me to finally get my site up, and it’s gotten me through nearly every head-meet-wall banging experience that life’s thrown at me since I discovered it a couple of years ago. I can’t understate how critical it’s been to my success. And if you need an endorsement for your endorsement, I’ll send along pictures of my copy; yellow, dog-eared, tattered, underlined, and abused. All done with love. Thanks for helping to spread the word.
Best,
Adrian
ps. If you haven’t picked it up yet, try Seth Godin’s LINCHPIN. Along the same lines, and in fact, he references TWOA quite a bit.
February 8th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
@Thekla – I love the image of your Resistance being a little kid, & while you usually embrace it, if it misbehaves you put it in Time Out. Resistance totally looks like Dennis the Menace.
@Erin – I like, too, that Resistance can be a good excuse to give yourself to listen to yourself. Anything that helps dim the static of outside influences (which always leads to a case of the Shoulds) is A-OK in my book!
@Adrian – Oh yeah, Linchpin is absolutely on my list. Have to ask you, though – what was it about TWOA that kicked your ass? I found that the writing was really motivating & got me riled-up at times – but how did you translate that into action? Would love to hear more from you, as obviously this book has meant quite a lot to you! Thanks so much for your comment.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:04 pm
I like to get out a bunch of different papers and just start playing with them and see what develops. I like making my own postcards and envelopes for letters as well as bookbinding.