@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.

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.

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.

@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!)

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!

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

xo