Books I love: The War of Art
This book has a very special place in my heart. In fact, if I hadn’t come across the ideas in this book, I can guarantee that this blog would not exist.
This book is Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art.
It is awesome. Concise. If put into practice, the ideas are life-changing.
The first time I read this book (and I read it every year), this line hit me full in the chest:
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
The author then goes on to detail what Resistance (with a capital R) looks like, and the types of things that can induce it to appear. Resistance, the book advises, is the only enemy. To defeat an enemy, you have to know how it operates.
Resistance, in this book, is a personified force aiming to limit your full expression as a human. For creative people, this force is widely known. Take “writer’s block”. Or the sudden appearance of stage fright after years of performance. (I personally struggle with facing the virgin page of a blank sketchbook or a new word document.)
Make no mistake. This is not an airy-fairy, feel-good book. In fact, it’s what you read, not to feel better, but to find out how to be better. It’s an explanation for why things get tough just as you make up your mind to do something important.
It’s gritty. It’s practical. It’s a reminder that rolling up your sleeves and becoming a professional is better than the imagined comforts of Resistance. Because ultimately, when we fall for the ploys of this clever adversary, we actually end up feeling like crap.
Steven crafts a case for the existence of Resistance using vivid short stories and pithy one-liners. When you read this book, you may have several moments where you face-palm as you recognize how this crafty enemy is blocking your full potential.
The main take aways from The War of Art are:
Resistance is a real force inside of you.
Any time we want to do something new, it will show up.
It takes many diabolical and insidious forms.
Resistance can only be beaten by becoming professional.
The true magic of creation happens once you conquer resistance.
You must continually show up, prepared to battle Resistance, even after conquering it.
For anyone who is a creator, this book is essential. It’s also for anyone who is struggling to accomplish something. To live the unlived life within them.
It’s a short 165 pages. Not all of them full. It takes almost no time at all to read. And to immediately re-read, for that matter.
Like I said, I read it once a year. It reminds me of what I’m up against any time I make something new. With every read, I learn something that I missed before.
From time to time, I will gift a book to someone. There are about 5 books that I have repeatedly given as gifts over the years; this is the one I most frequently give. At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily just about creating art. It’s about finding a way to do the work of your life in spite of the many things that can hold you back. We all have those things. They are universal. And we all have the ability to move beyond them.
Give it a read. I’m sure you will agree that it deserves a place of honor on your bookshelf.
There are several books that come after The War of Art. Turning Pro, Do the Work, The Artist’s Journey, and others further explore concepts in the War of Art and beyond.
Steven Pressfield has a website with a lot of free resources for creators. He has written an entire series diving even deeper into what it is to be a professional in your personal and/or creative practice. His wisdom is born out of years as a struggling novelist. He continues to write incredible fiction, and has also released a memoir.
