The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

This is a great book. I've been able to recognize myself in everything written by the author. The author talks to artists, but the term artist has to be taken with a broad sense. He clarifies it early in the book, but don't forget it as you progress in the book. Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and potentially everybody can and should be an artist too, therefore this book targets everybody. This book arrives at the best time for me, I haven't been able to find someone who truly understands the way I feel. I was shocked when I read this : "I could not handle resistance. I had one novel nine-tenths of the way through and another at ninety-nine hundreth before I threw them in the trash. I couldn't finish them." Because it is exactly what happened to me. I was working on starting a web based venture, a web platform on which I've worked for months. At some point I was literally, nine-tenth of the way through. I estimated that I just needed 2 more weeks of work before finishing. Only 2 weeks after more than 8 months working on it ! But guess what : I never finished. I couldn't explained it. At the last minute, I decided to stop the development and begin to search for customers. It made sense, it was like a rationalization : instead of working in vain you'd rather get customers first. Then as day goes by, you see that it's difficult to get customer and you begin to think : the money will take some time to come here and you clearly need to work full-time on this. Are you really ready to do it ? And bit per bit you shift away, you become to be affected by other issues of you daily life. And one month later this project belongs to the past. You've just been lying to yourself, you've been self-defeating yourself. I didn't know it was resistance before reading the book. Procastination is a weak idea, this book is more than that. The author conceptualized everything perfectly. If you ever faced a situation where resistance has defeated you, it doesn't take long before you notice that the author has a real insight and knows what he is talking about. The strengh of this book is that the author has conceptualized this wide issue as well as the way to solve it, in an easy to read but powerful manner. The concept itself is powerful. But it's not enough, in my opinion the big strength is that while the author goes to the point, the book is not a collection of recipes. You don't find a 15 bullets points methodology to apply every morning. You find liberty, your mind is freed because you understand what's really going on. This is why this book is so great. It's very easy to do a time-management / project management book exposing some systematic method that are too be applied because they just "work". It's much more hard to write a book that try to achieve these results by talking to the mind of artists. But the results there are exponentially more powerful. Indeed artists do not follow methodologies, so when you target them, unless the word you speak are word of truth and wisdom, you are unlikely to have any impact. Luckily this is clearly the case with this book, there is no methodology but there are practical methods and a practical insight who make you understand how to defeat resistance in your unique life. Go ahead and read it now. Whether you are a painter, a writer, a man willing to start a venture, to volunteer himself… you are an artist and this book is for you. This book is massively cheap for what you'll get out it. In my case, I feel it will save me dozen of years of struggle in my life. I'm glad God wanted me to understand the bigger picture, and directed me to this book. After reading it, I'm not only happy that my life will be empowered, I'm also happy to have faced this problem because thanks to this insight I'll be able to help others. It's impossible to really help someone who tells you : "I could not handle resistance. I had one novel nine-tenths of the way through and another at ninety-nine hundreth before I threw them in the trash. I couldn't finish them." without having experienced this situation and the strength and the obscure character of this inner energy by yourself. Steven Pressfield is helping us here. Now it's time to help yourself and buy this book.

Many readers have used this as a handbook for their new journey into the world of art. It delves into various common problems that face people who wish to enter this realm, but who have all sorts of inner queries with leaving the social ‘herd’ where earning a traditional living once had priority. Making personal change has all sorts of inner barriers and blocks, that people first need to understand in order to overcome them. It is an American book which successfully crosses the pond because of its universal agendas and is relevant to British and other global readers. There are three main parts of the book: a) Resistance, defining the enemy; b) Combating Resistance, and finding solutions, 3) Beyond Resistance, and the higher realm. Each section has many small chapters that deal with detailed issues which could be applicable to a number of budding artists. This arrangement allows each reader to stop and think about every relevant subject before moving on. The book’s advices cannot do any potential artists any harm, but is merely a question of how much will each reader gain from it. Ultimately that depends on the reader themselves.

This is the single most important book any individual can read if that individual meets the following criteria: * You are deeply unhappy with your life despite feeling that you have an immense urge to create—i.e. tortured by inactivity * You are astonished by the fact that you find yourself unable to start, but don't know why * You do not have a muse in person who helps push you * You dream but do not do This is a bold claim. I shall modify it slightly: apart from the book that inspires you most—the book in which the author literally moves your hands and guides you to begin, which Dostoevsky and Tolstoy always do—this book is the most important book for any individual that fulfils the above criteria. Certainly, it is the best non-fiction book for anyone whose life is severely affected not only by the fact that they are inactive, but by the more complex state of affairs that for some individuals, the desire to create is not something they choose. Failure to meet this inner demand, which is more important to their existence than almost anything else, leads to self-destruction that is as catastrophic as it is unavoidable. It is the source of much mental illness and therefore physical suffering. That is why this book is so important: for those who are simply born to create, not creating is tantamount to suicide. This can lead to literal suicide, or the state of suicide that is living a life that makes life a punishment. This book offers the solution to this issue not only through its clear statement of the answer, but by examining what stands in the way of living in accordance with that answer. The beauty of this book is that the author has centred in on the single-most important truth, and then dramatised this truth, and this struggle, allowing you to use the power of mythology to destroy the evil that is inactivity. I refuse to name what this truth is, because thinking one knows something and being able to act on it is precisely the issue this book solves. The end result is simple: if you are or know someone who is a person who cannot live without creating (by which I mean someone whose soul was forged to create, to search within and then present that finding to others, whether in the form of literature, music, painting, film or any other creative act—not the embarrassingly generic "I am a creative" description) and that person suffers because they are unable to force themselves to create, usually due to fear, this book is the single-best thing you can read. It is short, sweet, and powerful. It explains not only the problem and the solution, but the effects of the problem. This can shed light on issues that seemed to be disconnected, but were in fact all related to the individual's refusal to act on their nature. In this sense, this book both diagnoses and cures the source of great misery for a certain type of person, and frees them to embrace what they were born to do. This book is simply essential if you are or know someone who was born to create, but does not.

First, my criticism: the author claims indeed that some mental disorders are a product of marketeers; and that looking for support is an excuse to procrastinate. This is complete nonsense. That opinion may reflect a view which used to be more common when the book was written. But here he abuses his poetic license, in my opinion, especially considering that this book will be read by people who are struggling with DDA, depression and other conditions. If that’s your case, I really recommend that you seek treatment first and, when your symptoms are under control, then you take the advice in this book. Otherwise, I believe its suggestions won't feel very doable to you. That being said, I think there are some very good points in this book. I’ve been reading self-help books on procrastination for some time. Most of them written by PhDs, containing science-based information (which I find good), but also with that irritating inclination to repeat themselves to exhaustion and to fill several pages with vaguely related trivia, apparently as a mere attempt to make the book longer. Then I heard about The War of Art and it immediately caught my attention. The book is short and I read it in three or four hours. And it exerted a very positive impact on me. Time will tell whether such impact will last long enough or if I’m just benefiting from the effects of novelty and recency. But I think there’s something powerful about mentalizing your own procrastination as an external entity (the Resistance) and personalizing it. By thinking of it as a bully who annoys you and celebrates your failures, it gets more approachable. It gets easier to get away from it the same simple way you do about annoying people. It turns into an external thing you will wrestle with, instead of a part of you which you will resent. The commenters claiming that he’s trying to push a religious view about the world are mistaken: right at the very beginning of the third part (the most criticized for its religious tone), the author states very clearly that, if you don’t feel comfortable thinking of Muses and Angels, think of them in more abstract terms instead, or as products of the unconsciousness, or whatever that works for you. I invite the commenters who said otherwise to actually read and reassess it. Granted, the author is a religious person – and he points that explicitly. But it doesn’t take more than a very little effort to realize that there are some basic underlying aspects in his rituals: it’s all about habits to put oneself in a favorable disposition for the work. The book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, by Mason Currey, is full of other famous examples along those same lines. I suspect that some of the commenters who didn’t like his allegories would have embraced them enthusiastically if it were a monk using concepts from an eastern religion. The use of a christian religion might have led readers educated under a christian system to take it overly literally.

Je ne sais pas pourquoi je n'avais jamais entendu parler de ce livre avant, il devrait être obligatoire à l'école. Je fais à présent partie d'un groupe fermé de gens qui sont en train de métamorphoser leur vie pour le mieux et nombre d'entre eux à lu ce livre et le classe n°1 dans leur collection. C'est bien écrit mais simple et direct. Facile mais profond. Succint mais instruit. Dès les premières pages on est absorbé, fasciné et empli d'espoir, puis de certitude : je VAIS vaincre cette Résistance, cette peur insensée. Vous êtes angoissé ? Déprimé ? Vous avez tendance à ne rien foutre ? A perdre du temps ? Ce livre démistifie, explique, et détruit ces résistances, et donne des clés concrètes pour vaincre. Je recommande fortement. Vous vous devez bien cela.

This is a holy grail. Pressfield writes in a very special way about what art is and how it reflects work, thereby changing your idea of what real work actually means. He makes very clear that people are creative, producing creatures who gain recognition and self-worth out of working hard on something and receiving contentment out of that. He also gives a lot of concrete, practical tips on how to overcome inertia and procrastination. Most of the time he is very blunt in that. He doesn't give a magical solution but states that it's just important to keep on working not according to your mood but according to scheduel and that inspiration eventually will follow (an advice of several great writers/creators I've read). A great bonus is the humor with which Pressfield writes. Several times I had to laugh so hard it made me cry. I love the blunt, sarcastic undertone. It seems to be a language that makes it easier to comprehend difficult notions. Pressfield's message is partly also spiritual in nature. When you've read whole the book you actually will start to look at the creation process of art as something that is partly spiritual because art contains inexplicable, almost magical, elements that are not to be fully understood in logical, linear terms. Recommendation for everyone that creates!

Ok. I read or heard about this book enough times to be intrigued and I went and read it. And yeah, I get it. It's not what I'd usually consider would appeal to me, but it did. A great deal actually. Just a few underlines, but very powerful ones. I'm not too keen on the machoesque undertones, but nothing to really trip over. Just a stylistic choice. The message comes through loud and clear. And it's one worth hearing.

Warning: Very long review. This book has helped me multiple times. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu coined the famous phrase ‘know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.’ In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield launches into a similar discussion. In the first section we will discover our enemy: Resistance. The second section discusses our means for combat: Turning Pro. In the third and final section we will see that the battle is between our Self and our Ego. Resistance – Defining the Enemy. This is the first of 3 sections Pressfield shares with us on what he considers to be the enemy of the creator. Resistance is an internal force, the ‘enemy within.’ Defined as self-sabotage, resistance usually manifests as avoidance, procrastination, or inaction caused by fear which creates paralysis. Resistance, according to Pressfield, is invisible, insidious, implacable, internal, impersonal and universal. He elaborates on each of these adjectives (and more), unafraid to use a clever metaphor or simile to illustrate a point. For example, in the section ‘Resistance is infallible, Pressfield writes: “Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North-meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing.” Pressfield goes on to point out Resistance in its many guises: the way peers may be recruited as allies of Resistance when an artist starts to conquer Resistance; the people around her “begin acting strange…they are trying to sabotage her” because they are experiencing Resistance of their own. They may begin to feel guilty for not trying to reach their own potential To make themselves feel better, they pressure her either directly or indirectly to backslide. In my case, I have a couple of people who point out how hard I work, don’t I need to take some me time? That sort of thing…. Resistance also encourages the artist’s tendency to quit at 99%, procrastinating work in order to not face completion of their work. Completion opens our work up to our peers for review and examination of others. He states that Resistance has no power of its own, only power it receives from our fear. Any one reading it will be able to identify where Resistance has dug it’s claws in at one time or another with many of his examples and definitions. I want to point out that nowhere in his book does Pressfield address the Resistance we also face via the internet, email, Facebook, etc. In one section he mentions completely missing Watergate because he was too busy writing. Apparently he is able to focus on his work so strongly these things that distract many of us have no appeal to him. The second section covers: Combating Resistance – Turning Pro. According to Pressfield, there’s no mystery about turning pro. You just make the decision and by an act of your will it is so. By turning pro, Pressfield is talking about the ideal of becoming a professional, a mindset. You make a decision to sit down and do your craft, or exercise, or whatever, NO MATTER WHAT. No matter what tries to distract you and stop you, you keep going until the day is done. You are professional in your dedication and behavior. “An amateur plays for fun, a professional for keeps.” The amateur lets a cold or minor distractions stop him. The professional knows he needs to do the work, and then get better. The amateur thinks he can quit anytime it gets tough and go back to something else. The professional doesn’t want to quit every time he hits a problem, he has discipline and determination to steady him. Turning pro means basically to prepare a work discipline and follow it. To paraphrase Pressfield’s definition: A pro shows up every day no matter what, stays on the job all day, and is in it for the long haul. For the pro, the stakes are high. Pros accept payment for their work (even if they don’t always make an income). Pros also master the technique of their work, have a sense of humor about their jobs, and receive real-world praise or blame. He explains the hangovers and colds and other things as excuses we use to deflect ourselves from our purpose and from fulfilling our call. An added benefit, if you really love what you do, you will be like a child who looks up from their activities to be surprised to find that it’s time for supper. Also, Pressfield makes a point that we are not to get our identity from the thing we are trying to create. You are still you. Your work should be work, not you. Aside from your calling, your life’s work, you should have an identity that stands alone. If you only have an identity in whatever you are trying to create, you leave yourself vulnerable to the attacks that will come. You will take it all personally and it should never be that way. Your work is what is being attacked, and you should be able to stand back and defend it objectively. Do not over invest your emotional well being in your success or failure. I think this is a common mistake made. You, Inc. – Pressman also brings up the benefits of making yourself a corporation. Even if you only think of yourself in this way it can reinforce the idea of professionalism in your work because it separates the artist-doing-the-work from the consciousness-running-the-show. I love his idea of having status meetings with himself. In corporate America, we have a status meeting every Monday morning, decide on a plan of action and who will take care of what part of that plan, then divvy out the assignments, type it up and distribute it to the various participants. He has one of those meetings with himself every Monday. He sits down and goes over his assignments, decides when to be responsible for what, and types it up and distributes it to himself. Sometimes as Joe-blow he is too intimidated to go out and pimp himself, but as Joe-blow Inc, he enjoys the pimping. He’s not him anymore. He’s Me, Inc. This third and final section talks about the muses and identifies the cause of Resistance through the Self and the Ego. Muses, angels, demons, geniuses, an input from the collective unconsciousness, all these Pressfield calls our allies, “equal and opposite powers…counterpoised against [Resistance].” These allies join us when we make the shift from being an amateur to a professional. In the second section, he heavily stresses professionalism. He states the most important thing about art is work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying. “When we sit down day after day and keep grinding…The muse takes note of our dedication. She approves…we becomes like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come.” Following this simple but powerful truth, Pressfield talks about the day he finished his first book. He finally wrote, The End. He received this sage advice from his friend Paul: “Good for you. Start the next one today.” In my words: don’t stop now, you finally have a work ethic that is producing your art. Now: Ego and Self, and the battle between the two. Resistance has its seat in Ego. The Ego is that part of the psyche that believes in material existence, is concerned with its own preservation and comfort, with stasis and the physical, material world. The Ego likes things the way they are. It likes to be in control. The Self, according to Pressfield, is where we grow from. This is where our dreams and ideas come from. When we meditate or pray, this is the part of ourselves we are seeking. Self is our deepest being. Why does the Ego hate the self? According to Pressfield, its …”…because when we seat our consciousness in the Self, we put the ego out of business.” The Ego hates it when the creator sits down to create, whether it’s a book, a painting or an exercise routine. Ego hates to lose control, and tries to cripple Self. It hates creators because they are pathfinders to the future. Pressfield ends the book with a simple call to action: listen to your Self and take action in order to find out what you were meant to do. Once you figure it out, do it like a professional. If you don’t explore and utilize your gifts, you hurt yourself and everyone around you. If you do, great; you’re sharing your gifts with the world. Pressfield uses humor and a confident, competent demeanor in what he shares. He’s been there and done this, and wants to share the rewarding fruit he has to show for it, to encourage us to seek that fruit for ourselves. He wants us to be able to overcome our enemy, Resistance, and flourish with our own muses. We all encounter Resistance in one form or another (fear of failure, fear of success, procrastination, avoidance, distraction, etc.). This book is an extremely easy read, and was very encouraging to me personally. I would highly recommend it for anyone facing any new project in their life. You will be surprised by the things this book reveals to you, and you will also see yourself represented in more than one situation Pressfield shares. Steven Pressfield defines the enemy, offers a strategy for overcoming it and shows us the beautiful fruit we can have as a result of our labor: A completed work, a job well done. Eventually success. It all started for him when he was finally able to write: The End.