We're wrong if we think we're the only ones struggling with Resistance. Everyone who has a body experiences Resistance.
We all fight wars—in our work, within our families and abroad in the wider world. Each of us struggles every day to define and defend our sense of purpose and integrity, to justify our existence on th...
Theseus overturned this by a single stroke: he moved the sessions outdoors, to the hill of the Pnyx, where the people could attend and observe their betters. What a revolution this affected! Before,
There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write.
Then there’s the third way proffered by the Lord of Discipline, which is beyond both hierarchy and territory. That is to do the work and give it to Him. Do it as an offering to God. Give the act to...
The song we’re composing already exists in potential. Our work is to find it.
The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her. Her artistic self contains many works and many performances. Already the next i...
The professional is prepared at a deeper level. He is prepared, each day, to confront his own self-sabotage.
The professional has learned better. He respects Resistance. He knows if he caves in today, no matter how plausible the pretext, he’ll be twice as likely to cave in tomorrow.
The professional cannot allow the actions of others to define his reality.
The professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work.
The problem with friends and family is that they know us as we are. They are invested in maintaining us as we are. The last thing we want is to remain as we are.
The pro keeps coming on. He beats Resistance at its own game by being even more resolute and even more implacable than it is.
The hardest thing in the world is to be ourselves.
The clash is epic and internal, between the ego and the Self, and the stakes are our lives.
The artist must be like that Marine. He has to know how to be miserable. He has to love being miserable.
The artist cannot look to others to validate his efforts or his calling. If you don't believe me, ask Van Gogh, who produced masterpiece after masterpiece and never found a buyer in his whole life.
The amateur allows his worth and identity to be defined by others. The amateur craves third-party validation. The amateur is tyrannized by his imagined conception of what is expected of him. He is imp...
The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy but where are they. —Plutarch Sayings of the Spartans
THE MAGIC OF MAKING A START Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definit...