Thread by @Douglas9162

Thread on what I took from @SPressfield's book "The War of Art" (~30 things) - relevant to those in creative endeavours, and for those who procrastinate too much

1- “the enemy is a very good teacher”

2- You aren’t one day cured of fear, every day we must fight it

3- “I will do it, just tomorrow” is a terrible attitude, which invariably repeats itself (tomorrow you'll say tomorrow etc, ad infinitum)

4- Creating distractions/drama is an easy way to rationalise putting something off until later

5- Casting oneself as a victim is the antithesis of work – don’t do it

6- Resistance (stuff stopping you from working) becomes a health issue; you become stressed/depressed/aggressive – so be careful

7- Often criticism of others is yourself rationalising our resistance to work

8- If paralysed by fear – great! You know exactly what you have to do

9- Fear as a compass is a great way to learn quickly

10- “healing” never completes, athletes play through pain – you have to battle through

11- Support from others is fine in moderation however ultimately you have to rely on yourself

12- It is easy to rationalise resistance to work, notice when you do this

13- “it’s one thing to lie to yourself, another thing to believe it”

14- Excuses are easy, however wrong. Tolstoy had 13 kids and wrote War and Peace

15- it’s one thing to study the warrior’s life, another to live the warrior’s life #SkinInTheGame

16- Learning how to be miserable yet go on with work is a very valuable skill

17- Treat your passion like a job. Turn up every day, show up no matter what, stay on the job all day, and be committed for the long haul. Do not over identify with job and make sure get criticism and praise for your job.

18- Real world judgement is key for your passion. Stressors are good for system – antifragile

19- You have to be in things for the long run, get rich quick schemes lead to unrealistic expectations and not good results long term

20- The amateur believes he must be ready to start, the pro knows you are never fully read

21- You have to deal with reality, if reality is shit then you must deal with shit

22- Its very easy to get angry about small things, the pro doesn’t he just gets on with the work.

23- Fear of rejection Is natural yet doesn’t matter that much

24- Don’t take humiliation personally, just work to improve

25- Do not rely on external validation, decide for yourself what is right

26- “the critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had the guts”

27- Thinking of yourself as a business is a good way to objectively analyse yourself

28- Working hard every day is all you can ever really do to improve

29- Fear that we will succeed can also be a limiting belief

30- Trust what you want, not what you think might work. The end xx

20*- The amateur believes he must be ready to start, the pro knows you are never fully ready