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4b0f8fc
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If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), "Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?" chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death." --
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Steven Pressfield |
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cb7438f
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Are you paralyzed with fear? That's a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
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Steven Pressfield |
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19fec60
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Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
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writing
inspiration
sociology
creativity
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Steven Pressfield |
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50a5483
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We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.
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writing
discipline
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Steven Pressfield |
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46a29af
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The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.
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writing
work
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Steven Pressfield |
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fb84c38
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A cavalryman's horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be alowed to know this.
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humor
horse
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Steven Pressfield |
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4ad7266
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The Principle of Priority states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what's important first.
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Steven Pressfield |
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c713220
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The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not. He will be dining for the duration on a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation.
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writing-life
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Steven Pressfield |
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1286118
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This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don't. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.
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writing
muse
discipline
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Steven Pressfield |
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44384f1
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Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action. Do it or don't do it. It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don't do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself,. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet. You shame the angels who wat..
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courage
writing
fear
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Steven Pressfield |
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d470a87
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A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It's only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.
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Steven Pressfield |
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25cae72
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We fear discovering that we are more than we think we are. More than our parents/children/teachers think we are. We fear that we actually possess the talent that our still, small voice tells us. That we actually have the guts, the perseverance, the capacity. We fear that we truly can steer our ship, plant our flag, reach our Promised Land. We fear this because, if it's true, then we become estranged from all we know. We pass through a membr..
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inspirational
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Steven Pressfield |
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8d0a1d8
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A horse must be a bit mad to be a good cavalry mount, and its rider must be completely so.
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humor
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Steven Pressfield |
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973ba2b
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This man has conquered the world! What have you done?" The philosopher replied without an instant's hesitation, "I have conquered the need to conquer the world."
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need
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Steven Pressfield |
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d77d864
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Fear doesn't go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.
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Steven Pressfield |
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3e3004d
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Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it. Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the gro..
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writing-life
writing
fear
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Steven Pressfield |
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777b394
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A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. A king does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall. A king does not command his men's loyalty through fear nor purchase it with gold; he earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake. That which comprises the harshest burden, a king lifts first and sets down last. A king does n..
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Steven Pressfield |
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923b082
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It's better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.
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Steven Pressfield |
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023afcb
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O Divine Poesy, goddess, daughter of Zeus, sustain for me this song of the various-minded man who, after he had plundered the innermost citadel of hallowed Troy, was made to stay grievously about the coasts of men, the sport of their customs, good and bad, while his heart, through all the sea-faring, ached with an agony to redeem himself and bring his company safe home. Vain hope - for them. The fools! Their own witlessness cast them aside...
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prayer
creativity
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Steven Pressfield |
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cb3ece5
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Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.
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lying
lies
shit
resistance
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Steven Pressfield |
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febbb30
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None of us are born as passive generic blobs waiting for the world to stamp its imprint on us. Instead we show up possessing already a highly refined and individuated soul. Another way of thinking of it is: We're not born with unlimited choices. We can't be anything we want to be. We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we're..
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writing
identity
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Steven Pressfield |
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27bb8cc
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Someone once asked Somerset Maughham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. "Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp."
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Steven Pressfield |
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c494f28
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Of any activity you do, ask yourself: If I were the last person on earth, would I still do it?
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Steven Pressfield |
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f7e340d
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Nothing fires the warrior's heart more with courage than to find himself and his comrades at the point of annihilation, at the brink of being routed and overrun, and then to dredge not merely from one's own bowels or guts but from one's discipline and training the presence of mind not to panic, not to yield to the possession of despair, but instead to complete those homely acts of order which Dienekes had ever declared the supreme accomplis..
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Steven Pressfield |
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8930220
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The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like.
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work
professionalism
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Steven Pressfield |
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bb40c1c
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Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
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writing
inspirational
creativity
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Steven Pressfield |
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4b0231f
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The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don't just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed. Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work.
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resistance
procrastination
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Steven Pressfield |
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16c601e
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Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.
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Steven Pressfield |
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6ea08ac
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The hardship of the exercises is intended less to strengthen the back than to toughen the mind. The Spartans say that any army may win while it still has its legs under it; the real test comes when all strength is fled and the men must produce victory on will alone.
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warrior-ethos
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Steven Pressfield |
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3482a1e
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The professional learns to recognize envy-driven criticism and to take it for what it is: the supreme compliment. The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.
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writing
envy
creativity
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Steven Pressfield |
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3877393
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To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.
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writing
inspiration
sociology
creativity
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Steven Pressfield |
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b15bcda
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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.
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Steven Pressfield |
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077f9a2
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The sign of the amateur is overglorification of and preoccupation with the mystery. The professional shuts up. She doesn't talk about it. She does her work.
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writing
inspiration
art
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Steven Pressfield |
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ce4bad3
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You have never tasted freedom, friend," Dienekes spoke, "or you would know it is purchased not with gold, but steel."
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warrior-ethos
warrior
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Steven Pressfield |
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840cfee
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The opposite of fear is love - love of the challenge, love of the work, the pure joyous passion to take a shot at our dream and see if we can pull it off.
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Steven Pressfield |
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c137c1c
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The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her.
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writing
motivation
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Steven Pressfield |
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5c50322
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We're all pros already. 1) We show up every day 2) We show up no matter what 3) We stay on the job all day 4) We are committed over the long haul 5) The stakes for us are high and real 6) We accept remuneration for our labor 7) We do not overidentify with our jobs 8 ) We master the technique of our jobs 9) We have a sense of humor about our jobs 10) We receive praise or blame in the real world
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writing
work
professional
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Steven Pressfield |
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0552beb
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Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
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Steven Pressfield |
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bc7e5a1
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Next morning I went over to Paul's for coffee and told him I had finished. "Good for you," he said without looking up. "Start the next one today."
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writing
writing-advice
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Steven Pressfield |
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b4a6092
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Start before you're ready.
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self-help
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Steven Pressfield |
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35be73e
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The song we're composing already exists in potential. Our work is to find it.
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Steven Pressfield |
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ce943d1
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A work-in-progress generates its own energy field. You, the artist or entrepreneur, are pouring love into the work; you are suffusing it with passion and intention and hope.
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Steven Pressfield |
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d66a576
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Resistance by definition is self-sabotage.
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self-sabotage
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Steven Pressfield |
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f760817
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Resistance is directly proportional to love. If you're feeling massive Resistance, the good news is that it means there's tremendous love there too.
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resistance
|
Steven Pressfield |