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66da10b
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It is that peculiar soldiers' humor which springs from the experience of shared misery and often translates poorly to those not on the spot and enduring the same hardship.
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Steven Pressfield |
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ec93768
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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. He knows that any job, whether it's a novel or a kitchen remodel, takes twice as long as he thinks and costs twice as much. He accepts that. He recognizes it as reality. The professional steels himself at the start of a project, reminding himself it is the Iditarod, not the sixty-..
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Steven Pressfield |
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589a871
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You imagined we had entered unknown country, my friend, when we voyaged across the sea to Amazonia. Yet that was nothing beside the frontier I cross each evening with this woman who is my equal. Each dawn new continents are sighted; each night one alights on shores where no man's sole has trod." He"
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Steven Pressfield |
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2c632dd
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Remember, they hate us as no other nation, for we are to them that which they fear beyond all: women unmastered by men.
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Steven Pressfield |
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d455e5b
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The essence of professionalism is the focus upon the work and its demands, while we are doing it, to the exclusion of all else. The ancient Spartans schooled themselves to regard the enemy, any enemy, as nameless and faceless. In other words, they believed that if they did their work, no force on earth could stand against them.
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Steven Pressfield |
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33fc471
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Our very existence makes them abominate us, for it calls their own wives and daughters to aspire to freedom.
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Steven Pressfield |
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d21c153
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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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Steven Pressfield |
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d4db273
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The moment a person learns he's got terminal cancer, a profound shift takes place in his psyche. At one stroke in the doctor's office he becomes aware of what really matters to him. Things that sixty seconds earlier had seemed all- important suddenly appear meaningless, while people and concerns that he had till then dismissed at once take on supreme importance. Maybe, he realizes, working this weekend on that big deal at the office isn't a..
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Steven Pressfield |
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14570db
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Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.
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Steven Pressfield |
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2dab1c9
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RESISTANCE CAN BE BEATEN If Resistance couldn't be beaten, there would be no Fifth Symphony, no Romeo and Juliet, no Golden Gate Bridge. Defeating Resistance is like giving birth. It seems absolutely impossible until you remember that women have been pulling it off successfully, with support and without, for fifty million years.
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Steven Pressfield |
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a1ede54
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Remember, the part of us that we imagine needs healing is not the part we create from; that part is far deeper and stronger. The part we create from can't be touched by anything our parents did, or society did. That part is unsullied, uncorrupted; soundproof, waterproof, and bulletproof. In fact, the more troubles we've got, the better and richer that part becomes.
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Steven Pressfield |
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f14d511
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The payoff for a life of adversity is freedom.
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Steven Pressfield |
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8b3a09a
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Monopoly money; it's not legal tender in that sphere where we have to do our work. In fact, the more energy we spend stoking up on support from colleagues and loved ones, the weaker we become and the less capable of handling our business.
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Steven Pressfield |
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80887d5
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Do you understand? I hadn't written anything good. It might be years before I would, if I ever did at all. That didn't matter. What counted was that I had, after years of running from it, actually sat down and done my work.
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Steven Pressfield |
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56c41a5
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The creative act is primitive. Its principles are of birth and genesis. Babies are born in blood and chaos; stars and galaxies come into being amid the release of massive primordial cataclysms. Conception occurs at the primal level. I'm not being facetious when I stress, throughout this book, that it is better to be primitive than to be sophisticated, and better to be stupid than to be smart. The most highly cultured mother gives birth swea..
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Steven Pressfield |
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50c7a15
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All that matters is I've put in my time and hit it with all I've got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance.
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Steven Pressfield |
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3c3ed6d
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From the day I finally finished something, I've never had trouble finishing anything again.
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Steven Pressfield |
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1c42c5a
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Do we have to stare death in the face to make us stand up and confront Resistance? Does Resistance have to cripple and disfigure our lives before we wake up to its existence? How many of us have become drunks and drug addicts, developed tumors and neuroses, succumbed to painkillers, gossip, and compulsive cell-phone use, simply because we don't do that
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Steven Pressfield |
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db18576
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The pro keeps coming on. He beats Resistance at its own game by being even more resolute and even more implacable than it is.
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Steven Pressfield |
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4de39f0
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The next few chapters are going to be about those invisible psychic forces that support and sustain us in our journey toward ourselves. I plan on using terms like muses and angels. Does that make you uncomfortable? If it does, you have my permission to think of angels in the abstract. Consider these forces as being impersonal as gravity. Maybe they are. It's not hard to believe, is it, that a force exists in every grain and seed to make it ..
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Steven Pressfield |
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072b1ca
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problem with friends and family is that they know us as we are. They are invested in maintaining us as we are.
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Steven Pressfield |
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cf1cfc2
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The hill is a sonofabitch but what can you do? Set one foot in front of another and keep climbing.
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Steven Pressfield |
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2dae162
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Do not tell me death is real. It is not. I have sustained my heart for ages with the love my brother passed on to me, dead as he was.
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Steven Pressfield |
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59eac00
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The professional conducts his business in the real world. Adversity, injustice, bad hops, and rotten calls, even good breaks and lucky bounces all comprise the ground over which the campaign must be waged. The field is level, the professional understands, only in heaven.
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Steven Pressfield |
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b3b3831
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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 the planet and to understand, if only within our own hearts, who we are and what we believe in.
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Steven Pressfield |
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2ac4f25
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Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." Begin it now." --
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Steven Pressfield |
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3992cd4
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The writer is an infantryman. He knows that progress is measured in yards of dirt extracted from the enemy one day, one hour, one minute at a time and paid for in blood. The artist wears combat boots.
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Steven Pressfield |
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eb3f89e
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It can pay off, being a hack. Given the depraved state of American culture, a slick dude can make millions being a hack. But even if you succeed, you lose, because you've sold out your Muse, and your Muse is you, the best part of yourself, where your finest and only true work comes from.
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being-true-to-yourself
life-s-calling
life-s-purpose
muse
being-real
writers
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Steven Pressfield |
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2384198
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The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell.
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writing
write
artist
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Steven Pressfield |
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7346283
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Reci cu Njegovom Velicanstvu sto je kralj.Kralj ne boravi u svome satoru dok njegovi ljudi krvare i ginu na ratistu.Kralj ne objeduje dok njegovi ljudi gladuju niti spava dok drze strazu na zidu.Kralj ne zapovijeda vjernoscu svojih ljudi preko straha niti je kupuje zlatom;zaradjuje njihovu ljubav znojem svojih ledja i patnjom koje podnosi za njihovo dobro.Ono sto predstavlja najtezi teret ,kralj prvi podize i poslednji odlaze.Kralj ne zahti..
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Steven Pressfield |
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11ba3d5
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The acquisition of a condition lends significance to one's existence. An illness, a cross to bear. Some people go from condition to condition; they cure one, and another pops up to take its place. The condition becomes a work of art in itself, a shadow version of the real creative act the victim is avoiding by expending so much care cultivating his condition.
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Steven Pressfield |
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8b12c26
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Are you paralyzed with fear? That's a good sign.
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Steven Pressfield |
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10d3f3c
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What factors make you decide to take a particular role?" The actor always answers: "Because I'm afraid of it."
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Steven Pressfield |
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cd91789
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All genuine epiphanies seem to follow this model: their defining quality is the relinquishment of delusion. The initial fear is that one has lost something. A cherished self-conception must be given up, and one feels diminished by it. This is mistaken, however. A person discovers that he has been made stronger by the jettisoning of this sham and disadvantageous baggage. In fact, he has become more "himself," by aligning his self-concept mor..
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Steven Pressfield |
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acae8ca
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The American people... have had enough of sacrificing their sons and daughters in the name of some illusory world order; they want someone else's sons and daughters to bear the burden. The American people are willing to pay for this privilege, in cash and in the circumscription of their own liberty.
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Steven Pressfield |
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3b4b5e3
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He knows that any job, whether it's a novel or a kitchen remodel, takes twice as long as he thinks and costs twice as much. He accepts that. He recognizes it as reality.
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Steven Pressfield |
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3629a5f
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The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like.
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Steven Pressfield |
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75c1cf4
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If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink in the directory would be out of business. Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with the junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the medical profession fr..
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Steven Pressfield |
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d687190
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There's a problem with the hierarchical orientation, though. When the numbers get too big, the thing breaks down. A pecking order can hold only so many chickens.
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pecking-order
society
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Steven Pressfield |
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7e31778
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The professional is prepared at a deeper level. He is prepared, each day, to confront his own self-sabotage.
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Steven Pressfield |
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f4f96cf
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Faced with our imminent extinction, Tom Laughlin believes, all assumptions are called into question.
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Steven Pressfield |
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9a896e4
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Depression and anxiety may be real. But they can also be Resistance. When we drug ourselves to blot out our soul's call, we are being good Americans and exemplary consumers. We're doing exactly what TV commercials and pop materialist culture have been brainwashing us to do from birth. Instead of applying self-knowledge, self-discipline, delayed gratification and hard work, we simply consume a product. Many pedestrians have been maimed or ki..
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Steven Pressfield |
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8bbb24a
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The artist and the fundamentalist arise from societies at differing stages of development. The artist is the advanced model. His culture possesses affluence, stability, enough excess of resource to permit the luxury of self-examination. The artist is grounded in freedom. He is not afraid of it. He is lucky. He was born in the right place. He has a core of self- confidence, of hope for the future. He believes in progress and evolution. His f..
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Steven Pressfield |
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9771e00
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When inspiration touches talent, she gives birth to truth and beauty.
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Steven Pressfield |