The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

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Deepak Shukla’s Notes On The War of Art by Steven Pressfield – Notes:

Hey guys,

I finished reading this book on the 10th January 2021.

Here’s a synopsis of the book I grabbed from Amazon:

“Bestselling novelist Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.

The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline.”

And here are my actual notes I took whilst I was listening to this on Audible:

• Summary of Bird By Bird Ann Lamont
• There is Deepak Shukla then there is Deepak Shukla Incorporated
• Better to be in the arena getting stomped by the bull than in the stands or out by the parking lot
• Whenever you feel rejected remember Stephen Pressfield having already written 9 screenplays that had been rejected over 50 times. Divorced and broke in his 40s he was made to wait outside of a producers door for 30 minutes because the producer had forgot he was even their
• Stand apart from your work. It no longer belongs to you. It has its own being and can be accepted or rejected all of itself
• Deepak employs Deepak
• The professional distances themselves from their instrument
• The professional distances themselves from their instrument
• The professional is prepared each day to confront his own self-sabotage
• The professional knows that resistance is also a pro. It will throw stuff at him he has never seen before
• The playing field is level only in heaven
• The professional is always scared
• Any job will take 2x as long and cost 2x as much
• Professionals have patience. He is the ant, not the grasshopper he is the tortoise, not the hair
• The resistance loves pride. Writers should have no pride
• The muse prefers working men. You battle for every inch and every yard in the writing arena
• Professionals do writing for love
• Taking a few blows and being told your work is shit is when you become a pro
• We have a sense of humour about our jobs
• We master the technique of our jobs
• We don’t take any one piece we’ve written too seriously
• The stakes are high and real. Writing must provide for our family
• We may move job or move country but we are still working even if we hit the lottery
• We don’t go home until the whistle blows
• Rules for writing: We stay seated ‘at work’ even when our mind wanders.
• Rules for writing: We show up no matter what
• Rules for writing: Show up at the same time every day

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• Rule for writing: Show up every day
• The writer must know how to be miserable. Must LOVE being miserable must revel in the misery
• Writing is like the hunt. Hard work to get the kill. Leave whilst the world is quiet and the hills are cold and steep
• Writing is like going out on a marathon run. Start with heart heating and it’s god achingly slow until you warm-up
• I feel resistance as evening draws to a close as then tomorrow the important work begins
• Professionals write at the same time everyday
• Resistance hates it when you turn pro
• Build your word count up to 5,000 words per day
• Tolstoy had 13 kids and wrote War and Peace
• Resistance is fear but often is too Cunning to show itself as fear so comes dressed as rationalisation
• You don’t need support from people around you ever. Asking them for it only weakens you.
• You’re never alone also because their is always your quietly listening audience. A small band of people intently listening
• The characters are our lovers our confidants our soul mates our best friends. They are in us and part of us and we are them
• Writers sometimes get asked if they’re lonely but you’ve never alone
• Grandiose goals are the rumijatins of an amateur. Professionals concentrate on the work
• Concentrate on work not end goal
• The degree of fear equates to the degree of resistance
• Real innovator is scared to death. A fake person is wildly confident
• If you find yourself criticizing others you’re probably doing it out of resistance
• We must act out our own internal revolution inside of our skulls
• When you have something like sex chocolate sweets masturbation and feel empty after – this is the resistance
• This moment and this second we can choose to change our lives ❤️.
• Procrastination
• Symptoms of the resistance
• The best and only thing you can do is serve as an inspiration to others
• Resistance recruits allies
• Resistance is most powerful at the finish line
• Resistance is fuelled by fear
• The battle is fought anew each day
• Warrior and artist live by the same code of life by the sword and die by the sword
• Resistance never sleeps – the artist was still throwing up before shows at 75
• The greater the resistance the greater the calling
• Resistance always points towards the true north of our dreams
• Resistance feels malevolent but it actually acts impartially
• Resistan is indefatigable
• Resistance will reason with you like or lawyer or jam a 9mm in your face like a stick up man
• Resistance is insidious.
• Resistance is invisible
• Anything that requires our spiritual to activate enacts the resistance
• Anything that requires work now for long term rewards enacts the resistance
• The enemy is our greatest teacher
• It’s not the writing part that’s hard. It’s the sitting down to write
• We must answer the calling to that which drives us
• Resistance is the most toxic thing on the planet
• The unlived life within us