The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Read Deepak’s latest notes from “The War of Art by Steven Pressfield”

• 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

• 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