In his book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield speaks of a force called Resistance that conspires at all times of day to stop us from following through on our creative pursuits.
Procrastination, self-loathing, and convenient excuses — the type of things that stop our efforts in their tracks — are examples of how this force might manifest according to Pressfield.
In his book The Flinch, Julien Smith speaks of a similar if not identical force only he calls it… The Flinch. The Flinch, according to Smith, is “the moment when every doubt you’ve ever had comes back and hits you, hard. It’s an instinct that tells you to run. It’s a moment of tension that happens in the body and the brain, and it stops everything cold…it does whatever it must do to prevent you from moving forward.”
If there’s one thing that is generally understood about these forces, it’s that they are the strongest in the face of life’s most worthwhile challenges.
This actually makes them a pretty useful and powerful guidepost:
When you have the opportunity to do something particularly meaningful and your fear and urge to withdraw are at their greatest, that’s not your cue to quit.
Quite the opposite: they’re a sign that you’re where you need to be to grow and a cue to lean in and commit more fully.
Learning to recognize this cue and respond accordingly is at least half the battle.
> When you have the opportunity to do something particularly meaningful and your fear and urge to withdraw are at their greatest, that’s not your cue to quit.
What is your current cue?
It's funny how adamant you were few years ago about this book. That was back when you really loved
The Practice
by
Seth Godin
.
Have a feeling now that you might like the
War of Art
's rhetoric more than The Practice lol.
Going to theukulelesite.com, idsnews.com, or instagram.
Those are tell-tale signs that I'm flinching haha.
I think The War of Art is definitely more in-your-face about taking action. But I have to credit to The Practice - specifically Godin's writing about putting yourself on the hook - for my regular writing practice.
I realized only after reading these comments that I asked the wrong question lol. But I was happy to receive those answers anyways as they interest me as well.
My cues are scrolling through
Twitter
and
Hacker News
even after I've already gone through the entire chronologically ordered timeline.
However my question I meant to ask was... not about the cues but what are you resisting leaning into?
abrahamKim
What is your current cue?
It's funny how adamant you were few years ago about this book. That was back when you really loved
Have a feeling now that you might like the
Those are tell-tale signs that I'm flinching haha.
I think The War of Art is definitely more in-your-face about taking action. But I have to credit to The Practice - specifically Godin's writing about putting yourself on the hook - for my regular writing practice.
My cues are scrolling through
However my question I meant to ask was... not about the cues but what are you resisting leaning into?