The War of Art
Steven Pressfield
The War of Art is Steven Pressfield's short book on the force that stops people doing the work that matters to them, which he names Resistance. Pressfield argues that Resistance is impersonal and inventive, that it is strongest near the most important work, and that the fear it produces is therefore a compass. His answer is to turn pro: show up at the same time every day regardless of mood, and treat the work as a job rather than a calling to be waited for.
You have the plan and the list and you still feel the pull to do anything else. Pressfield spent years unable to finish a novel and wrote the book that names that pull. Once it has a name, it is easier to see and harder to obey.
The book in essence
The book is in three parts. The first defines Resistance: the force that rises whenever we try to do something that would make us more of who we are, such as creative work, a business, a training programme or a personal change. It is not laziness or a mood; it uses hunger, email, cleaning, arguments about timing and above all the feeling of not being ready, and it is proportional, so the more the work matters to your growth the more you feel it. Fear, therefore, is a compass. The second part is the answer, turning pro: the amateur works when inspired and takes bad days personally; the professional shows up every day at the same time, works whether or not it is going well, accepts that some days produce nothing usable, and does not take failure or success personally. The third part is Pressfield's own account of where the work comes from once Resistance is beaten, which readers take or leave.
Published in 2002, written by a novelist and screenwriter, the book is widely read among writers, founders and athletes, and its two words, Resistance and pro, have become shorthand for many people who try to make things.
Who it's for
- Anyone with a project that has stayed in a folder for a year
- People who know the techniques and still feel the pull to do anything else
- Writers, makers and founders who wait for inspiration
Who it's not for
- — Readers wanting a system; the book names the enemy and the stance, not the steps
- — Anyone put off by the third part's language of muses and angels; the first two parts stand alone
Key lessons
01
Resistance has a name
The pull toward anything except the work that matters is a force with predictable behaviour: impersonal, inventive, relentless. Saying 'that is Resistance' out loud when you feel the urge to clean the kitchen takes half its power, because an argument you can see is an argument you need not lose.
A designer in Kadıköy with a portfolio site half-built for a year writes down Resistance's three excuses: the client work pays, the site should wait for a better project, she is too tired at night. Seeing them on paper, she recognises each as a sentence Resistance would say.
02
Fear is a compass
Resistance is proportional: the more a piece of work matters to your growth, the more you feel it. So the dread you feel about a task is not a reason to avoid it but information that this is the important one. Rank tasks by dread and walk toward the top of the list.
The same designer writes next to each excuse what it protects her from: being judged as a designer by strangers rather than by clients who already like her. The site becomes the first task of tomorrow morning.
03
Turn pro
The amateur waits for inspiration; the professional shows up at the same time every day, works whether or not it is going well, and does not take a single day as evidence. Resistance argues and the professional does not argue back, because the question was settled when the identity was chosen.
An engineer in Ankara who has 'worked on' an app in the evenings for two years, about twice a month, turns pro: six-thirty to seven-thirty every weekday at the kitchen table. By the end of the month the app has a working login screen.
Try this today
Write Resistance's three excuses from this week and the task each was protecting you from, then make the one with the most dread tomorrow's first task at a fixed time.
Quick check
What does it mean that Resistance is proportional?
What separates the professional from the amateur?
Selected quotes
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
“The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome.”