The War of Art (Book Notes)

• The strength of this book is the idea of Resistance. We all have experienced procrastination, fear of failure, and a lack of motivation to do the things we really want to do. But by turning these ideas into a living force called Resistance, the book makes pretty common self-help advice seem more direct and compelling. 
• The biggest weakness of the book is that Pressfield sometimes takes his metaphors too far. I get that the book is somewhat allegorical, meant to provoke rather than be perfectly accurate. But I just lose the immersion when he does stuff like:
  • Imply that facing our Resistance might prevent cancer.
  • Write weird anti-medical crap – “Attention Deficit Disorder, Seasonal Affect Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder. These aren’t diseases, they’re marketing ploys.”
  • Say that Hitler might have become a dictator because of his fears of becoming an artist. 
  • I also think that Pressfield is wrong to believe that “we come into this world with a specific, personal destiny” and that it is our job to “find out who we already are and become it.” The “follow your passion” myth does more harm than good, I think. But I don’t hold that against him too much – his quasi-religious zeal is part of his charm.
• If you want complete notes on the book, Derek Sivers took much better notes than I did. https://sivers.org/book/WarOfArt

Here are my notes anyway:

• Fear is a good sign – it tells you where to go.
• Self-healing and growth is important – but be careful of thinking that we need to “fix ourselves” before doing the things we want to do. We can do those now.
• Resistance presents us with a series of rationalizations for why we shouldn’t do our work.
• Defeat resistance by turning pro. 
• You must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and do the important first.
• Learn how to be miserable.
• Principles of professionals:
  • Show up every day.
  • No matter what.
  • Stay on the job.
  • Commitment to the long haul.
  • Stakes are high and real.
  • Working for money.
  • Not overidentifying with our jobs.
  • Mastery.
  • Sense of humor.
  • Praise or blame in the real world.
• “The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome.”
• Professionals take criticism, but don’t internalize it.
• There’s no mystery to turning pro. We make up our mind to view ourselves as pros and we do it.
• Find your territory, your home turf. For Schwarzenegger, it’s the gym. For basketball players, it’s the court. Territories sustain us, and give back what you put in.