Equip Yourself For Fighting Resistance

by Jarkko on May 31, 2011 · 2 comments

It's the voice inside your head that tells you it's time to quit. It's the sudden urge to surf the web and write clever status updates to Facebook. It's the feeling of anxiety that keeps your finished work unpublished. It's the hopelessness that prevents you from changing the world. Its name is Resistance. We need you to fight it. If you have ever created and published something new in your life, you know what I'm talking about. You have felt resistance. You might not have known it by name, but you have felt it at work. And in the worst case, maybe it has succeeded in discouraging you from sharing your art. I have good news: You can get to know it. You can trick it. And in the end, you can create despite its best attempts to stop you.

Start here, start now

This are the tools I keep close as I fight my resistant demons. I hope they can get you going as well:

	The one and only starting point to your journey to beating Resistance is Steven Pressfield's The War Of Art, the book that introduced the concept to the world. The office is closed. How many pages have I produced? I don’t care. Are they any good? I don’t even think about it. All that matters is I’ve put in my time and hit it with all I’ve got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance. * * *
	My first introduction to Resistance was through Seth Godin's Linchpin. Linchpin takes Resistance from the world of artists and applies it to all kinds of important work. Or better yet, it says we are all artists now and need to fight resistance to share our gifts with the world. That will make us indispensable. * * *
	Seth Godin's latest brain child, The Domino Project is doing an amazing job at publishing books and manifestos that help us deal with Resistance and get art out there. Check out Pressfield's practical Do the Work, Godin's own Poke the Box, or their latest release, Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-Reliance for more inspiration than you can digest today. * * *
	If blogging is what you are struggling with, my friend Mark Hayward together with Joaquin Kierce has just released a free motivational e-book that will get you going: The Possibility Engine is a thirty-day coaching program that will get your blog in gear. * * *
	And finally, my own small e-book. Create! (with small children in the house) is based on my own experiences in creating and fighting resistance while living with first one and then two small kids in the household, and the tricks I have used to work my way through some of the obstacles laid by the Resistance. The book is mostly aimed at parents who feel the urge to create but can't seem to find the time, but I have heard it can help others as well, so check it out even if you don't have kids. It's free. * * *

With the help, the next step is yours: take action and make a difference. We are waiting for you.

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Mark McKinney June 2, 2011 at 2:06 am: Great post, and great site … I have it bookmarked and come back often for inspiration. I’m fighting resistance and trying to make one of my creative ventures into a real business: http://www.artsology.com. I want to introduce kids to the arts and help them find inspiration. I yielded to resistance for many years, always leaving it on the backburner, but I’m going full-steam ahead now!

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Jana Miller June 28, 2011 at 5:54 pm: Added you to my reader :) Off to look around more.
jana

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Equip Yourself For Fighting Resistance

Start here, start now

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