Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 114

The 500 Dark Pools

Like everyone else, I love a great “origin story.” Especially since I’m in the middle of one myself (Black Irish Books).
These kinds of stories focus on the creation of something . . . be it a company (The Social Network), a pop star (The Idolmaker), an investigation that leads to a President’s resignation (All the
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The Hero’s Journey as Boot Camp

With apologies to readers who are getting tired of these “hero’s journey” posts (this is the fourth in as many weeks), I can say only, “Hang in there, baby!” The last one is coming next week. Today’s is about using the hero’s journey intentionally, as a way to achieve a species of self-transformation.
Navy SEAL training
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Big Night

Once a year, I uncinch the family money belt, take a deep breath, and plan a trip to Yankee Stadium.
Our big night out is our annual splurge. My son marks off the days.  Our weekend hours of playing catch, me hitting him grounders and pitching him batting practice revolve around the state of Derek Jeter’s
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The Hero’s Journey as Screenplay

Last week we were talking about the “hero’s journey” in myth. This week let’s talk about movies.
The neophyte writer, when he arrives in Tinseltown, very soon gets wised up to the lingo—“inciting incident,” “Act Two curtain,” “All Is Lost moment” and so forth. It’s not so much that there’s a “formula.” But there’s definitely a
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Adios Zero Sum

My five-year-old daughter felt bad.
One day at school, a frienemy teased her about having had a play date with another girl in their class. My daughter had not been included. Nah…Nah…Nah Nah Nah.
I discovered this while helping her put on her tights. It was the day she’d planned her revenge.
I’m pleased that my children were
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The Hero’s Journey in Myth

“The hero’s journey” sounds a bit melodramatic, I admit. But hey, it’s real. If the phrase rings mythic, it’s because its origins (at least in expression) lie in myth.
What are myths? They’re the ancient, collective legends of the human race. The Odyssey, the epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf; the sagas of the Buddha or Prometheus or
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Clear and Straight-Forward, Trying to Sit Chilly and Do Right

The hard part of sharing is ensuring that what you’ve said is what is heard.
Experience is a factor.
At baseball games, my four-year-old sings “Take me out to the ball game . . . buy me some peanuts and Apple Jacks . . . ” She’s had the cereal more often than the snack, so her
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The Hero’s Journey, Part One

I netflixed The Power of Myth last week and watched it over a couple of nights. Have you ever seen it? It’s the PBS series that Bill Moyers did in 1988, interviewing Joseph Campbell. The program was great then and it’s great now.
What I realized, re-watching Joseph Campbell (tragically he died a couple of years
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When the Ladder Becomes a Wheel

I’ve been reading a fascinating book called American Icon by Bryce Hoffman. It’s about how Ford Motor Company came back from the brink of bankruptcy. Its CEO, Alan Mulally, took the job when Ford and the other two members of the Big Three car manufacturers were in deep trouble. Way before the 2008 crash.  While
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Henry Miller’s Eleven Commandments

With gratitude to Maria Popova, from whose February 22 article on Brain Pickings I pilfered the following (and to George Spencer, who turned me on to the wonderful Brain Pickings), here is some priceless wisdom from one of my literary heroes, Henry Miller.
(What I love about these notes is that they’re aimed by Miller only
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