Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 140

Noah Coburn's "Connecting with Kabul"

Read Noah Coburn's Connecting with Kabul.  The information contained in this report is invaluable for the practitioner of population-centric COIN looking for insights into the importance of local patronage networks in Afghanistan. While Coburn's work focuses strictly on Afghanistan, similarities in patterns of social networking behavior can be found in other traditional societies.
I personally witnessed
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Interview With A Tribal Chief Update

"Interview with a Tribal Chief" is one series  that ran on the "It's the Tribes, Stupid" blog. It featured interviews with Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai.
Freerange International has a report up about Chief Zazai being ambushed by Pakistani Taliban this past week.
Last night as Ajmal was moving through the town of Ali Khel near the Pakistan
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Do It Anyway

This is an important post. I say that because this piece addresses (after procrastination, which is the #1 champ), the single greatest excuse/reason/cop-out that prevents aspiring writers, artists and entrepreneurs from taking action to pursue their dreams.
That excuse is, "First I have to _____________."
"___________" can be anything from "finish my research" to "pay the rent"
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Training

A few years ago, I got it into my head that I wanted to run a marathon.  The experience turned out to be a life-changer, not so much for the race itself (though that was pretty great too) as for the training that built up to it.
I live in Los Angeles. There was a hospital
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Habit

Konrad Lorenz, the Nobel Prize-winning zoologist, had a pet goose that he allowed the run of the house. The first day when the goose waddled in the door, there happened to be a mirror near floor height; the goose mistook his own reflection for some rival bird and flew into attack mode.

He pecked the hell
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Having A Practice, Part Two

Over the past couple of weeks we've talked about Shame and Habit as allies in the struggle against Resistance. Shame motivates us to face our fears, and habit helps keep us in the groove once we've gotten started. Momentum is another powerful ally, along with ritual, love, enthusiasm, aspiration, patience, selflessness and greed (the good
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My Kind of Barbarian

Where do ideas come from? (I don't mean the shower–or while we're driving on the Taconic Parkway.) What is the source of creativity? Where did the iPad come from, or the Eiffel Tower, or Nude Descending A Staircase?
Here's Robert E. Howard, who created the Conan the Barbarian series:
While I don't go as far as to
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The Amnesiac's Story

Two of the most popular movies of the past few years are The Hangover and The Bourne Identity. What do they have in common? They're both amnesia stories.
I love amnesia stories. What could be more fun? Guy wakes up face-down on the floor of a villa in Vegas, or floating in a wetsuit off the coast of
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On Research, Or What I Learned From A Single Sheet Of Fool's Cap

[I'm excited to share some of the new posts that will go up in the coming weeks. But for now, a repeat of one of the lessons I learned from Norman Stahl.:]
I've been lucky in my career in having a few really terrific mentors–just guys who've taught me stuff about writing and work. The best is
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Labors of Love

If you've been following these "Writing Wednesdays" posts, you've probably wondered what this "It's the Tribes, Stupid" stuff in the background is all about. The twain don't seem to meet, do they? I've felt that for quite a while too, so . . .
Launching a new site
Next week I'm launching a new site, which will
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