Do the Work

by Steven Pressfield

Once we commit to action, the worst thing we can do is to stop.

Good things happen when we start before we’re ready. For one thing, we show huevos. Our blood heats up. Courage begets more courage. The gods, witnessing our boldness, look on in approval.

Research can become Resistance. We want to work, not prepare to work.

NEVER act and reflect at the same time.

In writing, “action” means putting words on paper. “Reflection” means evaluating what we have on paper.

The song we’re composing already exists in potential. Our work is to find it. Can we hear it in our head?

When an idea pops into our head and we think, “No, this is too crazy,” … that’s the idea we want.

Your work-in-progress produces its own gravitational field, created by your will and your attention. This field attracts like-spirited entities into its orbit.

Welcome the Muse.

Principle Number One: There Is an Enemy

Principle Number Two: This Enemy Is Implacable

Principle Number Three: This Enemy Is Inside You

If we can’t finish, all our work is for nothing.

It takes balls of steel to ship.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

When we ship, we’re exposed. That’s why we’re so afraid of it. When we ship, we’ll be judged. The real world will pronounce upon our work and upon us. When we ship, we can fail. When we ship, we can be humiliated.

My friend Tony Keppelman snapped me out of it by asking if I was going to quit. Hell, no! “Then be happy,” he said. “You’re where you wanted to be, aren’t you? So you’re taking a few blows. That’s the price for being in the arena and not on the sidelines. Stop complaining and be grateful.”

Slay that dragon once, and he will never have power over you again.