The War of Art

Also hard to find on audio. I find Steve's voice to be fascinating, and even before I knew him, I was fascinated by listening to him speak his own work. The War of Art is one of those books, at least for me when I finally was exposed to it, I said, 'Why wasn't I informed? Why did it take this long for this book to land on my desk?'... You need to be clear with yourself about what you are afraid of, why you are afraid, and whether you care enough to dance with that fear because it will never go away.

When a writer or an entrepreneur, or a manager, or an employee, or a…whatever…sits down to get to work, he or she is often met by “the resistance”. The excuses that come up: I can’t do this. I am too old. I don’t have enough money. I’m scared. “The War of Art” is the guide to getting through that block. The comfort zone is papered up and cemented shut by our excuses. Learn to blast through that wall. Because on the other side of the comfort zone are all the tools of success.

In addition to Meditations and other texts on Stoicism, Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art and Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception have had a profound impact on my life and vocation. Both provide a unique lens for identifying what it means to be a creative and what it takes to deliver work that matters to those that need it.

I love this book. It simply lays out the difference between the true artist and the amateur. It is so inspiring and makes you understand see if you are doing something because of a real passion or just passing the time. It also makes you realize that true success is never an accident.

I immediately thought of The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It was pivotal for me as an artist, a creative, and an entrepreneur, but it's not just for artists. It's a book about fear and how we limit ourselves. This book helped me unlock my Resistance to perceived risk in business and in my career in a way nothing else had.

The book introduces, among other things, the idea of 'Resistance', an oppositional force at war with human endeavor and ingenuity, a kind of near-demonic energy that 'resists' creative yield. Now, I know that sounds like 'new age' baloney and semi-spiritual psychobabble, but the War of Art is anything but vague and whimsical. It is a hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners treatise on the universal challenge of creation. It is tremendously, gloriously encouraging — it illustrates how the struggle to create, to grow, to seek discipline and rigor and progress, are fundamentally human challenges. It shines a light into the darkness of creative dearth; it puts into words the unspoken struggles of millions of artists. It was first published in 2002, and you only have to read its testimonies to understand its impact.

War of Art is all about working through your own resistance and journey as an artist and creator in the world. It gave me permission to create and believe in my gifts in a way I hadn't before.

The last two pages of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art gave me a swift kick in the ass. Do it or don’t do it. But if you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet. Pressfield wrote a beautiful book that you should read, but if nothing else, just read the last two pages of the book. I have them hanging on my wall in my office.

“The War of Art” is my favorite motivational book. It cuts through the bullshit of procrastination and gives you the tools and the inspiration to get moving and to create. I used to keep a stack of them in the studio to hand out to guests.

And if anyone hasn't read "War of Art," it's an absolute must-read. I've read it many times.

The War of Art is a book for anyone who struggles from The Resistance, which is the force that prevents us from creating what we want to create.