War of Art

It is your fucking duty to do whatever it is that you want to do. Why can’t I become a better programmer? Why can’t I lose weight? Why can’t I gain weight? Why? Why can’t I become proficient at the Olympic lifts? Why can’t I add yoga, meditation and spirituality into my life? Why? Don’t let the evil; the devil resistance bring you down. Don’t let anything it throws your way take you down. Resistance is always there, every day. Once you become aware it does not simply say, “o well, onto the next lowly soul”. No, it gets trickier and sneakier in its attempts to fuck you up and take you off your course. It’s all in doing. Do the work. Do it because it is your duty to do it. Do it because resistance is evil. Whatever reasons you do the work, just fucking do it. People will have their discourse about your endeavors. Let em’. They can take you or leave you. Whether they are your your best friend or family.

Once you get an itch to do something, calling in your entire being, do it. Allow yourself to be joined and intertwined with your soul. The muse will show its face and you need to listen. And this is the exact moment resistance, the evil two-faced devil it is tries and steers you off course. Put on your shit-kicking boots and do the work. Resistance may come as your favorite TV show. It may be your friend calling you to play golf. It may be your ego and its tool rational thought telling you to take a break. Whatever it appears to be, it still is the devil resistance. Once you begin to take the first step and simply sit down and do the work, the muse will take over. And maybe along the way resistance will show up. Are you going to let it take you off course? It is always present and will not cease because you recognized it. It is like air. We can’t see it but that doesn’t mean air is not present every day. Resistance is the same way. Trying to take you on a road. And once it gets you on its road you become a slave to its ugly heads and the minions it dispels on you. Excessive TV, video games, friends, family, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever. If you are called to do something by the muse, your soul, whatever you want to call it: DO THE WORK. Being who you want to be starts with doing the damn work.

Resistance will play tricks on you excessively until you being to discipline yourself. And once you have formed good habits and a strong self-discipline resistance will continue, only in sneakier, devilish ways. Continue to be yourself, continue to be…if someone asks, “If you are doing all the time how can you be? The answer is by doing it is not listening to resistance and by that token I am being who I want to be. Show yourself to the world and let them take it or leave it. Be it is who you want to me. But you must DO THE WORK. Habits, little by little will lead you to a place where you will be going and forgot how you got there. Resistance is as real as the chair you sit on. It is as real as the car you drive. It is as real as the weights you lift. Nothing is as real as the resistance. But you can’t see it so you forget it. You forget that it is there. You forget your supreme purpose and start to go down a road of mediocrity, of fakeness. You start to rationalize, procrastinate, start destructive behaviors like too much TV, excessive drinking, smoking, masturbating, only to find yourself deeper down the rabbit hole. But resistance loves this because it makes its job so much easier. You see, a person who says “Fuck You” to resistance will make resistance work harder at every turn to try and stop you. But you have built up a solid foundation, a sort of mote around you with good solid habits and a strong self-discipline. But when you are the slave to resistance, it becomes easier and easier to allow this devil to affect you and the littlest of tings can throw you off track and keep you on resistance road. Sometimes, for seemingly ages. But, all it takes is work. Fuck research, fuck this and fuck that. Do the work. Resistance will cease for a while. And when it comes back into play, who cares. Fuck resistance. And keep trudging through. Let the muse guide you. Let your being guide you as you work. Keep going. Resistance takes many forms. Your parents, your friends, sex, things that seem important and things that seem urgent. Things that have no need to get done and things that seem like the fun thing to do. Do the fucking work. It isn’t magic. Resistance will beat you to a pulp every damn day if you let it. And it will have different faces, so beware. This isn’t going to stop because you are aware of it. It will never stop. IT NEVER STOPS. So get over it, do the work. Listen to the muse and do the fucking work when you have the itch. Don’t wish you had and then get up in the timeless loop of resistance. It is the realest devil known to man. It is more dangerous than poverty, guns, bombs and psychopaths. It is as real as the sun shining and the birds chirping. You can’t see the air can you? Well, you can’t see resistance and its ugly face either but that doesn’t mean it is not there. It takes on many faces.

Trying to become comfortable with something new is like telling a 3 year old to get onto a bike without training wheels. It’s not going to happen. Whatever is new, novel—go at it and do the work.


Check out the War of Art by Steven Pressfield for an extensive look into this subject.