Rousing Review The War of Art!

Rousing Review The War of Art! Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are become it. Steven Pressfield Its the first in my monthly Rousing Reviews series! OK, its technically the second (I reviewed The Renaissance Soul in June of 09, so that totally counts, right?), but its the first on a consistent basis. Lets face it, our lives sometimes get in the way, its tough to sit down with a book that you know will do ya a world of good, both for yourself your fans/readers/followers/clients. So yes, this series is absolutely a structure I set-up for myself to make me accountable to read the books that Ive been tagging along the way. See, I life coach myself sometimes! And duh obviously I do this for you kids, too (say it with me: Awwwwww!). I wanted to start off the series with The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield because its really a hell of a title. What artist wouldnt want to go into battle, break through their creative roadblocks, emerge victorious with the Writers Block Vampires head on a stick? And while Id like to say that thats what this book does, I cant. Not to say it wont help slay that Vampire, but its more about discovering all the ways the Vampires likely to attack you instilling yourself with the mojo to make it not only not bite you, but to get it to leave you the hell alone, at least until tomorrow. Let me explain. The War of Art is split into three books: Resistance (Defining the Enemy) Combating Resistance (Turning Pro) Beyond Resistance (Higher Realm). As you can tell, Resistance is the Vampire here. The long short of it is that every single thing that causes a creative person to shelve their creativity whether its perfectionism, addiction, procrastination, or the million other excuses a creative person gives themselves to not do is a direct weapon of Resistance.   For me, Book One was eye-opening, powerful, worth the price of the book a few times over. When I flipped the page to Book Two, I may or may not have clutched it to my chest said to myself, You will be beaten dog-eared when Im through with you. And then I may or may not have kissed it. I couldnt help it hearing about all the different Vampires that get in the way of making Art, why, it was a wonder that any Art exists at all! The whole reason Resistance exists is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us fro m doing our work the more call or action is to our souls evolution, the more Resistance we will feel towards pursuing it. How evil is that? Its so evil that the more we discover something thats authentically us, thats calling us to do it, the more it attempts to stop us! That is so, so evil that I not only wanted its head on a stick, I wanted to chop it up into pieces then stomp it to double death! Seriously, it pissed me off. Im ready, then, to find my weapon. How do I stop this evil monster? I must need a gun, an axe, a dagger, a..wait, what? The only thing I need to do is do my work every day? Thats it? And not worry about how good itll turn out to be, or how much of it will get done, or where its gonna take me.I just need to sit down do it? And then the Resistance Vampire is dead, at least until tomorrow? Well, thats pretty awesome. I thought Id have to lift iron or something get big Buffy muscles. In Books Two Three, the author (who wrote The Leggend of Bagger Vance, amongst other things) goes into what we should be doing to get our work done (show up every day, stay there all day, be committed in the long-term, make money from it), how to be a professional about it (be prepared, ask for help, dont show off), how the angels get called around us when we do our work to empower us (its written less hippy-dippy than that, but its still fairly hippy-dippy stuff). Its totally valid worthwhile really good stuff. But what I wanted, both as a Creative as a life coach, was more tangible stuff to do. I wanted homework! I wanted to read about exercises things I could do to help me not only change my mindset (which Mr Pressfield already helped me do), but to break my bad habits allow me to get to work, strong enough to slay a fresh Vampire daily beat that big bitch, Resistance. Since I am that life coach, Ill take this into my own hands offer you these exercises, whether you read the book or not (but seriously, read the book. It would be an extremely worthwhile afternoon for you, as the book takes about 2-3 hours to read cover to cover): If youre having trouble self-motivating want the support of being part of a group that vows to be creative every day, then join, uh, Creative Every Day! While mostly geared towards artists, you could also write around the topics that are suggested every month, or write songs about them, or dance to emyou get the point. You can also make a commitment to blog every month by joining NaBloPoMo (join anytime!) or mark your calendars for November resolve to write that novel thats in your head by joining NaNoWriMo! Go easy on yourself. If being creative every day is too daunting (Mamas gotta put food on the table, after all!), then let yourself off the hook commit to X amount of time every week to your Art, even if its 15 minutes. I have a client who committed to doing 15-20 minutes of music each week, when I asked her about how it went, she laughed at me. 15 minutes?! I did twice that the first day! Yup, you might get swept away and/or find your groove blow that number out of the water, but even if you dont, youre taking baby steps to get there. And even better figure out a prize to give yourself every week that goal gets met. Kindergarden teachers have it right those gold stars are really motivating! Answer this: How does Resistance work its evil way into your life? Write down all the weapons it throws at ya, write down all the antidotes you can think of to slay it. Or draw what the Resistance Vampire looks like,   labeling all of its evil bits pieces, then draw you, all Buffy-fied kicking its ass. Sweet revenge. The author writes, The years have taught me one skill: How to be miserable. I know how to shut up keep humping. Well, I write: Screw that! Make your creativity session as awesome as possible. Put on your favorite music. Light the orange ginger scented candle you love. Kiss that photo of your hot husband before you start. Seriously you are not being tortured here! Find the fun why youre called to do this in the first place. On a sheet of paper, write I am a ___________ 25 times, then write Im meant to _______________ ten times. In a stream of consciousness exercise, fill in the blanks. No censoring! When every line is full, go through them one by one. If something doesnt feel like its coming from you, or isnt aligned with your values, strengths or passions, cross it out. Whats left? Thats a start to help you discover who you are become it, like the quote at the top of the review says. Have you read the book? If not, do you wanna? Do you agree with my Rousing Review, or should I go shove it? Please share your thoughts, insights, suggestions awesomeness in the comments section. Ill give you a topic: Steven Pressfield is neither a printing press nor a field discuss!