One of the best personal growth books I have ever read is The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield.
This is one of the best books for writers who never write. For painters who never paint. For entrepreneurs who never start a new venture.
It’s the book that teaches you about what holds you back and how to fight it.
I first read this book when I was nineteen. It was assigned in one of my classes. I couldn’t put it down and it was one of the first books I ever highlighted and annotated. Before this book, I had sworn never to write or highlight my books. But this book changed that.
This book was that important.
Every time I read this book, I highlight new things and further annotate. It’s a book I always keep close by. It’s a book I always think about constantly.
It’s a short book that you could read in a couple of hours, but it has a plethora of great information. It’s one of those books that you can come back to over and over again, and you will be able to learn something new each time. It challenges your perspectives about creative work and will show you what you can do to achieve your dreams.
Even though the book is short and its message loud and clear, actually practicing what you learn from it is really hard. It’s the hardest thing we need to do as writers.
I won’t go into details about what the books is about because I believe that doing so will do you a disservice. But I will summarize key points.
In his book The War of Art, Pressfield talks about Resistance. You may not have heard of it, but you know what it is. You have experienced it.
In short, Resistance is fear. It’s our enemy. It’s what holds us back from doing the work and accomplishing our goals.
Pressfield talks in detail about what Resistance is, how to combat it, and how to get the work done.
This book is a rite of passage for anyone who has ever realized they are meant to create or do something. It can be a writing book or starting a business venture or even losing weight.
It’s a book that brings you clarity. It gives a name to the invisible enemy that defeats us every time we want to take a step towards achieving that goal.
But most importantly, it tells us how to defeat it.
But that doesn’t mean that the book will solve all our problems.
No, it won’t.
That is up to us.
We are the ones who must do the work. There’s no magic that will grant us a finished product.
We have to show up to work every day and get it done.
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