Resistance is Everywhere and the Dance Gets Harder. So Best to Practise Dancing.
First published on November 26, 2021
It might be true to say that no writer of non-fiction has had as big an impact on my life as Steven Pressfield. Given to me just before I found the field of coaching as the place where I might belong, Pressfield's The War of Art, with all its powerful, true, spiritual reflections on creativity and that force that opposes creativity, Resistance, has been with me ever since. The gift was perfectly timed for me to face Resistance repeatedly. Armed with Pressfield's insights, I found my way through that Resistance and to my creativity more successfully and consistently than I had for years. Maybe ever. Not that it was easy.
I happened to teach a session on it as part of my coach training, and turned that into an early LinkedIn article. And when we teach something, it gets into us in a deeper way.
And one of the questions I heard about Pressfield's work, often, is some form of: is this Resistance or is this wisdom?
People don't like the idea that the 'good reasons' they aren't doing something is just an ingenious form of procrastination. It's too much. It's too in-your-face. But is it true?
And I can't help but sit with that question today. Before Christmas, I'll be publishing my first book, a compilation of 12-minute articles, called How to Start (a book, business or creative project) When You're Stuck. (If you want to sure you hear when it's released, best to sign up to my mailing list.) That's exciting, but the question is here because... this book was basically ready more than two years ago. Not quite, but pretty much.
In fact, around two years ago, sure that the book was coming out by Christmas, I ran a workshop for Seth Godin's Akimbo community called 'How to Write a Book in 12 Minutes', about the 12-minute method and the book that I had created. 98 people were there, and some of them were so inspired that they joined me in a weekly writing group. Many of them tell stories of the impact of the workshop and the 12-minute method - in fact, more than one is quoted giving a testimonial at the start of the book. But why I tell this story now is because two of them have published books inspired by and written using something like the 12-minute method and those workshops... and they did it before me. (You can buy Karena de Souza's Contours of Courageous Parenting here, and David W Reynolds' Lead. Learn. Change. here.)
At that point, I had pulled together the first three years of 12-minute articles, realised thanks to my friend Steve that they could be curated and ordered to be a book about the creative process titled, somewhat jokingly and provocatively, I Wrote This Book in 12 Minutes. It was ordered. Intros and outros were written. It was edited by Steve and, essentially, ready to go.
And yet it isn't published. For two years now, I have not hit my goals for the year. The 12-minute book, having not been published in 2019 was front and centre of my goals for 2020... and yet. The book has not been published. Is this wisdom or is this Resistance?
The reasons are many: global pandemic, baby, other work pressures, other things made, poor decisions, lots of training. But, as I wrote when I realised I hadn't completed my goals last year, is that real, or is that me not taking responsibility?
Until that point, I felt pretty unstoppable. Like whatever I set my mind to, I did. Using Warren Buffett's 25/5 method (number 3 here), I was getting more and more productive, achieving what I wanted to achieve. And then.
And then there's a creative project. And it stalls. And it slows down.
Good reasons: I had a publishing offer. I wanted the right partners. I needed money. I didn't understand things enough. I wanted to make it really good. I wanted to share it in the right way.
And yet. A creative project, stalled, slowed down to a crawl. That sounds a lot like Resistance.
And that makes sense and it gives me hope. Remember Pressfield's rule of thumb. Something like: the places where we feel the most Resistance are the places that are most important for our soul's evolution. And so I hope this was all Resistance, because that tells me that this book, and the ones that will follow, may be one of the most important things I do in my life. Because the Resistance to them has been long and ingenious.
Resistance, as Pressfield says, is strongest at the finish line. The next couple of weeks, as we get closer and closer to pressing go on publishing, are likely to be riddled like that.
But I'm ok with that. Because I've been practising. That's what the 12-minute method is all about. Practising sharing myself with the world. Practising pressing go on ever greater, ever-more scary things. Practising growing by dancing with Resistance. Practising opening myself. Practising letting myself out into the world.
Resistance is everywhere and the dance gets harder. So best to practise dancing.