My Rating: 7 /10
Title: Do the Work
Author: Steven Presfield
Short but sweet; and just what I needed.
Start Before You’re Ready
Resistance is your enemy. Resistance to do the work. Resistance to stop in your tracks. Resistance that presses you to turn around. So start before you’re ready. Start before you know everything. The more you know about how difficult your task is – the more you will feel resistance. Sometimes blind faith and ignorance is preferable.
“Don’t spend six months compiling a thousand page tome”
Put yourself on a research diet. Limit the consumption of knowledge. “Read three books on your subject. No more.” Then create a single page outline. “Outline it fast. Now. On instinct.”
“Do Research Early or Late”
“Don’t stop working. Never do research in prime working time.”
“One rule for first full working drafts: get them done ASAP.”
“Don’t worry about quality. Act, don’t reflect. Momentum is everything.”
“Act, reflect. Act, reflect. NEVER act and reflect at the same time.”
“Crashes are hell, but in the end they’re good for us.”
Resistance is known by a few different names. Runners call it the wall. Authors call it writer’s block. The key though is not the name, but what we do about it. “A crash means we have to grow.”
“A perplexed person stands before two doors. One door says HEAVEN. The other says BOOKS ABOUT HEAVEN.”
Dive into what you want. Don’t just read about it.
– Stephen
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