Friday, June 1, 2012

Recently Read: The War of Art

A few weeks ago, my boss and I were talking about the Artist's Way, and other creative books, and she asked if I had ever read The War of Art. In her words, it's "super helpful, and really short. " Yes, I'd love to borrow it!

A lot of people ask me how it is that I do so much in my life.  "How do you knit a whole sweater, I could never do that! How did you learn how to sew? How did you learn how to play the accordion? How do you make your own (insert word here)? How do you make such pretty food? How do you get up on a stage every night?"

Answer: I just do. I don't really think about how hard something is or how bad I'll be at it when I start, I just go for it! 

I'll tell you, I still have my own outstanding list of things to do:
- be a better blogger
- lose 20 lbs
- get an agent
- write more
- anything involving business accounting (ha!)
- speak fluent Spanish

Steven Pressfield's little book, The Art of War, focuses on resistance, that little voice that tells you to procrastinate, that "You could never do that." Pressfield focuses on the resistance to art & creativity, but his lessons can be applied to any sort of goal. Right now I'm applying to being a better blogger (I wrote this last Saturday!) and trying my darndest to apply it to my weight-loss goals. 

It's a quick read that I recommend to everyone. We all have a list, right? 

4 comments :

  1. Will check this book out for sure. I'm a big fan of the Artist's Way and anything in that vein that encourages creative types to achieve their goals can only be a good thing. Good luck with your goals! Mine are to write and record a song a month, finish the script I'm working on, and sew most of my own clothes. But there's more that will come when I get a working visa here, however it's nice to have goals that don't just revolve around the income-generating aspects of creativity and instead revolve around feeding the soul instead!

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    1. Thanks, Naomi, and thanks for sharing your goals. And yes, I agree - feed the soul!

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  2. This book sounds great! Thanks for mentioning it! And good luck/best wishes as you pursue your goals and dreams!

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