The War of Art: A Review

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, by Steven Pressfield, is a quick, easy read, but it has the potential to change your life for the better, immediately, especially if you’re involved in artistic work. Multiple friends had recommended it to me, but then, multiple friends are always recommending books and I rarely take them up on their recommendations.

This book was so good that I was angry with my friends for not having recommended it to me more strongly. To avoid this anger for you in the future, I give this book the strongest possible recommendation. You need to read it.

In a nutshell, it’s a guide on how to beat resistance, where resistance is anything that prevents you from doing your work, whatever your work is. Resistance can take many forms, and it’s always there, even for the most prolific artists. Overcoming resistance is a daily struggle. By defining exactly what resistance is, the true power it possesses, and what you need to do in order to overcome it, Pressfield gives you the recipe for success along with great life wisdom in general.

Pressfield is a spiritual man who believes in divine inspiration in the form of what he calls the Muse. I wonder if he’s read another book I recommend, The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe, which is about how to tap into and receive universal intelligence, divine inspiration, or whatever you wish to call it.

One of my personal measures of a good book is how much of it I doggy eared. Here’s my copy of The War of Art:

Here are just a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.

Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance.

This second, we can sit down and do our work.

Self-doubt can be an ally. This is because it serves as an indicator of aspiration. It reflects love, love of something we dream of doing, and desire, desire to do it. If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” chances are you are.

The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.

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 and become it.

Even if you’re not an artist, per se, The War of Art will motivate your ass into gear and make you a more effective, happier person.