The War of Art

It is quite a statement to claim that a book can change your life, but I credit this one for helping me change mine. More accurately, it helped change the trajectory of my life. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, a 2002 book by Steven Pressfield is, according to Amazon’s simplified blurb, “about breaking through blocks that hold you back and disciplining yourself to do important work and pursue your calling.” If you would like to finally go after—with a passion—what you know deep inside that you must do for your own fulfillment (or perhaps even, on some level, your survival), read this book.

I have recommended The War of Art to many people, not all of them artists. Want to be an artist but keep finding excuses why you can’t, or shouldn’t, or fill-in-the-blank? Are you an aspiring writer but you never write? Does entrepreneurship appeal to you but you don’t know where to start? (Answer: It starts within.) Like me, you may not be aware of the powerful, self-sabotaging enemy lurking within you that prevents you being “all in” when it comes to what you really want to achieve. And it has a name! Pressman calls it “Resistance” with a capital “R.”

The author has a five-part, 27-minute audio course available as well, also called The War of Art. Whether you read the book or listen to the course, I promise that you will benefit from it.