Do the Work
"This book is designed to coach you through a project (a book, a ballet, a new business venture, a philanthropic enterprise) from conception to finished product, seeing it from the point of view of Resistance."--Page [1].
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What Hacker News says
- There are two books on the issue by a guy called Steven Pressfield, "The War of Art" and "Do the Work". I've read the latter and it's good. He talks about how resistance strengthens the closer you get to ending a project. I've found it useful in my work.
- > What's the best way to meet someone who has a problem that needs to be solved?
What problems do you have? Solve those first (even if it doesn't lead to success, that prevents you from spinning your tires).
> Alternately how do you meet someone with a complimentary skill set that has similar goals?
Assume that you won't, start down the path of solving your chosen problem and if someone appears who's thinking aligns, pursue a partnership if it makes sense.
> Any intermediate steps I should consider?
Read "Do the Work" and "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. Those two (short) books have done wonders.
- This is excellent! I’ve lived this experience with a graduate thesis project that has taken over a decade to complete. Stephen Pressfield’s books (especially Do The Work) felt very close to the mark, but I also couldn’t buy into the idea that the resistance should be thought of as something external (a malevolent force in the universe). I think this article solves the mystery of what the resistance actually is. This understanding of the resistance combined with Pressfield’s book Do The Work could help a lot of people that are “procrastinating”.
- Two books by the same author that I recommend on this subject-
--The War of Art --Do The Work
Both by Steven Pressfield. They're imperfect -- they call out to imaginary forces uncomfortably too often, and they take a relatively concise bit of content stretching it to book form, leaving it sometimes a bit threadbare, however they're an easy, enjoyable read and I found them useful.
- My field (programming) has been well covered so I'll share books about my side-field, writing.
- On Writing - Stephen King
- Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
- Story - Robert McKee (screenwriting)
- Do the work - Stephen Pressfield (he's more famous for The War of Art but I haven't actually read that one yet)
Also there are some great blogs out there
- Terrible Minds by Chuck Wendig
- The Creative Penn - Joanna Penn
- Mary Robinette Kowal's blog
- John August (screenwriting)
- > I don't get what system in our brain causes so much resistance to new obviously rewarding habits.
I won't go into details about what I think - but two books that have helped me understand and deal with the symptoms (and possibly helped me help others) are:
Do the Work - Steven Pressfield
The Now Habit - Neil Fiore
