As often happens, when I get excited about a new interest or project, I tend to dive straight into the deep end. Last week’s post about my new podcast project is no exception. I got really into the idea of the whole thing. I was so pleased with the unfolding of a small little kernel of something into a potentially viable pursuit. It started some time ago with a short passage in one book that I then connected to another, which led to the first version of something I wanted to create. That idea then bumped up against the reality of “oh, someone already did this" and also “shit, I don’t really know how to draw.” But, I knew from my creativity gurus that sometimes you just need to wait, but your idea on the back burner, and wait for serendipity to strike with inspiration for the next step (i.e., let the Rock Tumbler turn). And it worked! Soon enough, my desire for something realizable, the hook that I baited and threw out into the lake bobbed and there it was.
Of course, once I sat down to write out last week’s post to explain the idea in full, there came the question: “Am I really going to do this?” When I would sit down in the evening to read and make my annotations, I—consciously or otherwise—steered clear of Zhuangzi and the secondary sources that would help me. I began to doubt, to backpedal, to experience Resistance.
As it so happens, around the time that I first planted the seeds of the Da Sheng podcast, I was also reading The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. The War of Art is a classic in the canon of “self-help for creatives,” and for good reason. There are many things to say about The War of Art, but the basic idea is that Resistance is a force that we encounter on our creative journeys, experienced as negative self-talk, fear, anxiety, and innumerable other mental states that prevent us from manifesting our creations. The key to combatting Resistance is to "turn pro.” For Pressfield, this means taking a professional approach to our art, to getting our ego out of the way, to committing to our craft, to not giving up, to not letting critics and circumstances prevent us from sitting down and doing the work.
To draw on a few quotes:
On The Magic of Making a Start “Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would not otherwise have occurred.” (W.H. Murray, Pressfield 122)
On The Magic of Keeping Going The principle of organization is built into nature. Chaos itself is self-organizing. Out of primordial disorder, stars find their orbits; rivers make their way to the sea. When we, like God, set out to create a universe—a book, an opera, a new business venture—the same principle kicks in. Our screenplay resolves itself into a three-act structure; our symphony takes shape into movements; our plumbing-supply venture discovers its optimum chain of command. How do we experience this? By having ideas. Insights pop into our heads while we’re shaving or taking a shower or even, amazingly, while we’re actually working. (Pressfield 126)
I often let Resistance get the better of me. I focus too much on what the end product will look like and what it will do for me personally, professionally or otherwise. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I often get caught up in daydreaming about the finished article and what comes after that before I’ve ever even begun to work on it. This is normal and natural, but need not be inevitable.
For now, I’m just going to take Pressfield’s advice and commit to being a pro, to keeping on, and to beating Resistance. I resolve to be less concerned about the destination and to prize the journey. Much more preparation is required before I will begin to script, record, interview, cut, montage, and publish this thing, whatever it will end up being. But that’s the work, and I’m going to keep showing up—not just for this, but for everything, now, and into the future.