Day In. Day Out. Do The Work.
Steady, Effective, Simple, Strategies before Scale.
In any noble calling, any goal towards a more fruitful future, any time we set a pace for something to be accomplished, we will encounter ‘resistance.’ Anything that is positive must have an accompanying negative charge. Any hero needs its enemy – it’s the balance. Resistance is that negative charge against your good works; it’s anything that keeps you from your most authentic purpose.
It’s a natural law. It’s a test from the universe to make sure we are worthy, able, and strong enough to reach the goal.
I encountered the resistance this morning. It said “You don’t need to wake up to write this. Just send what you already have. Sleep in. Take it easy. Who are you to talk about resistance? Pick up the toys in the middle room, make your bed, stay on Instagram. You are a fraud. Steven Pressfield has already talked about resistance. You just wanted to write Steven Pressfield’s name, so you sound well read.”
Resistance wants us to do anything other than the work. It wants to bring you down, keep you small, and keep you distracted.
Resistance can come in many forms. Resistance finds its way into our lives through fear and can occur as the fear of criticism, the fear of failure, not feeling good enough, not feeling worthy enough, and the fear of being overwhelmed. Resistance also works by trying to distract us; it wants us to take our focus off our work towards our most true purpose. It steals our attention and time through social norms, family, and friends’ expectations. Social media can be resistance. Your iPhone is almost certainly resistance. Perfection can be resistance. Others expectations are resistance. Religion can be resistance. Resistance labels things ‘bad’. You can’t do that – you will be a ‘bad’ – father, spouse, leader, follower, Christian, friend, son.
Resistance wants to pull you to the extremes because it knows you will waste a lot of energy. Resistance says “You don’t need to eat healthy today. Do what you want – treat yourself – you work hard. Then you can do a 3-day juice cleanse.” Resistance knows this won’t work – that this extreme will pull you off balance. Resistance wants you to waste energy. It wants you to be distracted and keep you from moving towards the goal.
Sometimes the people closest to us, unconsciously are the resistance and will try to keep us from our purpose. Anytime someone says, “I just don’t want to see you get hurt or fail.” That is the resistance. People are comfortable with who you are right now. They don’t want you to change. They may say, “I liked it when we did this,” or “You used to be so…” Others may say they want the best for you, but unconsciously they distract you. Some don’t want you to be more enlightened, more conscious, more anything, other than who you have been.
If you find yourself criticizing someone else, you are their resistance. This is resistance’s dirty trick into your life as well. Anytime we criticize, we share our own fear of criticism.
Resistance says it can’t be this good. Resistance thrives on drama, trouble, victimhood, procrastination. Resistance says, “Let’s put it off for tomorrow.”
The bolder the pursuit – the stronger the resistance. The closer you get to achieving your work – the stronger the resistance. You can’t escape it; you must name it, recognize it and defeat it.
You CAN defeat it. You overcome it by showing up and doing the work. You win over resistance by winning the day, winning the moment. Resistance must be beat each day. Day in, day out, you do the work. The WORK beats resistance.
