Do the Work
Do the Work, by Steven Pressfield, is a must read for anyone starting something new or pursuing something significant. Weighing in at only 98 pages, five of which contain only one word a piece, Do the Work is obviously a small book and a quick read. But don’t let that fool you. I learned a long time ago, when my Dad handed me a copy of Who Moved My Cheese? that short books can pack a big punch. And Do the Work definitely falls into that category.
From what I’m told, Do the Work, is essentially a bite-sized version of Pressfield’s longer book The War of Art (but I haven’t read that one yet, so don’t take my word for it). The book focuses on the most often neglected part of the creative process — doing the work to make things happen — and more specifically the challenges we face as we seek to do so: Resistance, Starting, The Belly of the Beast, and Shipping. These are the four biggest concepts behind Do the Work.
Resistance is the impersonal force that keeps you from starting. It’s the fear that rears its ugly head as soon as you commit to something greater than yourself. It’s the part of you that makes excuses rather than make progress. Resistance is something that we all face, and something that we all need to learn to recognize and overcome. Pressfield gives some great insight about how to do just that.
Then we need to start. Before we can reach the end we need to go through the beginning and middle. And when should we start? “Before you’re ready” Pressfield says. Resistance tells you to “wait till you’re ready” before starting. But the reality is that, if you wait until you feel ready before you start, you’ll never start, because you’ll never feel ready. Start now, do the work, and overcome resistance. As you do you’ll begin to find it easier and easier to make progress. That is, until. . .
The Belly of the Beast! That’s what Pressfield calls it. Seth Godin calls it the Dip, I’ve heard others call it the Messy Middle. It’s that point after you’ve started your journey that the wheels fall off the car and you feel like giving up. Resistance comes back with a vengeance and you can easily despair, give up, and return to the way things were before you started. But don’t give in! Push through this part and eventually you find yourself at the end.
The end is where shipping needs to happen. It doesn’t matter how much work you’ve done up till this point. It doesn’t matter how well you’ve overcome resistance along the way. If you can’t execute here, if you can’t ship, then all has been for nothing. This is often where Resistance is the strongest. This is when perfectionism cripples us and keeps us from finally crossing the finish line and finishing well. But in the end you have to ship. . . And then start again as quickly as possible.
Pressfield’s book is clearly directed mainly at creatives, particularly writers, but the principles apply to life beyond the creative realm. Pressfield himself states at the beginning that the principles apply to, “such seemingly far-afield enterprises as the acquisition of physical fitness, the recovery from a broken heart, or the pursuit of any objective — emotional, intellectual, or spiritual — that involves moving from a lower or less conscious plane to a higher one.” In short: Wherever you’re trying to improve, the principles in this book can help.
As much as I enjoyed this book and have benefited from the principles contained in it, I can’t give it my unreserved endorsement. While the practical principles I outlined above are incredibly helpful (and he goes much more in-depth in even this short book) he occasionally gets sidetracked on existential and new-age language and thinking that I can’t endorse, and am not comfortable with. I recommend this book for its practical instruction, and not its spiritual instruction.
That being said. This book is one that I would recommend to the discerning reader. It is a quick read, has lots of helpful and inspiring content, and can serve as the kick in the pants most of us need to either get started or get unstuck.
If you would like to purchase your own copy of Do the Work, you can get it by clicking the picture at the top of the post, any of the title links in this post, or by clicking here. All those links are affiliate links, which means that I get a portion of any sales made through them. But rest assured that I don’t promote anything just for the money and will never try to sell you something that I don’t use and love myself.
