I really enjoyed Steven Pressfield's The War of Art so I decided to read the short follow-up, Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way. It really kicked my butt and made me realize how important the drudgery and hard work really is to any creative endeavor. I loved the concrete examples and memorable language describing resistance as a dragon and evil force that will never go away but which can be (and must be) defeated every day you work. Introduction Orientation Enemies and allies Enemies Any act that derives from our higher rather than lower nature elicits resistance The more important a call to action of our soul the more resistance we will feel towards pursuing it Fear doesn't go away Rational thought is worst enemy of fight against resistance The deeper the source we work from the better Friends and family are enemies of unmanifested u Allies Stupidity: ignorance and arrogance best states of mind Don't allow self to think or doubt or hesitate Don't doubt, act Be stubborn once start In till the finish Blind faith is mighty ally Passion 1 beginning Start before ur ready Don't give brain time to find excuses Begin it now Research diet: only allowed to read 3 books on subject before beginning Better to be primitive than sophisticated Birth takes pain between chaos, pain, and blood Don't overthink or overprepare Quick single page outline is enough to start Break it up in 3 sections: beginning, middle, end Start at the end/the finish Answer the question: what is this about Thoughts vs chatter Chatter is resistance Stay primitive Trust the soup Swing for the seats Be ready for resistance 2 middle Resistance can never be defeated permanently. Will always be there. Must be respected. Can be outwitted with lots of work. Fill in the gaps 7-8 major movements/parts to something Do research now but stay on diet Never do research in prime working time Soak up what u need to fill in the gaps only Killer opening sequence, killer climax, killer couple scenes in between Finally fill in the gaps between the gaps Cover the canvas Get to first full draft asap. Speed and completion, not quality. Don't stop, don't think, suspend self-judgment. The crazier the better. Liberate self from conventional expectations. Violate rules. Stay stupid. Ideas do not come linearly. Record ideas the minute they come. Action and reflection separate steps of process of idea creation Never do both together Never doubt the soup The answer is always yes Momentum is everything. Keep working every single day. Ignore false negatives and positives. Keep working. Act then reflect Keep asking self what is this thing about Everything must serve theme Ask set what's missing and fill in that gap Then u hit the wall in the middle of the work Principles There is an enemy Recognize there is evil force in world This enemy is implacable Its aim is to kill This enemy is inside you Not external person or force you can escobar The enemy is inside u but it is not u U r not to blame or have done anything wrong for the resistance u feel The real u must duel resistance u Knight vs dragon Only intercourse possible is battle Resistance arises second What comes first is idea and passion First urge is love, life, creative force Remember and draw strength for it Opposite of resistance is assistance Can align ourselves with universal forces against dragon Resistance’s two tests How bad do you want it Scale of how much ur interested in something: from dabbling to interested to totally committed If answer not totally committed then stop what ur doing Why do u want it Power fame or for vision are not enough If anything other than “because I have no choice” or “for fun or beauty” then need attitude adjustment Attitude adjustment chamber Check ego at door and anything else acquired at birth or through work Only things to keep are love for the work and will to finish 2 middle the big crash Will always be major setback at some point Will we quit or not Crash doesn't mean we are losers It means we need to grow Creative panic is good Greatest fear is fear of success Panic is a sign we are growing Allies: stupidity, stubbornness, blind faith The problem is not us. The problem is the problem. Work the problem. Rewriting. 3 end Finishing is critical part of any project Fear of success makes us stop Exposure is created when we ship Start again before ur ready Begin the next one tomorrow
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I kept hearing Tim Ferriss talk about Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert, so I wanted to pick it up. The book focuses on repeatable mistakes of how we predict our future and the psychology of happiness. It reminded me a lot of other psychology books I've read like those of Dan Ariely and Daniel Kahneman, so it wasn't a ton of new material (for me), but it was a nice read and overview. Part 1 prospection Ch 1 journey to elsewhere We think about the future like no animal does We are only animal that truly thinks about future Ability to imagine world as it isn't Nexting: Brains constantly predicting what will see next Surprise is when see something unexpected Frontal lobe latest brain development Controls ability to add plan and anxiety Forestalling pleasure creates pleasure of anticipation Anticipating unpleasant events can lessen their impact Brains want control over future experiences Feeling of control gives happiness Part 2 subjectivity: experience is unobservable to everyone except the person having it Ch 2 the view from in here Emotional happiness, moral happiness, judgmental happiness People bad at noticing visual discontinuities Experiences of our former selves foreign to us as if of someone else Forced to rely on our memories we are not effective Ch 3 outside looking in Part 3 realism: The belief that things exist in reality as in the mind Ch 4 in the blind spot in the minds eye Very hard to imagine what it would be like if Memory changed by info after it Perception affected by mind not just senses Ch 5 the hound of silence Hard to think of what is missing Part 4 presentism: the tendency to have current experience affect views of past and future Ch 6 the future is now Prefeeling Reality around u affects real feelings and imagined feelings Hard for imagination to transcend present Time share between perception and imagination Ch 7 time bombs Starting points have a big impact on ending point Can't just imagine event in present and translate to future Brain detects changes and relative not absolute Comparing with the past vs the possible (both yield mistakes) Part 5 rationalization: the act of causing something to seem reasonable Ch 8 paradise glossed Negative events aren't as bad as we are afraid they may be Ch 9 immune to reality Unconscious cooking of facts Most regrets are from things we didn't do Intense events trigger our defenses more than mild ones and so they are overcome by us better by rationalizing or interpreting reality differently Mild negative events are more annoying We don't anticipate that psychological immune system will protect when have bad experience Unpleasant events are explained away Explanations also lessen pleasant events Irrepressible urge to explain things but also diminishes happiness Part 6 corrigibility capable of being corrected or improved Ch 10 once bitten Tend to recall items at end of series or experience far better than those in middle Ch 11 reporting live from tomorrow Transmission of beliefs False belief is joy of money Seek others who had experience you're considering and ask them about it Afterword I read John Gottman's What Makes Love Last because I really enjoyed his famous Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. I didn't find What Makes Love Last to be as useful as its focus on trust and trust issues seemed kind of out of place or random and disconnected logically from the very general idea of making love last ([mis]trust seems like only one of the ways love can fail). I didn't end up getting much practical value from the book, though the discussion of the Zeigarnik Effect was interesting. Intro Betrayal cause of love failing Trust is antidote 1 assessing your trust level Having each other's back Trying to help your partner get value 2 the 3 boxes Nice box: repair attempts Neutral box: happiest couples spend more time in neutral during disagreements Nasty box: flooding Sliding door moments: can turn toward partner at bids or away Zeigarnik effect: we have better recall for issues that are unfinished or unresolved than those that are finished or closed Negative sentiment override: viewing positive or neutral things with suspicion Positive sentiment override: giving benefit of doubt Gentle start: opposite of criticism (words like always and never) Accept responsibility for some of the problem Negative comparisons to others bad Positive comparisons create us vs world attitude Describe feelings Ask open ended questions Reflect back partners feelings Deepening statements Express compassion or empathy Don't offer opinions or problem solving Understanding must precede advice Be an ally more than problem solver Express needs in positive What else are you feeling Enduring vulnerabilities State of the union meetings Transform criticism into a wish |
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