War of Art
The unlived life/ResistanceÂ
- late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you are meant to be
- the warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day
- it doesnât ever get âeasierâ there will be easys days but you always need 100% effort
- resistance is self sabotage
- the awakening artist must be ruthless, not only with herself but with others. once you make your break, you cant turn around for your buddy who catches his trouser leg on the barbed wire. the best thing you can do for that friend (and heâd tell you this himself, if he really is your friend) is to get over the wall and keep moving.
- support your friends in their endeavors. dont bring them down, donât hate. dont be jealous of their success. and your true friends should do the same.
- never forget: this very moment, we can change our lives. there never was a moment and never will be when we are without the power to alter our destiny.
- if something/someone make you feel empty, doubt yourselfâavoid it. those things and people are not thinking of your best interests. a lot of times they are not worth investment and they will bring you down.Â
- donât tolerate trouble. itâll prevent you from work
- self knowledge, self discipline, delayed gratification, hard work
- donât cast yourself as a victim
- enact your own internal revolution > unplug yourself from the grid by recognizing that we will only cure our restlessness by contributing our disposable income to our work/by doing our work.Â
- fear is an indicator - it tell us what we have to do - the more scared the more you should do it.Â
- do projects that make you stretch
-the opposite of love is not hate but indifference.Â
- the more resistance you experience the more important your unmanifested art/project/enterprise is to you and the more gratification you will feel when you finally do it/finish it.Â
- success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work
- when you sulk in the injustices of your personal life, then less energy you have for your work
- rationalization keeps us from feeling the shame we  would feel if we truly faced what cowards we are for not doing our work
- resistance to your work is really just fear
amateur: plays for fun, game is hobby, plays part-time, weekend warrior
professional: plays for keeps, game is vocation, plays full-time, 7-days a week
- people think amateur pursues his calling out of love while pro does it for money but in truth the amateur doesn't love the game enough. if he did he wouldnât pursue it as a sideline distinct from his ârealâ vocation. the professional loves it so much he dedicates his life to it.Â
professional:
shows up everyday no matter what
stay on the job all day
committed over the long haul
stakes are high and real
accepts remuneration for our labor
do not over-identify with our jobs
master the techniques
receive praise/blame in the real worldÂ
- put in the physical act of starting to work (a schedule) and a sequence of events that produces inspiration will set in motion
- the payoff of playing the game for money is that it produces the proper professional attitudeÂ
-project take twice as long and costs twice as much
- sustain yourself with the knowledge that if you consistently work hard at it, you will reap what you sowÂ
- eliminate chaos in your life/mind so that your art may come clearly
- donât wait for inspiration, act in anticipation of its appearance
- goal is to be steadfast, sturdy, steady, not necessarily victory (success will come by itself when it wants to)
- master technique so that when inspiration comes you have a set of skills to execute them properlyÂ
- seat your professional consciousness in a place other than your personal ego
- we have a right only to our labor, not to the fruits of our labor
