All that matters is I’ve put in my time and hit it with all I’ve got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance.
The War of Art, Kindle location 71
I’m struck by the idea that–at least at first–the only thing that matters when beginning is to actually do. The goodness of the production is completely irrelevant.
The most important thing is to be there, do the work, and then recognize when the effort is complete.
I suppose this is true for most things. It doesn’t matter so much the quality. The quality will come as the practice develops. True, this may look like unstructured practice–which can only produce unstructured results. But the reality is there can be no development without the discipline to pick up the pen, so to speak, on a consistent (daily) basis.
And so putting in the work, making the time, and exhausting the effort is necessary to develop the discipline to focus.
In a world of computers and internet, the distractions are multitudinous. There seems to be no end to what can get in the way.
In this section, Pressfield describes his space–actually spends most of the chapter on things that are routine and physically around him. It seems, although not necessarily the case, that his space is intentional, organized and neat.
Very the opposite of my space, currently.
Too many books, bills, receipts, things needing scanning around me. All can be dealt with–can be dealt with relatively easily in fact–but haven’t been. Because Resistance.
Resistance. That force I invite into my own life and make excuses for its existence.
Resistance. What I am here, working, writing, fighting against.
I control what I can: my own effort. And for now, I control when I can make that effort. And so I do.
Given that, what else is there?
I’m both surprised and impressed Pressfield doesn’t work beyond when he is effective. He understands his point of diminishing returns. That point isn’t to be understood as “only four hours,” but as “I’m not being clear, and things are going to pot, it’s time to stop. Today, it happened to be four hours.”