What stands between the two is the Resistance. The unlived life is everything you dream for, everything you wish you could tackle, everything you hope to accomplish. That’s because Resistance is standing in our way.Īccording to Pressfield, most of us have two lives: the life we live and ‘the unlived life’. It’s true for sitting down and writing, but also true for starting a new diet or exercise regime, launching a new entrepreneurial venture, overcoming an addiction, starting an education course of any kind, any undertaking with the aim to help others, taking a principled political/moral/ethical stand, or any activity whose aim is tighter abdominal muscles. The act itself isn’t that hard, but those first few steps can feel almost impossible to overcome. This same idea goes for most things that require some investment of willpower or emotional labour. ‘Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles’ For anyone who wants to pursue a creative endeavour but has never been able to actually sit down and do the work, this book serves as a great kick in the behind. This book is all about The Resistance, and is broken into three parts: Defining the Enemy, Combatting Resistance, The Higher Realm. What keeps us from sitting down to write? The Resistance. “ There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t… It’s not the writing part that’s hard.

But being able to write isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of actually writing a book. For example, if you want to be a writer, based on the fact that you’re reading this, you have the ability to read and write. The Wars of Art shows us that if you’re looking to achieve anything, especially something creative, you almost definitely have the skills and abilities to be able to do it.

The war of art