Book Notes - Do The Work

Do The Work By Steven Pressfield

Babies are born in blood and chaos; stars and galaxies come into being amid the release of massive primordial cataclysms.

Three mantras:
1 - Stay primitive
2 - Trust the soup
3 - Swing for the seats

On research before you begin:
You are allowed to read three books on the subject. No more.

On first drafts:
One rule for first full working drafts: get them done ASAP.
Only one thing matters in this initial draft: get something done, however flawed or imperfect.

On ideas:
Ideas come according to their own logic. That logic is not rational. It's not linear. We may get the middle before we get the end. We may get the end before we get the beginning. Be ready for this. Don't resist it.

Sometimes when Resistance is kicking my butt (whcih it does, all the time), I flash on Charles Lindbergh. What symphony of Resistance must have been playing in his head when he was struggling to raise the funding for his attempt to fly across the Atlantic solo?

"You're too young, you're too inexperienced; you've got no credentials, no credibility. Everyone who's tried this has failed and you will, too. It can't be done. Your plane will crash, you're going to drown, you're a madman who is attempting to impossible and you deserve whatever dire fate befalls you!"

What say Lindy through. It can only have been the dream.

Disclosure: I was provided a copy of this book for review purposes from The Domino Project.

[Related - 3 Questions with Steven Pressfield, Book Notes - The Art of War]