Do the work

Steven Pressfi

eld

Do Th

e Work!

42

Spew. Let ’er rip. Launch into the

void and soar wherever the wind

takes you.

When we say “Trust the soup,” we mean the Muse, the uncon-scious, the Quantum Soup. Th

e sailor hoists his canvas, trusting

that the wind (which is invisible and which he can neither see nor control) will appear and power him upon his voyage.You and I hoist our canvas to catch ideas. When we say “Stay Stupid,” we mean don’t self-censor, don’t in-dulge in self-doubt, don’t permit self-judgment.

Forget rational thought. Play. Play

like a child.

Why does this purely instinctive, intuitive method work? Because our idea (our song, our ballet, our new Tex-Mex restau-rant) is smarter than we are.

Our job is not to control our idea;

our job is to fi

gure out what our

idea is (and wants to be)—and

then bring it into being.

Th

e song we’re composing already exists in potential. Our work

is to fi

nd it. Can we hear it in our head? It exists, like a signal

coming from a faraway radio tower.

Our job is to tune to that frequency.

Did you read Bob Dylan’s

Chronicles

? Th

e lengths he goes to

to fi

nd a song (or an arrangement or a producing partner) are

beyond insanity. He does it all by instinct. Fearless, child-like, primitive instinct. The Answer Is Always Yes When an idea pops into our head and we think, “No, this is too crazy,”

... that’s the idea we want.

When we think, “Th

is notion is completely off

the wall ... should

I even take the time to work on this?”

... the answer is yes.

Never doubt the soup. Never say no.

Th

e answer is always yes.